Being a landlord isn’t easy. Some of your duties include advertising vacant units and screening potential tenants. You do as much as you can to ensure you rent to people who will pay you every month and not destroy your property. While you may make every effort to thoroughly check references, every landlord gets a bad tenant every now and then. When it happens to you, it is important to know the laws related to eviction so you can comply with them and get your problem renter out legally.
Landlord Laws start with your lease. The lease agreement between you and your tenant must spell out the things that are important to you. It should detail your tenants rights and responsibilities as well as what your intended actions are if they don’t fulfill their part of the contract. Most of the time, when a tenant is made aware that they have violated the terms of their lease agreement and could potentially lose their housing, they correct the problem immediately. However, some tenants force their landlord to take legal action against them.
When one of the occupants of your building refuses to comply with the terms of the lease, you need to talk to a legal professional, such as Robert S. Cutrona Esq., to find out the next steps to take. The law requires specific actions on the part of a landlord in order to evict a tenant and an experienced lawyer can ensure the proper steps are followed. As a landlord, you have the right to receive the agreed upon rent from your tenants and the right to expect them to treat your property with respect. The housing court will order a tenant to leave your building if you can prove they failed to do what was expected of them in the lease agreement.
By learning everything you can about Landlord Laws, you can be sure that you don’t get in trouble for illegally evicting a tenant. Changing the locks on the doors before the court gives you the authorization to do so could result in additional rights for your problem tenant. Be sure to take the advice of your lawyer in all tenant disputes to avoid this unfortunate situation.