I need to evict a tenant in Lakewood ASAP

[Sienna]

Hello,

I currently live in NY and purchased a home in Lakewood with an existing tenant who has been living there for 5 years.

I need to increase his rent by 75% (around $850) to cover my mortgage.

I tried negotiating with the tenant and explaining why I need to increase his rent by this amount but he was unwilling to agree to the full 75% rent increase to bring his rent to market value (he agreed to 30-40% but not the full amount I need to cover my mortgage). He is currently paying well below market value.

He is in a month to month tenancy and has a signed Bais Din Mashayim lease (from the previous owner).

Honestly, I've had enough with him and at this point I don't want to offer him any lease. I just want to evict him and find a new tenant.

Which Bais Din should I go to for the highest chance of eviction? Bais Din Mashayim? Bais Havaad?

Are there any Batei Din in Lakewood that I should probably avoid? Do I have a better chance with the courts?

I want to get this done as quickly as possible.

UPDATE:

It looks like I've been getting a lot of feedback on whether it is the right thing for me to evict or not. I don't care about that. I live in NY and I'm unfamiliar with the Lakewood Batei Din landscape I want to know which Batei Din in Lakewood to go to and which to avoid for the best possible chance of success and getting the job done as quickly as possible.

[imayid2]

Can you legally evict him if you aren’t moving in?

[Sienna]

Can you legally evict him if you aren’t moving in?

I will be moving into the upstairs, he lives in the basement (so it will be an owner occupied home)

Once I evict him I will rent out the basement to someone else who is willing to pay the current market price

[dm123]

I will be moving into the upstairs, he lives in the basement (so it will be an owner occupied home)

Once I evict him I will rent out the basement to someone else who is willing to pay the current market price

No idea if this is halachikaly legally or practically applicable but if you would move into the basement and rent out the upstairs would that help? Then it would be owner occupied evicting the renter.


Or move into whole house and evict. If you change your mind after a few months/a year you're not allowed to rent it out again?

[imayid2]

I will be moving into the upstairs, he lives in the basement (so it will be an owner occupied home)

Once I evict him I will rent out the basement to someone else who is willing to pay the current market price

I don’t have personal experience, but I spoke to a Dayan on Bais Havad once about this. Assuming the basement isn’t a legal unit you should be able to legally evict him. It sounded like you would have the upper hand in this case halachikly regarding raising the rent and eviction. You can try to confirm this with them, probably easiest way is to call their question line and ask about the halachik implementations of legally evicting the tenant in your specific case.

[smart man]

Hello,

I live in Lakewood. I purchased a home with an existing tenant who has been living there for 5 years.

I need to increase his rent by 75% (around $850) to cover my mortgage.

I tried negotiating with the tenant and explaining why I need to increase his rent by this amount but he was unwilling to agree to the full 75% rent increase to bring his rent to market value (he agreed to 30-40% but not the full amount I need to cover my mortgage). He is currently paying well below market value.

He is in a month to month tenancy and has a signed Bais Din Mashayim lease (from the previous owner).

Honestly, I've had enough with him and at this point I don't want to offer him any lease. I just want to evict him and find a new tenant.

Which Bais Din should I go to for the highest chance of eviction? Bais Din Mashayim? Bais Havaad?

Are there any Batei Din in Lakewood that I should probably avoid? Do I have a better chance with the courts?

I want to get this done as quickly as possible.

So you want to his rent from $1150ish to 2000ish and you had enough of him? Imagine what he has of you.

[yitzgar]

So you want to his rent from $1150ish to 2000ish and you had enough of him? Imagine what he has of you.

Apparently not enough because he wants to stay....

[imayid2]

So you want to his rent from $1150ish to 2000ish and you had enough of him? Imagine what he has of you.

While your point is true, the reality is that OP as the new owner of the house isn’t having his mortgaged covered by his rent, and has the upper hand Halachikly and legally. Is it fair to ask him to bleed money on a monthly basis? Is the previous owner also a villain for selling the house and causing this situation?

[CountValentine]

While your point is true, the reality is that OP as the new owner of the house isn’t having his mortgaged covered by his rent, and has the upper hand Halachikly and legally. Is it fair to ask him to bleed money on a monthly basis? Is the previous owner also a villain for selling the house and causing this situation?

What does the mortgage have to do with what rent is charged? If I had no mortgage should the rent be 0.00?

[ExGingi]

Allow me to suggest a compromise that might work (I proposed something along these lines years ago to two friends of mine where one was the landlord wanting to expand his living space, and the other was a tenant who was there even before the current landlord and was paying below market rent - the tenant was out in 4 o 5 months):

Make monthly increases of $200 to the rent. If he moves out within X number of months, he gets back a certain percentage of the increases he paid (the larger you offer as a refund the faster he will move out).

[yitzgar]

What does the mortgage have to do with what rent is charged? If I had no mortgage should the rent be 0.00?

I think he just means that he would like to be nice and accommodate the tenant, but isn't able to financially.

[SSLPhD]

What does the mortgage have to do with what rent is charged? If I had no mortgage should the rent be 0.00?

OTOH, do people really expect rent to fully cover their mortgage?

[smart man]

While your point is true, the reality is that OP as the new owner of the house isn’t having his mortgaged covered by his rent, and has the upper hand Halachikly and legally. Is it fair to ask him to bleed money on a monthly basis? Is the previous owner also a villain for selling the house and causing this situation?

No ones a villain but what was the plan when he bought this house? He knew there were tenants paying last years price. Honestly I think his tenants are being more than reasonable by agreeing to 30-40%.

[Yehuda57]

OTOH, do people really expect rent to fully cover their mortgage?

How long is a piece of string?

[CountValentine]

I think he just means that he would like to be nice and accommodate the tenant, but isn't able to financially.

That makes sense.

[imayid2]

What does the mortgage have to do with what rent is charged? If I had no mortgage should the rent be 0.00?

It is reasonable to include into your mortgage affordability calculations, the market value of a rentable unit. 

[CountValentine]

How long is a piece of string?

That depends.

[smart man]

It is reasonable to include into your mortgage affordability calculations, the market value of a rentable unit.

There was just another thread about someone buying a home with a current renter and how to get the renter out before he buys.
If it’s so simple to just get the current rent from the renter there wouldn’t be such discussions.

[dealmaster]

Not being able to cover the mortgage is a total non factor, either you have a halachik right to raise the rent or you don’t. As a worker for a real estate company that rents out (among other things) residential homes I can fully understand the frustration of not being able to raise rent, but G-d has a plan and it is called Halacha, and the only place to get a real answer on what Halacha says is beis din. You can’t lose out by following, no mater how enticing it may seem to go to court(unless you get a heter arkuois).

[aygart]

Let's say in a year from now rents are much lower, will you drop their rent back down? How will you pay your mortgage?