(Mobile, Ala.) Mark Marshall lives in Birmingham, so he thought he would rent his home in Mobile.
And in October of 2010, he found a renter, whom Mark said planned to buy the property in the future.
"That was the worst mistake I've ever made," said Marshall.
So what went wrong?
"He never paid me on time," said Marshall. "No payment on time, ever. And then it got to the point in July he quit paying."
Marshall says since July his renter has been living in his house paying him... nothing.
He says this is the first time he's ever tried to rent a piece of property to anyone, and thought this was a pretty good bet because this tenant is no ordinary tenant.
He's an attorney.
That's right, a lawyer.
A sign in the widow verified that the house was the office of Mobile attorney John Rivers.
At one o'clock Monday afternoon, a Mobile County sheriff's deputy showed up at the door, looking for Rivers.
And when Rivers didn't show, the attorney's stuff... office furniture, supplies, even file cabinets, were carted out the door and on to the driveway.
Marshall says he's been waiting for this day for four months.
It might have taken longer, had he not had signed agreements with the tenant and hired an attorney.
That's a good idea, according to Mobile County Sheriff's Deputy Vince Edwards.
"Well, the longer you wait, the longer you're gonna be losing rent money," said the deputy. "So although it does cost money to file the papers in court. So keep that in mind, the longer you wait to file the paperwork, the process won't begin until you file."
And then it's six to eight weeks to work through the courts.
Ask any attorney.
Well, maybe not any attorney...
"I thought that he would have been more dependable and a lot more true to his word than he has been,"
commented Marshall.
According to court records, Rivers was behind more than 75 hundred dollars on his rent.
Local 15 made several calls to Rivers today, and left a message asking for his side of the story.
By six o'clock Monday evening, he had yet to respond.
Mark Marshall's house is now for sale.
