Firstly I have to say this forum has been invaluable for me and everytime I have a query regarding what to do with my rental I always consult this board. A lot of knowledgable people.
I have a 3 unit at present and have recently switched property management companies basically due to incompetency. I now feel a lot better about my management company.
I have a tenant that has been late with the rent on numerous occasions for the past couple of months 2-3x, believe has been having people stay in her apartment and has had the police at the apartment building due to domestic issues. Its to the point now that other tenants are a bit scared and I need to get her out.
Now she has violated the terms of the lease by having her boyfriend or some man staying in the apartment when this wasnt listed on the lease, has been late on numerous occassions with rent and to top it all off has recently brought a dog to the apartment which she has lied and said she moved in with it…Of course she didn’t
She has paid rent for this month but I want her out. Of course she has violated the rent is it enough to just send her a 30-day notice to vacate at the 1st of the month?? and list all the issues or would you go the route of filing an eviction notice with the court and going through that process? How long does the eviction process usually take. I saw Matt went to court on the 8th, tenant didnt appear eviciton accepted and out by the 17th.
What is the best way to handle this situation. What does the cost of eviction usually take with court work etc. Never been through process before and want to understand before embarking on this.
Thanks
You’re asking a lot of questions for which the answers will vary depending on your state laws. I’ll write about general things regarding these issues.
You said she paid rent this month so you can’t do anything about evicting her for non-payment of rent. The past late issues aren’t enough either because you’ve kept her in there and kept accepting payment. If she is on a term lease (say she’s 8 months into a 12 month lease), you cannot simply give her a 30-day notice to vacate just because you want her out. If she is on a month-to-month lease, you should be able to give her proper notice (generally 30 days for a m2m lease) of lease termination and tell her to vacate the premises at the end of that period of time.
If she is materially violating the lease (meaning bringing other people/animals to live there when it’s clearly stated in the lease she cannot lease, sublet, or otherwise allow other people to stay on the premises), you can file for eviction because of that. The notice period for a material lease violation may be different than for non-payment of rent in your state.
You need to read your state’s LL/tenant laws NOW!!! You are already behind the power curve by not knowing your rights as a LL until you need to exercise them. I can have someone evicted for non-payment of rent in about 10 days in my state. I have no idea what it will be in yours. After reading the LL/tenant laws, call the courthouse and ask to speak to the person who handles the eviction cases. Ask them the process, cost, etc. Here it’s only $65 to file and it’s pretty open & shut on the case if they haven’t paid rent.
You can hire a lawyer to take care of this, but it may not be necessary if you follow the proper procedures. You MUST follow the eviction procedures step by step or your case may be thrown out and you’ll have to start all over with your notice period.
I know these aren’t the specific answers you’re looking for, but hopefully they’ll give you direction. You can find links for your state’s LL/tenant laws on the left side of this page under “State Property Codes” in “Investor Resources.”
As always thanks!! I love this forum