Q: Tenant refuses to leave, can I sue them for all my assoc. expenses including my storage fee since I can’t move into unit
I bought property to use as primary residence and gave tenant proper 90 day notice. With two weeks to go tenant asked for addtl month but I explained that I had to put my belongings into storage pending gaining possession of property and also had a family member who needed to come stay at the property and I had made my plans based on getting possession as per the notice. Tenant refused to leave after many emails in which they agreed to pay a set sum in order to remain, but then at the last minute said they were not going to go through with the agreement and would take their chances in court. I filed the FED and they responded asking for the hearing but I believe they are gaming the court process to get the amount of time that they want in order to simply move before the hearing. How can I recover my legit expenses including storage space fee, attorney’s fees, court fees and can I sue for a nightly rate equal to similar in my tourist town? Can I deduct any from security deposit?
A: You are most likely stuck going through the court eviction process. IF they filed an Answer and requested a trial, the winner should get a Judgment against the loser for their court costs and attorneys fees. As for the rest of your expenses, in my opinion you have a poor chance of successfully suing the tenants for those costs, though you can always try. You have no contractual agreement with them, so they have not breached any contract and legally do not have to vacate until a Judge orders them out. Your mistake was doing this yourself - as a buyer, you should have made getting rid of the tenants a condition of the sale and forced the prior owner, who put the tenants in possession to begin with, to absorb the expense and risk of getting rid of them.
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