Landlord Question and Answer Forum

We received notice that our tenant has filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and we/he live in Texas. His lease is up for renewal and he wants to resign a lease. We sent him a tenantive lease renewal for 6 months and the tenant signed the document and returned it but the owner has not signed it. In the meantime, we received all of his bankruptcy filings and notices. The was recently arrested for theft and received 6 months probation. Our address and his picture came out in the local paper and news media outlets. He is now unemployed because of the theft of property from a patient in our local hospital where he was a CNA. We have received documents from his lawyer telling us not to contact him to try to collect any future rent. His lawyer also instructed us to send him an Assumption of Lease Agreement for his review. We do not wish to enter into a lease with this tenant and are hoping we can give him 30 days notice to vacate the premise. The neighbors/tenants in the complex are not happy about this situation. Most of the tenants in our complex work in the same hospital where he was employed and know the situation. They are nurses, physical therapists, etc., medical professionals. Any advice on where to begin this process? Thanks, M. Haynes

OOh that is quite complicated. I would highly suggest not renewing this tenants lease. You may want to contact an attorney for legal clarification, considering the tenant signed a lease renewal but the owner did not. Because the tenant has an attorney, you may get held up with legal documents not knowing how to proceed. So instead of getting "advice" I would fingure out how to get this taking care of asap.

Posted by karen s, WI on Monday, October 1, 2012