For Southwest Waterfront property managers and landlords, evictions are usually an inevitable part of their business. When dealing with a problematic tenant, eviction is not always the wisest course of action. 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. Due to this, occasionally evicting a tenant may be the incorrect course of action. You and your tenant will likely be better off if you can find alternatives to eviction in these scenarios.
Your Otherwise Good Renter Falls Behind on Rent
Owning a thriving rental property depends on having a reliable tenant. Oftentimes, even responsible renters may have financial troubles, lose their jobs, or otherwise be unable to pay their rent. Without a doubt, their lease is broken when the rent is not paid, and that should be made clear. However, it might not be wise to evict a tenant for failing to pay one or more 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 conditions, finding a way to work with your renter in catching up on late rent payments may be a better option than eviction. 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. In the long run, this strategy is more likely to help you recover all of the unpaid rent and keep a good renter if you’re ready to suffer a small financial cost in the short term.
You Don’t Have Clear Legal Grounds
In certain occasions, eviction could generate more legal issues than it would solve. You should stay away from them at all costs. Ambiguity in your legal case for eviction is one of these circumstances. If your tenant has reported to you or the local housing authority about the habitability of the residence and you have not taken efforts to resolve the issue, your attempt to evict the tenant may be considered retaliatory and dismissed.
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 on the basis of factors like age, religion, skin tone, marital status, sexual preferences, and more. If your eviction is judged discriminatory, your tenant may file a lawsuit against you.
Lastly, tread carefully when accepting partial rent payments before or after seeking to remove a tenant for non-payment of rent. You could lose your legal right to remove the tenant and be in a very sticky situation if you take any rent from the renter. This is because taking partial payments forms an underlying agreement between you and your tenant that a judge will likely interpret as a prolongation of your lease, even if it is not in writing. It is best to wait until the issue is more evident if you don’t have clearly established legal grounds for an eviction.
You’d Rather Keep Your Money
The cost of the eviction procedure goes beyond merely the associated legal expenditures. What would likely happen is that once your tenant learns that you’ll be attempting to evict them from the rental property, rent payments will stop, and so will any cleaning or maintenance of the property. In most cases, this results in both lost income and increased cleaning and repair costs.
Think about the possibility of paying your renter to leave rather than going through the expense and trouble of eviction. 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
Finding a reputable tenant with a past record of timely rent payments is one of the best methods to avoid evictions completely. But that can be difficult, especially if you have other things to do. In order to select the best potential candidates for your rental property, Real Property Management Washington DC carefully screens each applicant. Then, if any complications should appear in the future, our Southwest Waterfront property management consultants can aid in advising you on the best way to proceed. 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.