Have you ever had to evict a tenant? Evicting a tenant is never an easy process to go through and can cause landlords a great deal of stress, especially if the tenant is kicking up a fuss and confrontational. Sometimes, eviction is essential and it is important that you know how to evict a tenant so that you can handle the process effectively and legally.
Keep reading to discover 3 essential steps for evicting a tenant that will come in handy.
1. Review Eviction Laws
First, you need to review eviction laws and this is one of the critical steps in evicting a tenant. You do not want to attempt to evict a tenant only to realize that you do not have a leg to stand on legally - this could lead to a messy situation that makes the situation much worse.
Keep in mind that eviction laws vary state by state, so you need to familiarize yourself with state eviction laws. If you are unsure, it is worth speaking with a property lawyer or property management company that will be able to advise and help with the evicting process.
2. Determine Grounds & Gather Evidence
You need to determine the grounds for eviction and make sure that they have violated the rules established in the lease agreement. There are many reasons why eviction occurs, such as:
- Failure to pay rent
- Consistent late payment of rent
- Illegal activity in the property
- Property damage
- Subletting
- Keeping a pet without permission
Once you have established the grounds for eviction, it is essential that you gather evidence. This evidence could be key if the tenant decides to fight the eviction, so you need to gather as much evidence as possible. The evidence will depend on the violations, but a few examples of evidence that you could use for evicting a tenant include:
- Bank statements
- Photos of damage
- Records of complaints from neighbors/other tenants
- Printouts of email/text conversations
- Bounced checks
- Witness statements
3. Issue a Formal Eviction Notice & Hire an Attorney
Next, you will want to issue a formal eviction notice to the tenant. This is a document that notifies of your intention to evict and to may give them a set number of days to either fix the violation or evict the property. There are three types of notice:
Pay or Quit: Past rent due before a certain date or vacate the property.
Cure or Quit: Fix the violation (subletting, keeping a pet etc.) or vacate the property.
Unconditional Quit: Vacate the property immediately with no option for remedying the violation.
You will then want to hire a real estate attorney to handle eviction proceedings. They will be able to guide you through the process and you will then receive a court order, known as a Write of Restitution, that allows you to legally remove the tenant. If they owe you money, you can use a collections agency to collect money due from the tenant.
Follow These Tips For Evicting a Tenant Effectively
Evicting a tenant is never easy, but these 3 tips should help and ensure that everything is done above board.
Contact us today to discover how we can help with property management and the eviction process.
