Need help with tenant; I rented out a house for the first time after remodeling

[Dkay55]

I rented out a house for the first time after remodeling it to a woman and her 12 year old daughter. My wife and I purchased the house because we owned a garage on the adjoining lot. The woman signed a 1 year lease with her father co signing. The father said he owned rental property and his own business (which he does) But had no rentals empty and she wanted a house. She moved in in Sept 2011 with no problems. Loved the house! In Jan 2012 she called and said there was something wrong with the heat. I told her she had not given me back a key (I only had 2 and she needed both so she was to have me one made) but she said that the back door was unlocked . I told her I would call the man that had installed the unit (it was new May 2011) and I would meet him at the house to check the unit. When I got to the house the man was not there as of yet so while waiting for him tried the back door to make sure she had left it unlocked, when i turned the door knob the door was unlocked so I just pulled the door back shut and waited on the man when he came he found that the unit needed a switch and it would take 2 days to get. I called her back and told her he was to call me in 2 days when the part came in and we would go down and fix it. Problem was fixed 2 days later. In March she called and said that the hot water was leaking. I called a plumber and he came and I meet him at the house and fixed the problem. She had left the back door unlocked for us again. Problem fixed. While there I noticed 3 cats in the house and she had permission (written which she signed) to have only 1 I wrote her a notice for the late rent and utilities and also told her that she would have to get rid of 2 of the cats. I informed her she had 10 days to correct the problem and pay the money owed. When we went to the garage in the next few days she told us that she was thinking about moving because there was a leak in the kitchen sink and there was rats in the attic. She showed me a pic of what she said was rat feces on her daughters pillow which had fell out of the ceiling vent that was no where near her daughters bed. I told her that to put her complaints in writing and to put the date she would be moving and I would correct the problems if there were any and I would try to re lease the house but wanted her to know that she still had to pay the utilities owed and would be responsiable for the rent until it was released. She still had 6 months on the lease. When the 10 days was up I called her and got no answer so we went to the house and found that the blinds were off all the downstairs windows and when I walked up to the front door which is half glass you could see that there was no furniture. I called the police and he came and acknowledged that it looked vacant to him. We could not get in touch with her so we called her father which had co signed for her and was by him that he would come and do the walk thru and handle everything for her from that point. When he came the next day he had no keys and we did not either because she had never gave me back one. Her father and I checked and found a window that she had left unlocked so I climbed in that and unlocked the front door. After the walk thru he seen the missing blinds and the damages she had done. He told us to send him all the utilities she owed and the rent and get the things she had took replaced and the things she broke fixed and send him all the bills and as the co signer he would pay them. He shook my hand and left. After he left my wife and I found a letter she had left stating the she had left the house because of the rodents and she did not feel safe or safe for her daughter because I had been seen numerous times peeping in her windows and I had entered her home and was going to her daughters bedroom when her daughhter seen me I ran out and left in my car. This NEVER happened! Because of this she felt that I had broken the lease not her and she would have to file charges against me because her daughter is 12 years old if I take her to court for the money she owes. I drive a school bus and the things she is accusing me of could make me lose my job. I never went to that property unless she called and then only went there to fix the problem. I called and was told by a exterminator that her charges of rodents was unfounded. That rodents do not stay in attics They stay where there is food I have released the house but I lost 2 1/2 months rent, $700 in utilities and $300 damages which would have been much more but I did all the work and bought less expensive things to replace what she took or broke. I sent the co signer her father the itemized list and he said he was not paying anything she was going to take me to court so she could tell the judge what I had done. I recently checked the court records online and found that the day she moved in our house she was to be in court on a un lawful detainer charge with her then landlord. He got a $2000 default judgement. So she had lied on the application when she wrote that she had never been evicted or been to court with any landlord and she was in good standing with her present land lord. If only we would have known. We live in a small community so what can we do. These lies can ruin me. Thank you for any help you can offer.

This is a good lesson for a landlord to ALWAYS do background checks etc on tenants who want to live in a place you are renting.

Get yourself an attorney and find out how best to protect yourself because of your position in the school district.

Was there any evidence of rat droppings in the attic or anywhere else in the house?

Be sure you get a police report that states the property was empty and appeared abandoned. Get the locks changed on this place now. NEVER give your only set of keys to the tenant.

Sorry but the big block of text was difficult to read. Paragraphs are your friend. Did you receive a security deposit ? Damages may be taken out of that.

Familiarize yourself with the laws of your state, and really, consult an attorney. Perhaps you can countersue for defamation of character etc.

[Dkay55]

Thank you so much for your help.
The answer to your question is no there was no signs of any kind of rodents in the house. We had it checked and it was found to be untrue. The exterminator told us to begin with rodents do not like the attics in houses . They want to be where the food is.
I will take your advice and from this point there will always be a background check done. I am sorry for the block of letters . I am new to this but had to ask someone. Thank you again for your help.

Since you had the exterminator out, you could get a copy of his report for yourself if the report states there is no evidence whatsoever of rodent infestation in any area of the house or apartment, including kitchen, cupboards, drawers, attic, basement or crawlspace, etc etc. If any droppings were found, perhaps it could be addressed as to how old those droppings are--old ones would probably be dried out and have a different consistency than ones that were, say, older than 6 months old.

Did you get a security deposit before this tenant moved in?

[Dkay55]

There were no signs of any rodents in any part of the house. They said that when you live in the country it would not be unusal to get a mouse , but they found none or any signs.
Yes we did get a security deposit and when we contacted the father (cosigner) with the final tally we deducted the deposit but there was still over $2000 owed.
Thank you for asking and your help.

Originally Posted by Dkay55 There were no signs of any rodents in any part of the house. They said that when you live in the country it would not be unusal to get a mouse , but they found none or any signs. Yes we did get a security deposit and when we contacted the father (cosigner) with the final tally we deducted the deposit but there was still over $2000 owed. Thank you for asking and your help.

Wow, that's quite a bit of damage! Are you in any kind of a union at your district? Often, there will be a free attorney consultation, as well as free or low-cost defense against accusations. Check with your district about this, consult an attorney to safeguard your good name and your job, and then decide if taking these low life scums to court would be in order. I am sorry for your troubles!