Holding Over Clause (Arkansas)

[Susan H.]

Updating my lease for new tenant (finally!). After the debacle with the last tenant (short version: wouldn't move, insisted we had an oral agreement; left behind thousands in damage) I need to add a "holding over" clause. Found this in the Arkansas Code:

"If the tenant's holdover is a willful violation of the provisions of this chapter or the rental agreement, the landlord may also recover an amount not more than three (3) months periodic rent or twice the actual damages sustained by him or her, whichever is greater and reasonable attorney's fees." (source: http://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2010/title-18...) 

I'm leaning toward putting the quoted passage directly in the lease. Sound reasonable?

~Susan

[Paul Thompson]

I agree with @Jacob White completely. The solution to this issue is to avoid it in the first place as best you can by screening and setting expectations on the front end. It's unlikely you're going to do anything with the lease other than using it to go through the eviction process. You very rarely hear of landlords being able to collect on judgments from tenants like the one you describe. Don't let this discourage you though. Develop better screening procedures and trust nothing people say. Buyers are liars and tenants are too! ;) I've added a new screening tactic of requiring a bank account (yes even for low end rentals) and automatic payments through a service called erentpayment.com. There are others to choose from. I don't collect rent, tenants pay rent... automatically or they aren't tenants any longer. I tell tenants up front rent is debited from your account on or before the 1st. Don't test us. It's company policy. You pay or you don't stay. Then we provide fantastic service to tenants. I've had to learn the hard way too many times... ;)