Profit on real estate rents are not as great as the average person thinks, and even one tenant who can’t or won’t pay can be a serious drag on the property owner’s bottom line. Unfortunately, if you own rental property the time will come when you will have to evict a tenant. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to minimize the damage to your investment.
There are a number of reasons why a landlord may want to evict a tenant. Delinquency of payment is the biggest reason. If a tenant has not been paying rent, the landlord must serve them with a “Demand for Compliance” which gives the tenant three days to pay up. There are five ways to serve a “Demand for Compliance”: 1. You can hand them the document directly. 2. set it down in their presence. 3. Leave it with a family member who is 16 or older, but only on the premises. 4. Leave it at their job. 5. Post it on the door of the premises. After three days you should contact an attorney because he or she will best know how to file for the Eviction Lawsuit. They will need to review the lease and other details before moving forward.
Should you find yourself with a delinquent tenant, you cannot do anything that the law may interpret as harassment. Such actions are a criminal offense and the courts will not look kindly upon them. For instance, you may not change the locks on the door or turn off the tenant’s utilities. Nor can you delay repairs on the property. The tenant should be treated like any other tenant during the eviction process.
If a ruling has been made to evict a tenant, the court order must be taken to the sheriff’s office, who will post a notice of eviction on the tenants’ door. If they are not out within 3 days, the sheriff will have to forcibly remove the tenant. Only in rare cases may a tenant be turned out immediately, usually if they have committed a felony in the building, like arson or if they have been caught selling drugs out of their apartment.
There is no simple way to evict a tenant without legal guidance. There are do-it-yourself kits, but the average person doesn’t have enough mastery of the law to execute the process correctly, and one slip up can mean your case will get tied up in court for months.
