A Moment of Joy... Just a Moment

So I woke up tense this morning, not really knowing how everything was going to go in court. By the time it was noon, I had already planned out every scenario and outcome that could have possibly arose in that courtroom. I called. Lawyer answered. I asked how it went. He said, "She has until next week to get out of your property."

My lawyer, let's call him Marvin Wassle, said that Laurie was crying in the courtroom complaining about code enforcement and all that. Both the judge and Wassle were trying to explain to her that code violations are irrelevant in this case. She didn't seem to understand that and continued complaining that I'm a slumlord and whatnot. The judge showed some sympathy when Laurie pull out the "I have 5 kids and no where to go" angle, even bringing the dirty bastards to court with her. The judge was about to schedule Laurie's ouster for Wednesday but gave her the extra two days for her kids' sake.

Upon hearing this I let out a major sigh of relief and now have a judgement against Laurie. I wanted to jump up and do a dance, but I knew there's much work to be done (besides, I had already done a dance and didn't get much joy out of it). The first battle is over. After next week Friday, she isn't allowed in the downstairs unit anymore. The second battle now begins: How much damage can Laurie do to that unit in a month? She can still go to her sister upstairs and mess up the place from there. Until both tenants are out, the war isn't done. I'm not sure whether Annie will be able to find a place in time, so I may have to go through the same thing as I did with Laurie. Best case scenario is Annie finds a place before the end of May and I can start making repairs and get new tenants before June starts. The most likely scenario is that I'll have to get Wassle to get Annie out as well, then have everyone gone by June 17th, giving me about two weeks to get Property Chi ready for new tenants.

I'm glad I went through this-- most of it anyway. The MPS system, my tenant management system, works in general. The one weapon that a tenant has against a landlord in court is code enforcement, and that's nullified by bringing them to court due to an expiring lease, not for rent or anything like that. All I have to do is figure out how I can minimize the monetary damage and I'll have an almost perfect system in which to base my future dealings with tenants on.