Tenant law rebuttal

Dear editor:

Re: Mr. Lane’s letter re: tenant law — a factual rebuttal:

Tenants are not jailed for the crime of not paying rent. A 10-day notice is served upon the tenant by the landlord when rent has not been paid when due. After 10 full days have passed without payment of rent or vacating the property, the police/Sheriffs serve a citation on the tenant. This citation is the same as a traffic ticket. A court date is set 10 to 14 days in the future.

On the court date, the options are: A: Tenant and landlord come to court, tenant has vacated the property, landlord tells the judge and judge dismisses the citation with no fine, no time.

B: Tenant and landlord come to court, tenant pleads not guilty or asks for more time to vacate, the judge resets the case for 2 days, or the judge works with the tenant and landlord to set a mutually agreed upon date of vacating the property, up to a week. On the new date, if tenant has vacated the property, judge dismisses the citation with no fine, no time.

C: The tenant has the opportunity at any hearing of bringing proof that rent was paid. I have never seen this happen, as tenants by this time have had 3 to 4 weeks of not paying rent.

D: Tenant does not show up in court. The judge will issue a failure to appear warrant — because the tenant didn’t show up for court, the same result when a traffic ticket is ignored. That is when the fines and arrests start. Judges do not like being ignored. The criminal act is ignoring a lawful citation, not the lack of paying rent.

Reasons why this statute exists — once rent is not paid and time passes, that time cannot be repossessed, unlike a tangible object. It is lost forever. The law recognizes this fact in having defrauding innkeepers statutes, for the same reason. Theft of Services is a legal concept — a restaurant cannot repossess food that has been served. These laws exist in all states, even Minnesota.

The only other legal method of eviction is “unlawful detainer.” This requires an attorney on the landlords’ behalf, can result in less grace time for the tenant before the eviction is official, and will cost tenants more in rent by landlords if this is the only method available.

We have worked with tenants who have hit hard times and work out arrangements for payment of rent. The vast majority of tenants enter the legal contract of signing a lease with full intentions of honoring the agreement and they do. The vast majority of landlords want to provide a comfortable home for their tenants. Landlords pay mortgages, property taxes and have many other expenses — spending this money in the community is good economics.

I applaud Michele Lawrence for ensuring that our laws are followed by the prosecutors’ office.

We have been landlords here for 10 years, and have had rental properties since 1988.

Tony Dzianott

Hot Springs