The eviction process dragged on – Post 9 of the Boise Roommate Saga

What was supposed to take 2 weeks morphed into 3, going on 4 weeks. The roommates did not go quickly or quietly. Despite the fact that they owed over $7,000 in rent and had promised to be out by July 1, they still just didn’t quite leave.

They kept claiming to have a new place, only to have it evaporate at the last minute. Then then would message us again, begging for one more day, or two more days, claiming to have keys, claiming they can be gone if only they had another 24 hours.

In between begging, they threatened to sue us and threatened us with the misdemeanor battery charge, threatening to send Callan to jail and telling Callan that they would make sure Callan would lose their job.

By this time we were all very weary of living in an airbnb. Laura needed to go back home, and John flew out in order to help me drive home. But meanwhile, there was not much to do except wait.

Finally it was time to have the court hearing for the eviction. Despite repeated extensions and offers to dismiss the hearing, the roommates still occupied the house. We didn’t expect them to appear at the hearing, and sure enough they didn’t. The judge ruled in our favor and went on to the next case. We signed off (the hearing was taking place by video). What a relief. One step done.

But a few minutes later our attorney called us. The roommates had shown up after all! Late, but the court admitted them. Now we needed to go to mandatory mediation. Apparently state law mandates mediation, but in addition to that, there must be something in the Idaho court systems that rewards attorneys for coming up with a mediation agreement (and not just going to mediation and failing to come to an agreement), because we were completely strong-armed by our own attorney into coming to some sort of compromise.

By this time we were at the end of our patience, but we were essentially being forced to acquiesce somehow. So we gave the roommates another 24 hours. We knew it wouldn’t help anything – they would miss that deadline too. But it appeased the court. And what was one more day after all those days, weeks and months of waiting for these deadbeats to finally leave?

With John and I readying to head home, the kid’s dad, Dave, had arrived to provide back-up. One of the things Dave was doing was checking on the house once a day to see if the roommates had moved out yet, because the rest of us weren’t up for running the risk of having a confrontation with the roommates. Dave would stop by briefly, and leave as soon as he verified that the roommates, or their stuff, was still occupying the house.

Sure enough, by the next day the roommates were still not out, even after being given yet another extra 24 hours. Their final 72-hour countdown started.

Callan was still getting depressing messages from the roommates:

Unfortunately, when the roommates took the game cabinet she references, they also stole all of Callan’s games; board games and role-playing games, and decks of carefully curated speciality cards like magic cards. Those are sort of like trading cards – it takes years to build up good decks and Callan will never have those specific decks again. It would have driven me out of my mind to have people in my house, stealing my stuff, unable to do anything about it. Callan was remarkably patient.

Also the roommates continued their threats about the misdemeanor battery charge. We believe the “family lawyer” is a piece of fiction. The roommates may not even understand that they have no say how the charges turn out unless it goes to trial. If it goes to trial, either the prosecution or the defense might decide to call them to testify. No family lawyer is involved. It’s the State of Idaho against Callan.

Meanwhile there was light at the end of the tunnel regarding the eviction process. Only 72 more hours before the Sheriff came to physically remove them. Our main concern at this point was the possibility that the roommates would retaliate by damaging the house. It doesn’t take very long to do hundreds of thousands of dollars damage to a house. They had already done some damage, plus stolen some things, so it was a very real possibility.

And we waited.

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