Advice on eviction process after 7 day notice of noncompliance

[Jarrod B.]

Hey everyone, I might be going through my first eviction and was wondering if you all could share your experience and wisdom as to how it might go down. I understand that nothing could beat legal counsel, but your personal experiences would be well appreciated.

I have a tenant who moved in another tenant without my knowledge, he also has a cat, which is prohibited on the lease. He also broke my front door and the HOA says it needs to be replaced immediately. I'm out of state, so I sent him a 7 day notice for noncompliance with opportunity to cure to replace the front door and move the new tenant out along with his cat, since then four days have passed. My question is, once the 7 days are up, do most people immediately file for eviction (I would be hiring an attorney) without contacting the tenant again? Do you send a final letter on the 7th day asking what they’re planning on and warn them of the financial repercussions of not answering or curing the issues in the Noncompliance notice (i.e. attornies fees, eviction on record, etc)? How do most of you handle this issue?

Again, after this 7 day grace period and If I have to file for an eviction, I’ll just use an attorney, but I’m kind of lost as to what happens once the 7 days are up in terms of notifying the tenant.

Thank you again for your words of advice.

[Gail K.]

Your tenant has 7 days to "cure" the issues.  If they don't, the next step is filing for an eviction. 

I don't contact a tenant if they fail to deal with the issues during the time period I give them.  Often if I would it would simply be a matter of them asking for more time to address the problem or I'd have to listen to some sob story.

In my case, I provide a three day notice to "cure or quit" (due to failure to pay rent).  I've had several tenants tell me they'll be moving "soon" or "in the near future".  Sorry bub; it doesn't work that way.   They know when rent is due and when rent is late.  They have three days to vacate the rental property or pay the rent and late fees.  On the fourth day I file for the dispossessory (our version of an eviction) and let the court speak for myself.

You do have a property manager, correct?  Otherwise how would you know if your tenant has "cured" the issues?

Gail