It was, for the tenant I was evicting today.  The judge was dumbfounded. One of the reasons she was making fun them was their 23 year old son was helping getting them evicted.  The judge mercilessly questioned them whey they wouldn't put out this bad seed.  On top of that she (and the rest of us) couldn't understand why after 20 years in Houston, the only reason they hadn't moved was they were waiting for a reference from Florida, showing felonies!!!!  They have been living without power for almost a month now.  Even still they stood before the judge and tried to explain about medical problems.  The judge just looked at them and said she would have just moved sooner.  There was really no pity there.  And if you had dealt with this family, most of you wouldn't either.

Sorry, just needed to rant.

What were your grounds for eviction? (fellow landlord here)

Did you turn off the power?

--LS

Bad tenents are a real pain in the ass, it may be the biggest downside to being a landlord.

Only if he is standing next to you at the urinal.  [BD]

Grounds for eviction were non payment of rent.  After we gave notice that we would not be renewing their lease they decided it was not necessary to pay rent for the last month.  There were also several other lease violations.  

This is an all bills paid property.  We have the right to shut off the power of nonpaying tenants.

It should be interesting what condition the apartment is left in.  Maybe I'll post pics.

I'll never forget that I was in court one day for a traffic ticket and a guy was up before the judge for being drunk in public.  The judge was looking at pictures of the defendent I guess from the arrest.  The judge told the guy that he would call him an animal but he diddnt think an animal would degrade itself as much he did. That got a few snickers in the courtroom.