4 Tips to Avoid Evicting Tenants
4 Tips to Avoid Evicting Tenants
Evicting tenants from your rental property sounds as easy as slapping a notice on their door telling them to get out. Evicting tenants are expensive and time consuming. When complying with the law, you must give them written notice, bring them to court, and often involve law enforcement. In the time it can take you to wait for your court date, you’ll find that you’ve already lost so much money. The better plan is to avoid evicting tenants altogether. Maintain good relationships with your tenants or knowing when to cut them a deal. Here are four tips to avoid evicting tenants.
Screen from the Beginning
Not doing your homework when someone wants to rent one of your properties could lead you to months of headache and revenue loss. Have a screening system set up in place for vetting tenants. Be sure to run credit, ask for employment history, housing history, and cash on hand. Be sure that anyone who clearly cannot afford this apartment themselves has a co-signer. Most people with good credit and a history of paying rent on time take pride in their credit score and won’t want to risk jeopardizing their score.
Keep Up with Repairs
If you have a dilapidated apartment, you may have a tenant that starts to grow resentful and stops paying rent. While a renter is not technically supposed to withhold rent, if he or she that’s the only method that’s going to get your attention, they may resort to it.
It’s important for you to have a system in place when one of your tenants complains about a problem. If it’s something happening over and over (like a clogged drain or a loose door hinge), have dedicated handymen who are responsible for reporting back to you on the upkeep. Paying some money early on will save you money in the long run.
Cook County Sheriff’s deputies check for inhabitants before posting the final eviction notice on an apartment in Evanston, Ill., Tuesday, March 17, 2009. Serving the notice are clockwise from top left are deputies Willie Woods, Scott Hunter, Kyle Tryba, and Joe Abruscato. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Know Your Buildings
Many landlords never even visit their own buildings. They have no idea what’s going on inside. Be an involved landlord who cares about the upkeep of the building. Make a point to visit (or have your point person visit) each of your properties every couple of weeks so that you know what’s going on and so that if there are larger problems with your properties, you’ll find out about them. If you don’t pay attention to the little things, you may find yourself shelling out tons of money down the road for large repairs. Use a proactive approach as prevention method.
Know When to Settle
The idea of paying off a tenant who might owe you rent is horrible – but if it will make them get out, sometimes it’s the only way. Going through the proper eviction channels can cost you thousands of dollars. If you can get the problematic tenant out by paying them off a couple of hundred or letting them just move out, you may save yourself more hassle down the road.
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