How to Prevent an Eviction

Question

How to avoid the problem tenant and the inevitable eviction. First always make sure that you have strict policies and procedures on screening your tenants. And more importantly make sure that you follow them.

Always do a background check on your tenant, no matter what they tell you don’t do anyone a favor, go by the background.  If they do not fit your WRITTEN criteria then do not take them. You are running a business, and if they don’t fit the qualifications do not put them in your property. If you see a problem past, you are almost guaranteed to see a problem future.

Leases are legal documents, once it is signed your job is to enforce the contract, meaning if it says they are supposed to pay on the 1st and late on the 3rd, late fees should start and the eviction process begins on the 4th PERIOD!  They are obligated to abide by their side of the agreement just as much as you are to enforce it.

Always stick to your written policies & procedures. Never deviate and never bend.  Once you do you are setting a precedent for the future problems. If you have a problem tenant, after one month it’s no longer a problem tenant, it’s a problem landlord by not sticking to your business model.

If you have 1 house or if you have 50 houses you own a business.  And if you don’t have a successful business model and you do not have a business plan for that business, chances are you probably will fail.  Remember, the IRS, Texas Real Estate Commission, Fair Housing and Texas Property code all say you’re a business.  The person that normally doesn’t think it’s a business is normally the actual owner of the property.

Just because someone has the financial ability to buy a home does not mean they have the financial education to run that business. Spend the time and get educated and talk with people that have been down that path already to avoid potential disaster.

Greg H. · Answer

@Steve Rozenberg

I don't really see the information in your post that related to "How to Prevent Eviction".  It seems to say never be flexible and if the rent isn't paid by the 3rd to start the eviction

I agree with @Marcia Maynard that you should never say never and that sometimes what is best for the Business is to show some flexibility.  I subscribe to the line from the movie Roadhouse "be nice until its time to not be nice"

IMO my job is to get the greatest return on the investment of the business.  Evictions cost time, effort and most of all money and in some circumstances a couple of extra days might save all of the above.  What I do recommend is to address the situation as soon as the tenant is delinquent by initiating a dialogue with frequent communication

Bill S. · Answer

@Steve Rozenberg and Account Closed you should put your information in the form of a blog posts as it is mostly informational and would be a good resource for landlords

Account Closed · Answer

I just posted my rant on a new post called "Don't ever say never".  Sometimes when I get going on something, I just have to get it out of my system.

Account Closed · Answer

How to prevent an eviction ...continued

You will find that having good organizational skills, having everything in writing, documenting everything that takes place will eliminate how many evictions you will have and will cut down on the trips to the court house.

You are only as good as the tools that you have to protect yourself.

I used Vonage Phone which kept track of every phone call that came in my office and went out.  It was an answering machine and clocked the date of the call and the time of the call when a tenant left a message.  It was all online and I could print it out.

I also used Stamps.com which kept track of every letter I sent, the date and the time and to what person.    (These two "tools" were my very best friend to illuminate going to court and doing an eviction)

The next thing I would do would be to go  over the entire Lease Agreement with my tenants  (giving them their own copy of my 13 page rental agreement), I would go over everything.  What I expected of them, what they should expect from me.

I went over when rent was due and what would happen if rent wasn't received in my office on or before the due date, and that if rent was received in my office on or before the 1st of the month then they would receive a Notice to Quit for non payment of rent.

I took pictures of the house before,( and after they moved).   But the pictures I took just before they moved in, I had them sign the back of the photo's saying the house looked exactly as the photo's show it to be.   (Aah another piece of evidence)

I wrote a piece on here called the Tenant Phase.  I had to train my tenants to know  that I do go by my Lease Agreement, because Tenants will test you. They are used to other landlords not knowing how to be landlords and so they think they can treat you the same.   But once they understand that you say what you mean and mean what you say, they start to accept you, and accept the rules, and they feel comfortable, because everyone feels comfortable with sameness.   They know what to expect.

I also send my tenants  a bill for rent or monies owed via mail, or e-mail.  I've designed by Invoices to the tenants to show the date they moved in, how much security deposit they paid me, and how much their rent is and when it's due and when their lease expires.    Therefore they could never ever say they didn't know how much their rent is, or when it is due.  (Aah another  method of protection)

In the Lease Agreement I have a Chapter on Lease Violations.  So whenever a tenant violated the lease agreement, I just copied the page of the violation and sent it with a letter (Another form of  protection) regarding the Violation and in the letter pointing out what page it is on in THE LEASE AGREEMENT I GAVE THEM (Another for of  protection showing the courts I gave them a copy of the Lease Agreement)

All these little things nips all this "nit-pickin" stuff  in the bud that tenants call you about and then get mad because they forget what we said and what they are supposed to do, via the Lease Agreement.  Once they see it in writing, they remember and they straighten up.  This method has saved me many times from filing for evictions in court for non payment of rent or lease violations. However, you will never ever be 100% free of evictions, no matter what method you try.  But once you show a tenant evidence of what they are doing is wrong.  They usually straighten up.

And you MUST be firm by sticking to the lease agreement.  NO EXCEPTIONS to the rules. We all fall on hard times.  Landlords fall on hard times.  Just because we are a landlords  doesn't make us their counselors, priests, bankers, family member or friends!!! We can enjoy our tenants, love our tenants, respect our tenants, but we are not their Counselors, bankers or friends.    And I really find it frustrating to read other landlords say don't ever say never.  Because we can't let our emotions interfere with our business.

We can be compassionate, understanding, but in order for things to work, we MUST abide by the legal contract we both signed with each other. DO NOT LET EMOTIONS RUN YOUR BUSINESS!  It is not being cruel, get this out of your head!

We have a lot of responsibilities on our shoulders as landlords.  We are responsible for other peoples lives, by keeping our rental homes up to code, and free from dangerous happening, e.g. faulty wiring, bad steps, etc. We spent a ton of money, even when WE DON'T HAVE IT, to abide by the laws of the land.

So in order to be the best we can be, and not lose everything we have invested , we need to be strict when it comes to the 4 corners of our contract with our tenants. We are held accountable for EVERYTHING WE DO!  The least we can do is expect a tenant to pay their rent and pay their rent on time.  Their rent payment is our PAY CHECK, and they wouldn't like it if their employer told them they couldn't them today because their car broke down or there was a funeral, and neither do I like it when a tenant tells me their sob story.

So if you treat this as a business, document everything you do, it won't prevent an eviction, but it sure will cut down the amount of times you need to file and actually do an eviction!

Nancy Neville

Steve Rozenberg · Answer

@Greg  H. Greg, Thanks that is good insight and while I understand and agree with your thoughts in theory. My experience is that as you grow your portfolio every time you make an "Exception" and try to do the tenant favors has not always had it worked in my favor. It has a few times but not always.

The problem is that as I have grown my business mode and I have a staff of 12 people managing over 400 homes. To give exceptions and the ability to negotiate and them to decide "when not to be nice" to me is not a scalable business model and opens the door to potential discrimination / fair housing violations along with lawsuits. My job is to run the properties like a business and if they do not abide by the agreement and I do not enforce the lease then I am actually breaching the contract as well.

My portfolio as well as all the owner s that we manage for are trusting me to abide by the law, run their properties and take care of their problems. Your thoughts and your opinion may work great with your business model but I could find a way to scale that to my plan of owning and managing 600 homes by next year.

We have found that being extremely careful on the front end with strict criteria and being very upfront and open with the tenant what will happen to them if they do not abide by the agreement has actually been the best remedy for us and has allowed us to have 2% eviction rate over the past year. Again it just works for us to be proactive on the front end instead of dealing with it on the backend...

The end result I think you will agree is to have quality people in the property paying rent, producing revenue.

Marcia Maynard · Answer

Although I agree with most of what @Steve Rozenberg says here, I would say "never say never." There are extenuating circumstances that occasionally come into play. There are also times when negotiating a move-out plan is a better choice than starting an eviction.

How to Prevent an Eviction

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