Evictions are occasionally an unavoidable aspect of the business for Richardson property managers and rental property owners. Eviction isn’t always the best course of action when you’re dealing with a troublesome renter. Evictions can take up a lot of your time and be costly for both the landlord and the tenant. The majority of the time, neither the landlord nor the tenant gain anything from the eviction procedure. Because of that, evicting a renter is not always the best option. Finding better solutions than eviction in these cases will greatly benefit both you and your tenant.
Your Otherwise Good Renter Falls Behind on Rent
Possessing a great rental property requires a tenant that is trustworthy. Even reliable renters may experience financial troubles, job loss, or other reasons that prohibit them from paying their rent. Without a doubt, their lease is broken when the rent is not paid, and that should be made clear. But it may not be reasonable to evict a tenant for missing a single or numerous rent payments. This is certainly true if the tenant has a reputation for paying on time and keeping up with the cleaning and repair of the property.
In such occurrences, a preferable alternative to eviction may be to work with your renter to develop a solution to help them catch up on their missed rent payments. As long as the renter’s financial issues are momentary, this might be an excellent approach to avoid the price of evicting and replacing the tenant, while also generating the renter’s appreciation. This option is more likely to help you recover all of the unpaid rent payments and keep a good renter over the long run if you’re willing to endure a small financial cost in the short term.
You Don’t Have Clear Legal Grounds
In some cases, eviction can lead in more legal matters than it might solve. These should be avoided under all circumstances. Not having clear legal grounds for eviction would be an example of such an instance. If your tenant has complained about the habitability of the property, either to you or to the neighborhood housing authority, and you haven’t taken action to resolve the complaint, your attempt to evict the tenant may be seen as retaliatory and could be rejected.
Another case would be if a renter who belongs to a protected class may claim that your eviction was prejudiced against them. The federal Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to evict a renter because of their age, faith, skin color, family situation, sexual preferences, or factors of the like. The renter may bring legal action against you if the eviction is presumed as discriminatory.
Finally, use caution when accepting partial rent payments both before and after attempting to remove a tenant for failure to pay rent. If you agree to any rent from the tenant, you risk losing your legal right to evict them and will be putting yourself in an extremely difficult spot. This is because receiving partial payments creates an unspoken agreement between you and your tenant that a judge will likely consider a continuance of your lease arrangement, even if it is not in writing. If you lack clearly defined legal grounds for eviction, you should wait until the issue becomes clearer.
You’d Rather Keep Your Money
The cost of the eviction procedure goes beyond merely the associated legal expenditures. Rent payments and frequently any cleaning or maintenance of the property will stop once your tenant learns you’ll be trying to evict them from the rental property. This often results in missed wages as well as increased maintenance and repair costs.
Consider the possibility of simply paying your renter to leave rather than going through the costly and time-consuming eviction process. This type of “cash for keys” plan could enable a renter with financial distress to vacate cordially or urge a troublesome tenant to vacate as soon as possible. Even a lump sum cash payout of several hundred dollars is much less than the cost of evicting the renter, which may seem strange to offer to someone who owes you money.
Avoid Eviction with Quality Property Management
Selecting a reliable renter with a record of on-time rent payments is one of the best methods to totally avoid evictions. However, that could be tough, particularly if you have other things to accomplish. At Real Property Management One Source, we meticulously evaluate all rental applicants to get only the best potential tenants for your property. If any issues develop in the future, our Richardson property management advisors can help you choose the best plan of action to take. Contact us online today to learn more!
We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. See Equal Housing Opportunity Statement for more information.
