Evicting Tenants!
OK, it’s illegal to board up the property with your tenants still inside and burn the place to the ground to collect the insurance money and solve your bad tenant problem at the same time, but I can understand why some landlords feel like doing this every now and then! I doubt any of us are really any good when it comes to arson anyway so let’s avoid the slammer if we can. It seems that every law out there is written in the tenant’s favor and for protection from the “evil” landlords. I’ve never really understood why this is.
You can ask any landlord or property manager which tenants are problem tenants and which are excellent tenants. They all have their favorites and their not-so-favorite tenants to deal with. Any landlord or property manager with a lick of sense will do everything they can to keep a good tenant happy. In the past I’ve discounted a month’s rent when a good tenant of mine was in a legitimately bad situation. He was never late with the rent or even complained about anything. He took great care of the property and even increased it’s value by adding some fencing and updated the ceiling fans. I didn’t even realize the interior improvements until I revisted the property a year later to do an annual walkthrough inspection.
It’s a pain to have to evict a problem tenant. Usually it’s for the reason of non-payment of rent. Rarely is there any other reason, unless they are totally destructive of your property. No matter how bad the tenant is, I still get the feeling that I’m doing something terrible to someone who’s in a bad situation when I go to evict them. This is a feeling that you will have to overcome in this business, or at least supress it. You cannot afford to let someone catch a free ride in this line of work or you will run into trouble with your own creditors. It all boils down to you or them that has to face the music . I’d rather it be them. I’ve played it too safe and responsible to let someone come along and try to ruin my credit that I’ve built over the years.
Now most of the time, problem tenants deserve a good slap in the face. They will avoid your phone calls, not come to the door when you drop by, or will hit you with a billion excuses why they can’t pay their rent. It’s amazing how many problems can develop for a tenant that you just met a few months ago who acted like they had it all together. Soon after, you realize that is a front they use on all new landlords they meet. They’ve always had the same problems but some of them have gotten very good at decieving unsuspecting “evil” landlords into allowing them to lease out their property. This is why it’s imperative to do your background checks and call the references listed on their rental application.
Before I evict a tenant (it’s usually been after a month of not receiving the rent payment plus the late fees on that rent), I will take a notice of eviction and tape it to the front door if the deadbeats aren’t home. My eviction notices basically let them know that they have exactly 48 hours to catch up their rent or I will file for eviction at the local Magistrate Court and hold them responsible for the filing fees plus all unpaid rent due. This generally gets a response from them one way or another and I usually get a sad story about this and that, but oddly enough they have some money to hand over. It may be the full amount or it may only be a partial payment. It’s up to you whether or not you want to accept any partial rent payments (I usually will if it’s a large portion of the rent owed) but just know that if you decide to accept the partial payment you cannot go forward with trying to evict them legally. Generally you cannot try to evict someone if they have paid you anything towards rent within the last 30 days, even if it’s as small as $50.
If you do not hear from the tenants at all then make one last trip over to the property to make sure they haven’t abandoned it. Sometimes you will have people flee into the night and the house will be empty of all possessions, except a load of unwanted items and trash here and there. If this is the case then the problem is solved. Use their security deposit to hire someone to clean it up and get the unit rent ready again. If there is anything left from the deposit then apply it to the unpaid rent balance. You’re still at a loss more than likely, but at least you don’t have to go file at the Magistrate Court now.
The Magistrate Court eviction process is really not that difficult as some people might think. Perhaps it is in other areas but I can only speak for my county. In my area, I have to pay a $69 filing fee for the complaint and then list the reason why I am evicting the tenants and also the amount the tenants owe, plus late fees. The Magistrate Court will send a deputy or some other type of law official out to the property and will serve them with an offical eviction notice from the county. There will be instructions on the notice of how they can dispute the eviction if they feel they are being treated unfairly. Usually they don’t have a leg to stand on. Either they paid the rent or they didn’t. The Magistrate Judge could really care less for the reason’s why the tenant didn’t pay unless it was the fault of the landlord for not providing a particular service that was supposed to be provided (like heat). In some cases tenants can rightfully withhold some rent if the Landlord doesn’t fulfill his side of the lease (usually by providing some type of amenity). The tenant has seven days to respond or the Landlord can legally take back his/her possession of the property.
Whatever you think or feel about the situation of evicting someone from one of your properties, just know that you WILL run into this from time to time. Do your best to always treat your tenants fairly but remember that you have bills to pay as well and if someone is not paying their rent, then they are actually robbing you of the money that you could be earning off of some other tenant that would be happy to lease your property. In most cases, the Magistrate judge will side with the Landlord if he/she can prove the tenant has not paid the rent or has committed some other offense that violates their end of the lease. Don’t be afraid of going to court and fighting for yourself if the tenants actually want to dispute the eviction. You won’t need a lawyer or anything in small claims court, unless you feel that you would be more comfortable with one. You will more than likely win the suit and will be awarded all rent due and then you can garnish the wages of your former tenants until you have been repaid in full!
Feel free to leave a comment and let us know of your bad tenant problems below!
5 Responses “Evicting Tenants!”
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very informative.5*
Evictions… Ugh… I don’t own any investment property YET but goodness what a situation. I don’t know if I could kick a family out after one month of not paying. Idunno… LOL. I’m such a pushover I would probably give my tenants free rent in December (Merry Christmas) for paying on time throughout the rest of the year. OF COURSE I would somehow add this ‘free rent’ into the 11 months that they actually DO pay (business minded but with a heart I am). MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, JAKE! GREAT POST!
Necie Reed says: “I’m such a pushover”
Stop it Necie! Stop this right now! I am actually concerned about you now. Don’t do that to yourself.
I’m a tenant, and I know what tenants will do. I shamefully have done them myself,(and wished I hadn’t).
Landlording and Tenanting can be a vicious game of survival sometimes on both sides.
Jake! That was yet another awesome and informative post, good job.
Your going to be my favorite poster I think.
But Jake, those kind of tenants you spoke of in the beginning of your article, are known as Gypsies. No pun intended for the Gypsie Culture, and I’m not trying to be a racist.
On the streets where i come from, Gypsy comes in all shapes, colors, sizes, and religions.
It simply means, someone who moves around alot, mostly who can’t keep anykind of housing for too long for one reason or another. I personally know a whole lot of them.
Evictions are sometimes very sad and unnerving. You have to be a total crapper, to not feel something when you evict a family with babies. But, unfortunately, as Jake stated,”It’s me or them”, and he is right to think that way, regardless of how heart wrenching it is.
I live in a 2 flat brick with a garden apartment (which is the same as a basement apartment).
There was a young lady in her mid 30’s with three little girls ages 5,4, and 2, who were just evicted lastweek by the County Sherrif.
Good thing I showed up home when I did. I had to grab the babies, until Mom came back to get them. Otherwise the Sherrif would have been compelled to contact Child Protection Services.
Sadly, the Mom just got a Job with Target Retail that morning, but she was behind in her rent since last May, so there was no way she’d be able to catch up. But, then my Landlady took forever to enforce her authority. She didn’t file until September. She should have been on that months ago. Nonetheless, it was sad, but neccessary.
I am impressed with the work you have put into your blog. It is complete with information and opinion. Good Job!
powerleg5
Good Article! I have a couple rental properties and have had good luck so far. Thanks for writing.