4 January, 2022
Evicting a tenant in an unpleasant but sometimes necessary task. When carrying out an eviction, there are many laws that you have to follow. These laws vary by state, and in some cases they can be quite detailed – it’s therefore no wonder that many landlords end up making mistakes during the process. Such mistakes could come with serious penalties, so you try to avoid them. Below are just some of the biggest mistakes to avoid when evicting tenants.
Terminating a tenancy without cause
In some states, it is possible to terminate month-by-month and short-term tenancies without cause. However, in most cases you need a justifiable cause to terminate a tenancy early. This could include failure to pay rent, damage to the property or illegal use of the property. In the case of failure to pay rent, you may not be able to end a tenancy unless they have missed a certain number of rental payments and have made no effort to communicate with you as to how they will pay it back.
Using the wrong termination notice
There are three different types of termination notice. These include:
- Pay rent or quit (the tenant must pay any outstanding rent by a certain date or face eviction)
- Cure or quit (the tenant must correct a violation by a certain date or face an eviction)
- Unconditional quit (the tenant must leave the property with no opportunity to pay rent or correct a violation).
It’s important that you choose the right termination notice. The conditions governing these termination notices can vary by state, so you need to be sure that you’re choosing the right one (for example, you may not be able to use an unconditional notice in some states for late payment of rent unless a tenant has repeatedly been late with rent). You can find a guide to unconditional quit laws by state here at https://www.nolo.com.
Having no proof of serving the notice
When you serve the eviction notice, it’s important that you have proof of serving the notice. If the tenant is not in the home, you may have to post the notice through the letterbox – in this situation, it’s important to have a witness. Many landlords choose to hire a process server to serve the notice – you’re guaranteed proof of serving the notice when doing this, plus it could be safer and easier when dealing with difficult tenants. You can find more information on process servers at sites like https://judiciaryprocessservers.com/.
Removing tenants from the property by locking them out/cutting off utilities
State laws typically require landlords to carry out an eviction in a certain way. In most cases, it is illegal to force a tenant out by locking them out or by cutting off utilities. If a tenant is refusing to leave, your best option is to get local law enforcement involved (in some cases, it may be a legal obligation to do this). This guide at https://www.findlaw.com explains more.
Disposing of abandoned tenant possessions without checking state laws
Tenants may leave behind possessions after an eviction. Before disposing of these possessions, you should check local laws. You may have to notify the evicted tenant and give them an opportunity to collect these possessions first. This notification typically involves collecting possessions by a deadline.
