If you’ve been real estate investing in rental income property for any amount of time chances are, unless you’ve been lucky, that you’ve had to evict a problem tenant.
Eviction is one of those nuances of investment property ownership that will not go away. Unfortunately, there are tenants who, sometimes even despite their best intentions, are going to experience the hardship of paying rent and have to be evicted.
Thankfully, a process for eviction does exist. It is good that a real estate investor does have legal recourse to defend his or her rights against a tenant occupying an income property while refusing to pay rent.
On the other hand, eviction is bad for the real estate investor because it means a disruption in rental income along with the time and cost it takes to evict a tenant.
Along these lines then, we might say eviction is like a door lock—thankfully we have locks to defend ourselves against intruders; sadly intruders exist that we must defend against.
Worst of all, eviction is an ugly process. The removal of a family or an individual from the place where he or she lives does not sit well with society, and almost always the tenant comes off looking like a victim and the owner is perceived as the bad guy.
In a perfect world, of course, eviction would not be required. In reality, however, people do exist that are going to step outside the parameters a landlord has set for his or her rental properties, and as a consequence tenants must be taken to court and eviction cases do occur.
An eviction case, however, is not a slam dunk for the real estate investor.
You might find the courts very sympathetic to the tenant and very critical of your points for bringing the action for eviction. Moreover, the decision of the court might actually rule in favor of the tenant.
Though the laws for residential or landlord-tenant relationships vary in every state, they do offer similar protections for the tenant and have similar rules that force the owner to prove any allegations made against the tenant.
As a result, having experienced unfavorable court decisions, some rental property owners virtually regard an eviction case more a matter of pure luck than justifiable legal recourse–believe it, or not.
Okay, as a rental property owner what can you do when faced with a problem tenant and the probability of an ensuing eviction?
- Before beginning on eviction, try to negotiate a meeting of the minds with the tenant. Sometimes this will result in a better outcome.
- Study the rules in the state where your property is located. Mistakes may result in losing your case or cause you to restart your case all over again.
- Abide by the grace period stated in your lease or rental agreement. You cannot start an eviction until the legal grace period given a tenant to pay the back rent in full has lapsed.
- Beware of charges of landlord retaliation. Never evict a tenant for the sake of vengeance or because you are mad with the tenant for some reason.
- Avoid face-to-face confrontations with the tenant that might result in you saying something stupid or might give the tenant cause to make other claims, such as discrimination.
- Carefully weight the odds of winning and in cases of uncertainty, perhaps consider avoiding eviction and lawsuits and offer the problem tenant money to vacate the unit.
Knowing when to evict a tenant, understanding the eviction process and state guidelines, representing yourself in court, and staying clear of eviction pitfalls are one of many nuances of real estate investing that none of wished for but a reality, nonetheless.
Smart real estate investors do not ignore learning about eviction, and are achieving success because they have discovered how to cope with it effectively.
