volvoclearinghouse wrote: I feel like I'm on a soap opera or something. "The Garages of our Lives"
Some people really get off on pretending they're some sort of straight-to-tv movie mobster tough guy- I've had a surprising number of craigslist deals end with silly "you know who you're dealing with? Have some respect" type bullE36 M3. Sure buddy, you're a real badass trying to threaten your way to a better deal 
Was the return address a prison? Even if it was, not your problem. You gave him notice, he acknowledged it, remove his stuff and carry on. His reasons why he can't get it done are irrelevant.
MDJeepGuy wrote: Was the return address a prison? Even if it was, not your problem. You gave him notice, he acknowledged it, remove his stuff and carry on. His reasons why he can't get it done are irrelevant.
EXACTLY. This is a classic case of NMP- Not My Problem.
Return address was some house on the east side of the city. I checked as soon as I got the letter. 
I just called his number from a random phone here at work. His soon-to-be-ex wife answered and didn't recognize me, and I asked for him and she said he wasn't available. I asked for someone from his business and she said she or his son could take my call. Then I told her who I was and she opened up- she said he was in prison (she wasn't telling people that on the phone so it wouldn't hurt the business) and would be for a couple months.
I asked her about the letter- she had no knowledge of it. She's pretty pissed at him, too, and took my side- that he'd had 5 weeks to move out and waited until 9 days before to let anyone know- and now he's in prison and told his sons and her to take care of it. She sounded pretty pissed- at him. A bunch of ranting about how he's a 50 year old man who never takes any responsibility for himself, and his sons and wife hate him. Et Cetera.
She told me the garage was all cleaned out, they just had some plows and other stuff to move from the outside. I plan on going over there after work today to check. It's pouring rain today, so I told her not to try to move anything from the outside until the rain stops- my main concern was getting the garage empty so the new renter can move in.
Dear god sounds like a real winner. Was any of that information online when he started renting from you? It might be time to start a little more stringent application process. Or at least start googling people's names before accepting the deposit.
Next time run a background check on your renters.
The whole situation with this guy was...unusual. Many years ago, I needed someone to take care of the grounds at the property when I was absentee (living out of state) and the house tenants at the time knew this guy and he and I agreed he could keep his trailers and some equipment outside the garage in exchange for him maintaining the property. When I moved back into the area, I used the entire garage as my own storage unit for the move, but when it was empty and I began renting it out, he approached me about the back portion and as I'd known him for a few years and he'd never seemed to be a problem, I let him move his stuff in there.
I have a strict lease, background check process, references needed, etc for the house tenants. I always covered my bases there. I never figured a lousy 200 buck-a month garage deal would turn into this much of a hassle. LESSON LEARNED.
Luckily, the new prospective tenant back there is a friend of the guy who rents the front half. But I'm still going to have him sign a lease.
Dang. Snuck in through a long term loophole. Well hopefully the garage is actually empty; let us know how it turns out.
Those house tenants got evicted about 2 years ago, by the way. She got into drugs and got arrested for stealing. Guess you can judge people by the company they keep. 
I'll bet he isn't really in prison.
I have heard some big ones from people like that. The best was from Flint. A guy on a bike in the snow at like 6 pm on a weekday: "I bought the bike at a garage sale, and I need $25 to tow my car. I ran out of gas on the highway and the tow truck driver is waiting there for me because I only had $15 and he needed $40 to tow it, but he is waiting for me, because I have to get to the hospital to see my Mother, and my Brother had to work two shifts..." and he went on, and I am not making that up.
Keep us posted as to what happens on the 1st!
Only one of those stories that I've really believed was the diabetic guy who said he was trying to get money for his diabetic care. I don't believe that he was going to use the money for that, necessarily, but it was obvious he had diabetes and was probably going to need both legs amputated soon
The one time I was sorry I didn't have money to give.
tuna55 wrote: I'll bet he isn't really in prison. I have heard some big ones from people like that. Keep us posted as to what happens on the 1st!
There's at least a 50% chance that he is, in fact, in prison. So far, while I have reason to doubt the veracity of everything he tells me, the story does check out. We'll see. Thursday is the first- I will fill in the story as it unfolds.
I've heard whoppers like your Flint story, too. And called out people on that. It really is amazing how far people will try to lie and distort things to try to get one over on someone else.
A number of states have online inmate status lookup tools that will tell you things like if someone is in prison, what facility, scheduled release date, whether or not he's eligible for visitation, etc. You could try looking him up if you care.
I think you need to talk to a lawyer or someone from your local Sheriff's department who actually knows your local laws.
If you're worried about ethical standpoint? You've done the ethical thing.
boom
http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/inmate/
I checked, and he's not there, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything...
" The Locator, however, does not provide information on everyone in the custody of the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
The Locator may not list some short sentenced inmates who, although committed to the Commissioner of Correction, are in fact housed at Division of Pretrial and Detention Services facilities. In addition, inmates who are no longer in custody for any reason (such as release or escape) are not listed by the Locator."
Since he's a short-timer (supposedly a couple of months) he may not show up.
volvoclearinghouse wrote: Assuming he's actually in prison, and this isn't more lies. Remember, I got a text around a week ago that he was supposedly out of state dealing with his sick mother. Looking at the public records, the guy's name is like a rash on the criminal, traffic, and family case files. Terrific.
Maybe it's actually his mother who is in prison. ;-)
In reply to SVreX:
mtn wrote: Only one of those stories that I've really believed was the diabetic guy who said he was trying to get money for his diabetic care. I don't believe that he was going to use the money for that, necessarily, but it was obvious he had diabetes and was probably going to need both legs amputated soon
Very strange. I was doing a site recon the other day and there was a homeless guy with no legs sitting in a wheel chair beside the gate onto property I was going to assess. He asked me for money and as usual, I had NO money. I felt awful. Later had to go get money from the ATM to pay the stupid parking at the library where I did research. I went back by the site to give the guy a tenner, but he was gone.
volvoclearinghouse wrote: In reply to SVreX: Well I was drunk, the day my momma got out of prison...
Just going to post that... /thumbsup/
Heading off for the garage tonight after work. Driving my most intimidating vehicle.
Well?
Here's hoping VCH isn't tied to a tree in his rental yard..
Yesterday morning was a textbook case of "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Packed inside the truck were dirty work clothes, an angle grinder (for lock cutting), extension cords, leather gloves, fully charged cell phone, and other assorted "gonna go deal with a problem tenant" necessities. I remembered there was an old aluminum baseball bat in the barn, so I grabbed that and tossed it under the seat. You know, like how one takes an umbrella in the hopes of fending off rain?
After work, I headed to the garage. And arrived to find...
"Broom-Clean" it wasn't, but at least it was empty-ish.
I talked to one of the house renters, and the neighbor, and confirmed that the guy had, in fact, been hauled off to the county lock-up for driving on a suspended license. His kids and soon-to-be-ex wife had been busting ass to get the place emptied out. There were still some plows and other truck parts laying around outside, but I'd talked to the wife and she promised me they'd be gone by this weekend. Knowing the bind the dipE36 M3 left them all in, and seeing their efforts to bust their behinds to meet the deadline, I gave them that. The new garage renter can move in now, which is the most important thing.
So...all's well that ends well? As long as when the guy gets out of jail he's smart and minds his own business.
Great ending! Glad to hear it all went well.
Good to hear!
I would thank the kids and soon-to-be-ex wife. It wasn't their responsibility to clean up after the guy's mistakes, but they did. They helped make your life not more obnoxious than it needed to be. You can bet the dead beat isn't going to thank them for taking care of his mistakes.
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