How to evict a tenant

There are times when owning rental property is a lesson in human nature and conflict. There will be times when you may need to evict a tenant and reclaim your property. If you have to evict a tenant there is a proper eviction procedure that needs to be followed very closely. You need to stay calm, be respectful, and take care of the situation professionally. Here is the way to evict a tenant.

The first thing to do when evicting a tenant is to be calm and stay professional. Do not get mean, do not threaten your tenant, and do not give them a reason to get upset at you. This is a very touchy thing to do, and if you have gotten to the point in your relationship where the tenant is not paying you or where they are causing issues at your rental property, then you need to follow a very specific and exact eviction process. I have had tenants threaten me, trash my property, and even sue me over evicting them - staying calm and professional in every situation is the most important thing to remember. This is a process that can take as short as 5 days or last as long as 30 days. Expect it to last at least 30-40 days because you will need to get the city court involved.

I hope that you have a city approved rental property. If you do, then good, move on -If you do not, you are going to have to apply for a temporary rental permit from the city - which costs a bit of money, and have your property inspected for a rental license. This can happen while you are waiting to evict the tenant, but you really need to have the property approved and licensed before you rent anyway! Look at the link in my resources to learn how to get a rental license or visit this link here: http://www.ehow.com/how_4559543_become-landlord-landlord-license.html
Step3If your tenant is not paying or if they are breaking any of the agreed upon articles in your lease, try first to let them know that you are not happy with what is going on and find out why they are not paying or violating the terms of your lease. At this point, you have two options: 1) File a "7-day notice for non-payment" with the city - read step 4 2) File a "30 day termination of lease" with the city - read step 5

If you want to try and work things out with the tenant and get the money they owe you, then you need to file a "7 day notice for non-payment". This notice lets the tenant know that they have 7 days to pay you the money they owe you or else the eviction process will begin. This notice helps you to get the rent collection process going, and these notices cost you money to file with the court. Expect to pay anywhere from $50 - $100 dollars to get this done. Save these receipts and write them off at tax time, as well as the loss of rent you are incurring because of these tenants. Once you send out the "7 day notice of termination of lease", wait for your tenant to call you and come up with the money or resolve the issues that they are in violation of. They have only 7 days to take care of this. Normally, this notice is all you need to correct the issue, and they will pay you or stop violating your lease terms. However, if you come upon the end of the 7th day and you still have not been paid or they still are violating your lease terms, you will need to file for the "30 day termination of lease in Step 5.

Go down to the city courthouse - civil division, landlord/tenant office - and let them know that you would like to evict a tenant from your property for violation of your lease agreement/payment. Tell them that you do not want to try to resolve the issue with them and you simply want them out of your property. You will need to file for a "30 day notice of lease termination". These are generally free to file. You need to serve the tenant with this notice and then go back to the court house to have them physically sign off for the fact that it has been served. Now, this is a pain because you are going to potentially lose an entire month and 1/2 worth of rent. I had a couple of tenants that I had to do this to, and the eviction process ran about a total of 40 days. In the end, I was awarded all money owed, and they were evicted - I never saw the money, but they were thrown out of my property, so there is a light at the end of this mess.

Alright, so now here we are a few days later after you have served your tenant the "7 day non-payment notice", or the "30 day notice of lease termination". At this point, you could be quite a few days into the eviction process, so I hope you planned ahead so that you will not be getting into next month and losing more money. If your tenant has not paid you, has not corrected their lease violation, or has not moved out by this point, then you just have to wait for the 30 days to expire and take them back to court to get them evicted officially.

Once your 30 days is up, go back to the city courthouse and let them know the tenant is still in your property and causing problems. Try not to talk to you tenant, refrain from going there, do not threaten them, do not stop by, do not meet with them - unless they have the money for you (bring a police escort) - and just wait for the court to do their thing. The court clerk will then set up a court date to have your case heard in front of a judge. They will send you and your tenants a notice of this date.

If you are served a notice that the tenant wants to fight you in court, then go to the court hearing. Also go to the city court and see if they can schedule the hearing for a date that is close to the end of the 30 day notice so that you are not going too long without collecting rent. They generally will try to help out with the scheduling.

When you go court - if it gets this far - you really do not have much to say except that the tenant was in violation of the lease, they failed to pay you, and you followed the procedures for eviction. The city lawyer may want to try and resolve the issue without going in front of a judge - BUT I RECOMMEND THAT YOU GO IN FRONT OF THE JUDGE. The last time I tried to work it out with the tenants and the city attorney, the tenants still failed to pay me, and I had to deal with them for another 10 days until the city booted them out on the street. SO - go in front of the judge, and let them know that you want them out of your property. You can try to get the money owed to you, but unfortunately, the tenants always get away without paying you - so as one judge told me - be happy that you are getting rid of these people and move on!

After the court ruling, the tenants will have probably about two-three days to get out of your property. If they still refuse to move, go to the court-house immediately, and the will send an officer over to physically evict them.

Record all of your loses against your business expenses and write these off at tax-time. Clean up your property (because they will trash it), change the locks, and get the unit rented out as fast as possible - now DO NOT RENT TO PEOPLE LIKE THAT AGAIN, AND CHECK THEIR BACKGROUND TO AVOID THE ISSUE AGAIN