It’s never an ideal situation to evict a tenant because of the hassle and the possibility of lost rental income while the unit is vacant. Sometimes there’s no choice but to evict tenants who clearly are not acting in accordance with your rental contract. If your locality requires a legal proceeding such as a hearing before eviction, be sure that you have plenty of documentation of contract violations.
Your contract with the tenant specifies a date for payment of rent. If a tenant pays rent late once and has a reasonable excuse, that’s one thing. There’s no sense in evicting a good tenant who didn’t pay because an emergency operation prevented payment. However, a landlord can’t check up on a tenant’s excuses. That would be a violation of privacy. So the only recourse may be eviction if a tenant is regularly late with the rent. Hopefully, your contract has a clause that charges the tenant late fees for late payment. That’s one way to make sure the tenant doesn’t come up with excuses too often.
If there is another late payment, notify the tenant by means of letter that this is unacceptable and will lead to eviction proceedings. The letter provides documentation that you made every effort to resolve the problem. It just costs a dollar or two to send the letter by certified mail so that you have proof the tenant received it.
If a tenant actually does not pay rent at all, that is a definite cause for quick action. Do not give the tenant a new deadline for the rent. Even if the tenant has given notice of departure, insist upon payment of rent by the deadline. If the tenant does not pay, send a formal letter by certified mail that the tenant must pay the rent immediately. If the rent is not paid, start eviction proceedings as quickly as local laws allow.
A tenant may argue that he or she is not paying rent because repairs are needed. Obviously, if the tenant has caused the problems in the property, that’s an especially good reason to start eviction proceedings. However, if the problems are not caused by the tenant and are serious, the tenant may find a sympathetic ear in an eviction proceeding. Many localities require that a home be habitable, so if your pipes broke and flooded the house, you’ll probably have a tough time getting authorities evicting the tenant. It’s better to just fix that type of problem and then insist on payment of rent.
Some tenants may refuse to pay part of the rent because of inconvenience or discomfort while something in the rental unit wasn’t working. A tenant might argue, for example, that the furnace was broken for a time period, so he/she is not paying rent for that time. As long as the repair person was contacted in a reasonable time frame, the tenant should pay the entire amount of rent. Be sure to document when you called the repair people and keep your repair bill receipts.
You don’t want to be taken advantage of by tenants, but be sure to document your reasons to evict if you decide to go that route.