When you own a property and are renting it out, there may be a time when you want your tenant to vacate the property legally. This situation can be tricky as the tenant legally has the right to use the property during their lease period.
Most people think about the primary method of eviction of a tenant they do not want. But eviction is not always the best option as it can be a long, drawn-out process. There can be other methods that you should use first to try to have tenants leave a property. No matter your chosen method, you need to understand your rights as a landlord.
Table of Contents
- Understand Your Rights As A Landlord
- Eviction Is A Long Process
- Two Other Methods To Ask Tenants To Leave Your Property
- Things A Landlord Should Never Do
- Related Questions
Understand Your Rights As A Landlord
When you are looking to ask a tenant to leave, you must understand your fundamental rights as a landlord. Understanding this will help you to know what you can and can not do.
As landlords, laws are in place at federal and state levels protecting tenants from greedy landlords. As a landlord, you do not have a right to ask a tenant to leave because of the following:
- You just do not like them or like some of their political and other views. Liking and getting along with your tenant should not be part of the equation for you to decide to ask your tenant to leave.
- You want to rent to someone else who will give you more money. You cannot ask them to leave just because you have another tenant lined up that will pay more. You signed a contract with them and need to abide by that contract.
Asking a tenant to leave must have a justified reason. Something such as unruly behavior, consistent late payments, or that you have a change of business that requires you need the property.
As a landlord, you do have the right to do the following to your property:
- You can sell your property.
- You can decide to renovate your property.
- You can evict tenants who are consistently breaking the terms of their lease.
- Can end a contract if all parties are in agreement to end the contract.
Eviction should be your last resort in getting a tenant to move out of your property.
Eviction Is A Long Process
When a landlord has a lousy tenant wanting to leave their property, they may think about an eviction notice. Eviction will be a long process.
Here are some reasons why the eviction should be your last resort for getting rid of a bad tenant:
- Eviction Will Take Up Your Time – Using the eviction notice will take up much of your time. Anything that has to go through the courts or legal process will take time.
- Eviction Is Expensive – Eviction will be an expensive process. Getting lawyers involved will cost you time and money.
- Eviction Should Be The Last Resort – Eviction is not always necessary and should only be the last resort method to eliminate a bad tenant.
Listen To Our Podcast About Professional Ways To Ask Tenants To Vacate A Property by clicking here.
That is why we recommend that you only use eviction if you have no other choice in getting rid of a bad tenant. Typically other methods will usually work better than going the eviction route.
There may be some cases when eviction is your only option. You may have gotten a bad tenant who has decided, no matter what, to cheat you and to try to wait out the eviction process.
Listen To Our Podcast About Professional Ways To Ask Tenants To Vacate A Property by clicking here.
Two Other Methods To Ask Tenants To Leave Your Property
As a landlord, one of the best things you can do is to pick the right tenant from the beginning. If you pick the right tenant and you have a decent relationship, it will make you try to ask a tenant to leave easier.
Here are some things you should do to ask a tenant to leave your property:
- Communicate with them why you want the tenant to leave. They may understand and be willing to leave if you have a reasonable tenant.
- Give them assistance to help them leave if you need to help them move or find a way to make it easier for them.
- Give them an incentive. Cash for keys or a free month’s rent may help incentivize them to leave.
- Do not break any laws. If you violate any laws, you will usually have more trouble than before.
Here are two basic methods you can try to ask a tenant to leave—your property.
Ask Them To Leave
You can sit down with your tenant and explain why you want them to leave. Maybe you just sold your property, and the new owner wants to renovate it. Or perhaps you want to renovate the building.
Maybe the business terms changed, so you need the building for some reason, or you have decided you want to live in the building yourself.
In a case like this, you can sit down with the tenant and tell them the plans and see if you can come up with a time frame and agreement that would work for everyone. This would be the easiest and cheapest method for you.
Cash For Keys
You may have some tenants that are not that reasonable and want to have something to leave. In a case like this, you can offer them cash for keys.
Even if you need to pay them money to leave, it may be better and cheaper for you than any other method. Eviction is expensive, and you may not have time to wait until a contract ends.
Offering them cash for their keys gives them some money for the inconvenience and, at the same time, will usually save you money in the long run.
You could offer them a free month’s rent for part of the cash for keys, giving them the incentive to leave.
Both of these methods are better than an eviction process, and if you can do any of these methods, it will help you to ensure that you can get rid of tenants without having to go the legal route.
Things A Landlord Should Never Do
Just like there are things a landlord can do, there are things that a landlord should never do. Even if you want to get rid of a bad tenant, there are still rights that the tenant will have.
No matter how bad the situation is, there are things that you should never do, as follows:
- Never change the locks on them without notice, especially if they are under contract.
- Never remove their personal property.
- Never physically try to force or remove them from the property.
- Never turn off the utilities on them.
- Never intentionally stalk or harass them.
- Never attempt to blackmail them.
In some cases, if you have a very unreasonable tenant, you may need to wait until the contract ends and then refuse to renew the contract. Do not try to take the law into your hands and physically force a tenant to leave.
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