Include a clause in lease to ease eviction?

Question

A user from another forum suggested"Thats what conditional leases are for. All it takes is a few lines of type to make a bulletproof lease. Something along the lines of a year lease converting to a month by month lease in the event of rent over due for 10 days or longer. Cost of removal of property to a storage facility upon day 11 at the renters expense."What's the drawback on doing this? Wouldn't everyone just do this and avoid evictions completely? Seems too good to be true.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

Total BS, from an idiot. Nothing in a lease can override state law.

Max T. · Answer

It's also a double edged sword. If a tenant wanted to break lease and move out early, all they have to do is be 10'days late on rent!

Richard Redding · Answer

Your lease should define abandonment. Here's what I do:First, as soon as it's clear I'm not getting rent, I'll post '3 day notice to vacate' letter to their front door (1st step of eviction process),and I'll also follow up with an email. I make it clear, I want them to stay and this is just the 1st step and as soon as I get the rent it all goes away.I'll continue to try to stay in contact over the phone. Stay polite, but be persistent. Offer to assist in moving out and/or finding a new place. They usually stop returning my calls or texts after a few days, at which point I leave them a voicemail and send an email stating I will be conducting an inspection in a couple days. Generally, leases allow you to do an inspection with 24 hours notice. I try to give a little more notice so they have time to move their things. They think they're being sneaky by moving out before I come by, but it's the ideal outcome for me.If upon my inspection the furniture if gone, I'll post a 'notice of abandonment' to the front door, and send the same doc to them via email. The standard lease here outlines the procedure, but from here I only need to wait another 2 days, and then I can change the locks. You want to document everything you can. Take pics of empty unit, pics of document taped to front door etc.I guess a shorter version of this answer is get to know your lease very well.

John Thedford · Answer

You cannot waive rights in a lease whether you agree to waive them or not. As far as advice, there are lots of experts...some pretty good, some not so good, and some well...you know. I suggest hiring an attorney for your lease. All you need is one good lease you can use over and over. Wayne wasn't finding fault with the poster..but rather the guy giving out dubious information. As far as James Wise...he has it right. Granting written permission in violation of law doesn't make it legal! Spend a few bucks with a GOOD attorney and "bulletproof" your lease. Of course, it is only "bulletproof" if they comply:)

Mike H. · Answer

Well wait a second. I don't think that everything the other guy is suggesting to him is necessarily all wrong. You can definitely write things in to your lease that says if you do "this", your lease can be terminated. That is definitely legal in many areas by me.Now what you can't do is put anything in your lease to circumvent the rules of re-taking possession (i.e. eviction).I think thats where @Wayne Brooks is calling BS on - and which I would agree. And for someone to offer someone else advice suggesting otherwise - i.e. that you could put something in your lease that allows you to remove their stuff after so many days - would have to agree with the language used as well. :-)I mean, come on. Every investor on the planet has to know that there is not a single clause you can add to your lease where you can bypass the eviction process and never will be.However, I do agree that you can add clauses to allow you to terminate a lease. i.e. No Pets and the tenant is caught with a pet, etc. But terminating a lease doesn't grant you permission to go remove their stuff and change the locks. It just gets you the legal right to file an eviction should you so choose.So I think there are some things you can to a lease to help ensure the tenant doesn't do them and do give you some recourse should they get caught doing them. The pet example is the perfect one. I like the idea of the late pay over 10 days pushing the lease to month to month. Ultimately, a 5 day notice would do the same thing though so I'm not sure how that helps.i.e. If they get the 5 day notice on the 5th and don't pay, then you can file the eviction immediately and there wouldn't be anything they can do to prevent you from getting occupancy. Still might be some advantages to something like that.Even if you don't use the clause, it might servce as a really good deterrent in a tenant's mind not to be so late. Although that one, I may want to check with an attorney on. Just never sure when something like that is legal or not. :-)I do know the pet thing is one. I also know that limiting the occupants is another. I put on the lease the number of adults and children that are on the lease and that no more should reside there or else I can terminate the lease.

Brandon Ingegneri · Answer

You can put anything that you want in a lease, but all that matters is what a judge says. Check the local laws in your area and similar rulings for what you are looking to do.

Jim Shepard · Answer

Wayne, Lighten up. We are all here to share ideas and make money! Some ideas are good and others aren't.

Joe Calderon · Answer

@Richard Redding How do you know a tenant has abandoned rental property?

Richard Redding · Answer

Focus on screening tenants (credit, criminal, rental history) and mitigating probability of an eviction. Also, if you have any concerns about a prospective tenant after reviewing their application, tell them they're approved with an double or 2.5x deposit. That way, if you do kick em out you're less likely to take a loss.In 13 years of renting, I've never had to evict anyone. Now, I've had some people that didn't pay and I asked to leave. I wasn't a jerk to them but it was pretty clear to them I'd be calling them at least every other day to check in on the status of rent or their move out. I also offered to set them up with an agent who will find them a new place ( at no cost to either of us). In all three cases the tenants simply abandoned the property within a week or two.My leases (TX standard promulgated form) state the tenant are responsible for rent until I find a replacement tenant (within the lease period, of course). That's where the increased deposits help out.

Maggie Tasseron · Answer

I don't blame Wayne for getting a little hot on this one; there are a lot of newbies on these forums and no one with an iota of integrity wants to see them getting bad advice, do we?