Faced With An Eviction? Here’s What To Do.

In the event that you own an investment property long enough, at some point you will likely need to deal with an eviction. Ideally you and your tenant can arrive at a mutual understanding, and you can quickly move forward. However, that is often unlikely, and the process generally takes months, affecting every aspect of your rental business. No landlord wants to deal with an eviction, but sometimes it can’t be avoided. Here are five things you should do when you realize you are faced with needing to perform an eviction.

Don’t Try To Control The Situation Yourself. Managing a tenant who doesn’t pay their rent isn’t enjoyable. It might even feel like they are up against you, or not paying to upset you personally. However, you can’t look at it that way. If they could pay, they probably would. There is a deeper issue here, there is likely a reasonable explanation they are experiencing financial stress. As a landlord, if you get mad about the situation, or angry with the tenant themselves, nothing good will come out of that. Confronting your tenant and demanding payment will always create more harm than good.

Notify The Tenant ASAP. Rather than getting angry (again, this will do more harm than good, ie. keep a cool head), you should attempt to contact your tenant right away when they are late. What you will discover is that a couple of days late can turn into a week, and a week days can rapidly turn into two weeks. Time is of the essence when learning the situation and staying in control of it. This will also help you in the beginning stages of the eviction process, should you need to go that far. At 15 days late, if you haven’t heard from the tenant, this is a good indicator that something might be up, and you can generally start the eviction process. By law you have to tell them that you are going to start the eviction process if you don’t respond or give you any indication of payment by a specific date. Ideally this encourages them to pay rather quickly, but of course if not, you have no choice but to proceed with the eviction process.

Contact Your Lawyer. Utilizing an attorney will help you in the long run. While it might feel like you can’t afford to use a lawyer because you are already losing rental income, this kind of limited thinking could get you into more trouble than it’s worth. Paying a couple hundred dollars for a professional will be beneficial to you. One paperwork error or wrong filing with the State could postpone your eviction process and move you to the bottom of the pile. Regardless if you think you know what you’re doing, an attorney will be more efficient than you, saving you time and potentially a lot of money.

Remain In The Loop. You shouldn’t engage your lawyer and just hang tight for the final outcome. You must remain connected and informed at all times (like any good landlord). Make it a point to go to any court meetings and be ready to offer up any important documents. Re-engage with your tenant and check whether there is a mutual solution that can be met. As much as you need or want each penny that is owed to you, there are times when a compromise is ideal. If you can get your tenant out sooner rather than later, you can replace them with another tenant that much quicker.

Quickly Plan For A New Tenant. During the whole eviction process, you must also be advertising for new tenants. Ideally, you want a new tenant within a week after the old one leaves. This might sound hasty, but with great advertising and photos this isn’t as hard as it appears. The main issue you will have is knowing when the property will actually be ready, and the old tenant is officially evicted. It is imperative to find tenants who are adaptable and don’t need a firm move-in date. The worst thing you could do is have your property sitting vacant for yet another month of no cash flow.

An eviction can literally occupy all of your time and energy if you let it. Of course, the best thing to do would be to avoid it at all costs…easier said than done. However, with the right application process, you can significantly increase your odds. Perhaps dealing with tenants and evictions has led you to your breaking point? Contact us today or fill out the form below to see how we can help you out, and free you of your landlord burdens all together.