Landlord rights

I need help as the landlord. We have rented to our tenant for 2 years. The first year he paid rent ontime. no problem
this last year has been a nightmare getting him to pay - first late then in October he did not pay at all - he paid the rent in Nov and ask us to use his last months rent (given when he moved in) for Oct - we agreeded thinking he was leaving - Dec he did not pay rent and Jan has not paid rent - we gave him a 3 day pay rent or quit notice in Oct but then he paid in Nov - we agreed, against our better judgement to use security deposit as DEc rent - but now I want him out - I have told him to be out by Feb 8th then he said could not get out, had not place for his stuff - I rented a storage unit for his stuff and told him to get out by Friday - he is not sure he can do this.....meanwhile- all utilities have been shut off for a month for non payment by him. I am worried about the condition of my home and I can't get him out!!! I am reluctant to file eviction notice as I know this is a long process and I have new tenants ready to move in March 1st. How can I get him OUT!!! Help - LL must have some rights to their property.
BTW - not sure if he is not growing something illegal in my house - no proof but can smell when he answers the door.
HELP

[OHlandlord]

I do need some info. What state are you in?

First of all, you have made some mistakes here that I don't want you to ever repeat with any other tenant. These items are non-negotiable!

1. Post the pay or quit (3 day notice) as soon as legally possible for your state and your lease. Only give the tenant a grace period if one is required by state law or by lease clause. Be prepared to follow through with further action as soon as the notice expires.
2. Never allow a tenant to use the last month's rent unless they have given you a written notice of intent to vacate. That is the only time they may use this rent.
3. ******NEVER, EVER, ALLOW A TENANT TO USE THE SECURITY DEPOSIT FOR ANY MONTH'S RENT!!!!!!***** I can not stress this strongly enough! If a tenant requests this tell them, "Absolutely not!" This money is your only protection against un-reimbursed damages to the unit. Once you have allowed them to use this money, you have nothing to repair the damages they do to a unit. And never return this prior to vacating the unit, at the moment they return the keys, or a few days later. Take nearly the whole time that the state allows you to look for damages and deduct them from the deposit. In this same vein, do not write a condition or inspection sheet at move out that states a certain amount of damages to be deducted. Write on that statement, "This inspection sheet is not a comprehensive list of damages to the unit. Other damages may be found and deducted from the deposit during the discovery period as permitted by state law." Many hidden damages will be found later after you do that walk through with the tenant.

Sorry, about the lecture, but this is for your own good, trust me! You need to take charge of the rental if it is going to be profitable. LLing is a business and must be treated as such. I hope you don't take offense to my lecture.

Now, you have a real problem here. You do not have a current 3 day on the tenant since he paid after you served the last one. That invalidates the previous one. Does he have a lease? If not, you can give him the required written notice to vacate the premises. (I need your state to tell you how many days this is. It varies from 10 days to 60 days depending on the state.) You can only do this if there is no lease. If he has a lease, serve the pay or quit notice immediately, along with a bill for all the monies he owes you (rent, utilities, late fees, etc.). Do not accept any payment except payment in full for all monies owed during this time. Yes, eviction does take some time, but if you had started this in January when he didn't pay the rent, he would have been out by now.

The next thing you can do since there are no utilities on, is to call the health department and the city building/code inspector. Let them know that this tenant has absolutely no utilities there and the unit is certainly not habitable without utilities on. They should mark the unit as such and that should force him to vacate immediately. Push the matter with them if they seem unconcerned. Call your city council person for this property too and let them know this tenant is living in an uninhabitable unit. Often they have clout with these departments. Yes, the unit will be marked as uninhabitable, but once they move him out, you declare the place abandoned, change the locks and turn the utilities back on. Then re-call the person who tags the unit and he will remove the tag.

You should also contact the utilities and see if you will be responsible for any unpaid utilities from the tenant. Many companies do hold the owner responsible (especially for water and heat bills). You may have a huge bill coming your way and not know it yet. If they do hold it against you, find out how much those bills are now. If you will be responsible for them you have the right to know how much they are. You don't want a surprise like that showing up in a month or two when they are unable to collect from the tenant. Find out now.

One last thing, you should call the new tenants up and let them know what is going on. Tell them the last tenant is not out yet and is dragging his feet. They expect to move in on a certain date and have the right to know if they may not be able to take possessin then. They may be stuck in a bad position because they must be out of their old place and have no new place to move to. You may be liable if you cannot grant possession to them when the lease says. Hopefully, your lease gives you a grace period to give posession before they can cancel the contract. Please let me know your state and any other information that is relevent.

I am in California -- Thank You so much for your advise, no offence taken. I had only intended to hold onto my property until the market changes and then sell and Not to be in the landlord business. After this transaction I am hoping to get out of the business as soon as possible - if only the market would change faster!! My tenant is on a month to month agreement.

I have already visited the city health department and they have already posted a notice - my tenant is living down the street in a room at his friends house, so really MY home is only a storage unit for his stuff!!
I rented a storage unit for his stuff in his name and gave him until Friday the 15th to get all his stuff out -- I even reserved a truck for him use. However,I still have no guarentee that he will be out by then - What can I do about illegal activies going on in my home? I hope they can't take my home because of that.

I will take all your advise for my new tenants - I have already informed them as well. I have not signed a new lease with them yet just verbally said I would rent to them.

[OHlandlord]

What notice did the health department post? I would also contact the city code/building inspector and the city council person for that neighborhood. If the place is marked as inhabitable, post a notice immediately that he must vacate the unit within the number of days on the health dept. notice (or 3 days - a pay or quit). If he doesn't vacate within that time, go file eviction. You may also want to look at CA law on unconditional quit (I see you can post an unconditional quit notice for illegal activity). Let the code inspector & the council person know you suspect illegal activity and are trying to get the tenant out, could they help? You may also want to contact the police if you suspect ilegal activity. They ususally do not seize houses from LLs who are proactive and are trying to get rid of the tenant here. You need to get this guy out quickly before damage is done to your property for lack of utilities. Or before someone breaks into it and trashes it.