The Nephew

So here's the deal: in February, Inga had two boarders. Shane the felon, and if you want the story behind that, feel free to look in the archives. Shane is gone. His parole officer got involved. The police got involved. And after a thinly veiled threat to Inga (in writing, no less!), the judge got involved. I don't know where the dude is and I don't care.

Inga's other boarder has been living in her home since some time last summer. I have never seen him, but he just happens to be Shane's nephew. He also has not followed his lease. Inga has a soft heart for such lost souls, and has been letting the Nephew off the hook when it comes to the basics of the lease, like paying the actual rent.

When life with Shane got unpleasant, the Nephew stayed with Inga--though I don't really think he took her side. As I may have inappropriately pointed out to Inga, why would he move? The price is right and he doesn't take her threats of eviction seriously.

Anyway, Inga and Liam (her estranged husband) have done everything to get rid of the Nephew short of the only legal course of action: serving him with eviction papers. This, of course, is what I have been telling her to do for months. When Liam called me earlier this month, he said that he gave the Nephew ANOTHER 30 day notice. But not to worry! This time Liam was absolutely super-duper sure the Nephew would oblige.

Now then, for all of you who have gone to my crash-course landlord school, what do you think happened? Take your time. I will wait here while you look through your notes. I believe in open-book quizzes.

To the surprise of only Liam and Inga, guess what!? The Nephew is still there. And yes, things have gotten ugly. The police were called this week. A police officer even took her aside and told her to get an immediate order of protection. And from what I understand Inga actually called an attorney--something I have told her to do for months. However, I don't think she has gotten the order of protection.

All this crazy backstory is to tell you about the text I just got. I am guessing there has been some action on the whole eviction front because she wrote me, wanting to know what to do. You see someone has advised her not to go near the Nephew's personal belongings. However, the Nephew's cat is in his bedroom and appears to be in (her words) "distress." She wanted to know what she should she do?

My true feeling is it would be acting as a reasonable person by peeking open the door, checking on the cat and make sure it has water.

As history shows, Inga doesn't listen to me anyway. And if she did, I would have no blog fodder, so win-win, right? What I told her was to immediately call her attorney. Pay the $200 an hour for this phone call and find out what he thought she should do. I wasn't touching this one. Perhaps she will listen to someone whose advice she is willing to pay for.