When Good Tenants Go Bad – What You Can’t Do To Make Your Renters To Leave
If you are in the rental business, sooner or later, you are going to have a renter who inexplicably stops paying rent. They may give you the run around with stories about why they can’t pay and promises of a full payment plus late fees just around the corner. Or, they can simply neglect your phone calls and reject to answer the door if you come in person trying to collect rent. Bottom line is, when it comes to this point, such renters will have to be served with a three day notice to leave to start the eviction process.
While you can be frustrated and seduced to take measures into your own hands, it is quite essential to keep to the legal procedure for removing a non-paying renter from your property. Specifically, the law expressly forbids you from doing the next:
Removing Locks
In no way is it legal for you to remove the locks, or put new locks on the property to “lock out” your tenant. It doesn’t matter if they are months behind on their rent, have entirely trashed the house and are in violation of every provision in the lease. They are lawfully protected against a “lock out” and can take you to court to regain entry.
Utility Shut-offs
You can not shut off the water, gas or electricity in an attempt to make your tenants to move out. Again, your renters, however far behind in rent they are, may search for legal recourse against you for this action and may collect heavy fines against you.
Taking Renter
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