I need some clear insite folks.I rent property to a man with a real violent past. But he served his time...numerous times.
When he moved in I told everyone has a past the only things that I would hold against you is any sort of violent crime against a woman whether it be assault or rape or hurting kids. And he said that he had done none of the above so I rented to him.
I just found out he has a aggrivated sexual assault charge. It was lessened to simple assault.I am thinking about evicting him as there are neighbors very close. What's YOUR oppinion?Keep in mind his debt to society is paid. Thankyou

Regardless of the debt that was paid, he lied to you. Chances are he will lie again or has other secrets. The fact that he has served numerous times and is a liar are major causes for concern.

If you decide to evict him, watch your back and call the police at the first sign of aggression.

If you did not state your conditions in contract, you could have difficulty evicting him since it's hearsay. Maybe seek legal counsel before taking any action.

Good luck to you!

Evictions are tricky as can be.
If you have it in writing that he had no (sexual) assault charges
and then found he did you are within your rights to boot him.

If you do not have it in writing, I am unsure you can..legally.

Actually this part you said " It was lessened to simple assault."

If this was the case then he was telling the truth for he was not convicted of a violent assault... So depends if you had asked was he convicted of those type of crimes or just accused... Not sure what he did Time for? Which seems he was honest and told you that he did Time... so a court would take it that you was fully aware that he had done time prior.. And if correct that is basically all you can ask..

But when it comes down to Eviction if he fights it you can not Evict him for that unless it is in the lease.. Verbal don't get far in court anymore..

There are sites that any Renter's could use to verify before renting.. it comes down to, he did not tell you the charges was for aggravated sexual assault charge but then he was not convicted for it and charges were lessened.. It is not often they will drop sexual charges unless it was not confirmed..

And it really all comes down to does he pay on time and have you had any issues with him as a renter..

It is always best to check prior then after..

I know as far as hiring someone if you hire them and did not run a back ground check unless it is on the application asking if they had been convicted and they lied saying no you can't fire them, if they didn't answer it at all and skipped the question and you did not catch it. That question can be on the application but you can not ask them out right if it is not on there or specified..

I would check with a Lawyer before I evicted someone on these bases.. You can consult one for free..

I actually went into the out of state counties court records. I had to request that info. as images need to
be reviewed by state .

I doubt very much you can evict him legally. He did lie to you, but who he was is not necessarily who he is today.
If he keeps his head down and has no more issues with the police now, what is the problem?

You rented to him, with the full knowledge,
that the man is a violent felon with multiple
convictions.

Common sense dictates, that repeat felons,
aren't the most forthright and honest citizens.

In the future, it would perhaps be beneficial, to
have full criminal background checks done,
prior to renting to anyone.

I see that you are from Texas.
Aggravated sexual assault is considered a 1st degree felony in Texas. The minimum imprisonment a person can get for this crime is twenty five years if victim is younger than 14 years, a deadly weapon was exhibited or used, the victim suffered significant injuries, drugs were used to execute the crime, or if the defendant tried to kill the child/person. in Texas, sometimes, judges allow individuals convicted of aggravated sexual assault crimes to serve part of their sentence on probation. It's possible he was told to register as a sex offender.

I spent 10 years working in the Nebraska corrections system and it seems VERY unlikely Aggravated would get reduced to simple assault.

You obviously rented to him as a repeat offender, so this is going to be difficult. None of this situation is good. He is a dangerous person no matter how you look at it. Access to court records of this nature vary from state to state. So, you need a good attorney or Legal Aid. If anything would happen to a neighbor, especially if he is a sex offender, you could be liable.

Obviously something has made you think his debt to society is not paid because you are willing to punish him.

The crime he was guilty of, which he served was simple assault. Society decided it was simple assault. Society punished him for simple assault.
Do you suspect the judge was paid off or convinced to allow a lesser charge or did some truth come out in court that proved it was a lesser crime.

If you are conerned about renting to anyone, you should probably be a bit more careful on who you accept as a tennent. Just trying to 'save face' for the neighbors is not really grounds for eviction. If you were just trying to make a 'statement' that you support giving ex-convicts a fair chance, you're not doing a very good job at that.

If you really want to evict him, look for other, better reasons.

What I've found is this. In Texas, I can evict for any reason I choose. You serve a notice to quit. On the 4th day you can go file. At that point the judges clerk will assign a court date.

Were you JUST looking for advice on whether or not you can evict him where you are? Or were you looking for additional or alternate thoughts about your reasoning about him? I ask, because I'm used to the word "insight" being used to talk about understanding each other and ourselves as humans, rather than just talking about legal and functional mechanics.

So I'll put something in, which you can of course ignore, if I'm off the mark from what you were after.

You repeatedly said that he "paid his debt to society." I have always found that to be a very dicey, and sometimes even misleading idea. Society doesn't get "repaid" by a member being imprisoned, even if they get treatment or guidance on how to avoid repeat incarceration. It's just a nice-sounding phrase, that we're supposed to use to close our own concerns about someone who did something wrong.

That's one of my own "insights" about this: since you mention it twice, as though you think you have to convince everyone else about something, the fact that you do, suggests the strong likelihood that you have a lot of doubts about it yourself. You might want to put in some more introspection about that.

Another thing to consider: the fact that someone is charged with aggravated assault first, and then that charge is reduced to something less, doesn't mean that the ORIGINAL charge was the more accurate one. In other words, more investigation would be needed to be sure that you've correctly assessed this person in either direction. The news is often full of people being charged with more intense crimes than they have actually committed, as well as with people who manage to use lawyers help to get the system to pretend they really didn't do anything as bad as they actually did. It's not logical to ASSUME that we know reality, from the charges.

A charge isn't a conviction. So he wasn't found guilty of the crimes you placed on your boundary list. Assuming it was assault against a man.
And how did you find out?
And if you had the ability to find out, then wouldn't it have been wiser to do that, before you rented him the room, if it was a deal breaker for you

Whatever you decide to do, don't turn your back on him.

Check your local laws. You may or may not need reason to evict or terminate rental agreement.

Is he causing problems or anything? If the only thing is his record and it's been a long time since that has happened and he's not causing problems now, why evict him? Charges and convictions are not the same things. I have charges against me for things I didn't do. You can charge anyone with anything, convictions are a different story. What's on paper is not always an accurate portrayal of reality either.

The general opinion here seems to be that a person committing Violent Crime may turn a new leaf while in the case of Sexual Assault it is unlikely; prison term or no prison term. I'm also inclined to believe so. It's then puzzling why judges allow sex offenders to serve part of their sentence on probation.

In India, we had a case where a minor (17) was convicted of aggravated sexual assault (extreme) and the victim (22) eventually died. The minor was let off after detention for 2 years in a Juvenile Center. His ID was protected as he was a minor.

Certainly, judges are supposed to know more or refer to some publications?
My interest, since I'm working with teens.

I don't know if you legally can. Depends on the lease and the state eviction laws..

I had a renter just stop paying me.. just stopped. My lease with him was iron clad. By the time it went thru the eviction process 4 months went by. I could not throw him out, I could not go into MY own property during those 4 months. He left it trashed.
He stiffed me for a little over $3K, so I Decided to take him to court. I contacted 3 lawyers all 3 said.. no problem, the tenant doesn't have a leg to stand on.. lawyer cost, $2,800... so they wanted me to pay $2,800 to win $3,100
Lesson learned...I didn't go to court...I sold both of the properties, I will never be a landlord again.

Well Advisors, heres what I learned.Florida keeps a lot of publio info. to a minimum. So I petitioned the court to make public the circumstances of the case. It took a few days but they emailed me and said my request was granted and for now on he info. that I requested would now be readily accessible.What they released was the stenographers records word for word.talk about surprised!!And thats why I'm surethat they lessened the conviction
As for my tenant,hes long gone from what I gather.I live in THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS.This is the CAN DO STATE ya"ll and we can evict for any reason we see fit.Provided its reasonable.Anyways, God bless yall and God bless TEXAS !!!