Evicting a tenant is your last resort when you have no other options. When a tenant stops paying rent, becomes a nuisance, or breaks the lease, filing an eviction lawsuit is usually the only way you’ll regain control of your property.
If you don’t start the process promptly, your premises could be tied up for months, which means you’ll continue to lose rental income and/or the property will suffer further damage.
Completing a successful lawsuit for eviction is inherently challenging, especially the very first time you have to do it. Here are some tips that should help to make the experience a little easier.
1. Work with a property manager
The best way to pursue an effective eviction is to turn the matter over to your property management company, which can handle everything on your behalf. This is a common headache landlords hand off to their property managers.
For instance, Green Residential in Houston, Texas regularly tackles evictions for their clients. If you have an experienced property manager working with you, request that they take over the eviction for you.
Your property management firm ought to get the job done professionally and in compliance with relevant laws. You could lose an eviction lawsuit if you commit simple procedural errors, so it’s not worth trying to do it on your own.
2. Serve all paperwork at the direction of an attorney
Service of eviction paperwork is where most landlords make the mistakes that cost them their lawsuits. To avoid doing anything wrong, you should always have your official notices delivered under the direction of an attorney.
Better yet, have the lawyer send your notices on your behalf. It’s not worth the risk to do otherwise.
The following blunders could cause you to lose your eviction effort:
- Failure to mail a copy of your notice as well as serving it personally or posting them on the tenant’s door.
- Not including a valid reason when you deliver a notice to vacate; some states won’t allow no-cause notices to vacate.
- Providing too little time for the tenants to vacate on the basis of the reason you’ve asked them to leave; certain reasons require a specific time frame according to the laws in some states.
- Resorting to do-it-yourself eviction ploys such as cutting off utilities and changing the locks.
If you’ve never evicted a tenant, it’s wise to retain an attorney who will make sure it’s done correctly. We cannot repeat this too many times: If you make a mistake, you’ll have to start over and issue the initial required notice again.
3. Don’t communicate directly with the tenant
Any communication you engage in with your tenant while you’re trying to evict the individual(s) can end up being used against you. Even if you have a calm, polite conversation with the tenant, he or she might be able to twist it to make you look bad.
In court, it will be your word against theirs, and if they seem respectable and come across as a smooth talker, the tenant(s) might convince the judge that you said something you never actually did.
The only way to avoid this unfortunate situation is to avoid having any contact with the tenant you’re evicting whatsoever and make a lawyer your point of contact instead. Send a notice to your tenant to inform them to communicate with your attorney for anything they might need.
That includes repairs, emergencies, and basic communications. No matter how well you might believe things are going with your tenant, it’s best to back off and hand over all interactions to legal counsel and thereby avoid making any mistakes that could short-circuit the eviction.
4. Be on alert in case the sheriff might have to remove your tenant
If you win your eviction lawsuit and the sheriff must remove the tenant from the property, be on the alert. If your tenant knows where you live, they might be tempted to retaliate.
That might mean a small act of retribution against your property or something more serious against your person (or a member of your family). This is a fairly rare occurrence, but tenants who have been evicted occasionally turn violent toward their landlord, especially if they’ve lost a court hearing.
Unfortunately, a tenant physically attacks their landlord now and then following an eviction. You can’t predict what an evicted tenant will do, so stay alert and keep an eye out for them or their car.
You oughtn’t to live in fear, but be smart and vigilant for at least a few weeks after an eviction hearing.
Stick to the law, and you’ll be fine.
Above all else, when you have to evict a tenant, make sure you observe all state and federal laws that apply. Ultimately, only the court can decide your case, but if you have a strong case, adhering to the laws will give you the best chance at winning.