What to Do When a Tenant Goes to Jail
By: Tajuddin Ahamed
Tags: Memphis, Property, Property Management, Mpm, Rental

When a resident enters jail, the landlord finds himself in a difficult position. Many landlords make the mistake of quickly changing the keys to their apartment and cleaning up the tenant’s belongings. However, just because a tenant is put in jail does not mean that the rental contract will end.

Think of it this way: If you need to spend a year in jail, you will still expect your tenant to continue paying rent to your family. Even if the tenant is put in jail, you still have to respect the termination of your lease. If the lease has not expired, the only way to terminate the lease is to use standard evacuation procedures in the state.

Conclusion: Even if a tenant is put in jail, you can restore your assets under your control by simply turning off utilities and changing locks without a court order.

What if I think my tenant is in jail?

First, make sure that the tenant is detained. Don’t believe your neighbor’s words. Find this in your local calibration department. In many cases, searching for a mugshot in your district will take you to a page listing recent arrests. (These are public records.)

If you cannot find the tenant, please call the emergency contact. Please do not provide any information. Tell the tenant to contact you. If you hear that a resident has been imprisoned but has not been imprisoned, you can allow him to sue for defamation.

Ideal solution: You can find the detained tenant and visit him in jail or have a notary sign the evacuation document. As an incentive, you can either retain the tenant’s assets until you move out or agree to waive rent that may not be recoverable anyway. This is often a better solution for them than getting out of jail in a few months and noticing that everything they owned is gone.

This document is intended to explicitly permit the disposal of assets within a unit or the designation of a designated person to collect them. The document must also include a “compensation clause” that frees you from liability for lost or lost items. Ask a lawyer to write a released statement. This is a sample real estate release document from a landowner protection agency.



Evictor Not to Evict

In, if a tenant is put in jail, do I have to request eviction? It may not be. Just because a resident is put in jail does not mean that the rent is not paid. They may have enough savings to keep paying for a while, or they may have friends and family to help them.

Often tenants who go to jail have important others in the apartment where they may be able to pay the rent. In many cases, the partner did not participate in the lease. If so, you can add them to the lease (with the permission of your detained tenant), but always do a background check first.

Pay close attention to non-rental friends if the tenant goes into jail, especially if you cannot contact the tenant to verify your identity. They can blindly rob your tenant in jail or damage your property and you can’t track them down and pay for them.

Very often, lovers have no means of paying rent long after the tenant was put in jail. If eviction is imminent, especially if you have children at home, you may be able to help them by referral to a church or charity that offers rental subsidies. To learn more visit https://meridianpropertymanagement.com/blog/