Cops do not enforce a termination of lease contract.

[Allan R.]

I have tenants whom lost there jobs and failed to pay rent. No one wants to spend extra money and time to file an eviction law suit. Do I talked to the tenants and asked them to sign a termination of lease contract and gave them a week to get out.  A week passed and I had the locks changed. A nearby tenant called me saying that there was somebody in the home. So I called the police and a family friend (I'm out of town for work) to meet the police over there. It was the tenant of course. She has two warrants out for her arrest. Cops claimed they cant do anything about the situation. Not even arrest her for her warrants. They stated it's a civil matter and they can not enforce contracts.  

I find this to be a load of ********. Any thoughts?

How is a rental contract enforceable but not a termination of lease contract?

[Theresa Harris]

The fact that they didn't arrest her on her outstanding warrants doesn't say a lot about the police in your area.

You need to start an eviction.  If you don't know how, there are companies that will do it for you.  Given she has warrants out for her arrest, I doubt that telling her you are starting an eviction will get her to move on her own.  Once you have the eviction, then depending where you are, the police can become involved.  My understanding is in some places in the US, the sheriff's office will show up on the day and make sure everything is moved out.

You should not have changed the locks.