Vacant Premises

When it comes to the relationship between a property owner and a tenant, it’s best to be safe than sorry. Yet, hasty decisions, cutting corners and blindly trusting brokers are the reasons for many a legal battle waged by landowners against rogue tenants. Exercising caution at the time of renting one’s property is the only way to avoid being in the situation that many people find themselves in.

It is important to check the antecedents of a potential tenant before signing the paperwork.

You can ask for a reference certificate from the tenant, and also enquire from his previous landlord. Make sure you ask for a valid permanent address since it may be useful if you need to track down the tenant. Lastly, check his office address and carefully go through the documents submitted.

If you are renting your property for a few months, a lease agreement is not mandatory, but it is for leases of over 11 months. This document contains details like tenure of the agreement, rent payable, deposit amount, any clauses that may result in cancellation of the agreement, and applicable penalty in case the tenant refuses to vacate. If you are planning to rent the property for more than a year, it is mandatory to get the lease agreement registered. This offers a layer of security to the landlord in case the tenant refuses to vacate or pay rent.

Our well experienced staff members can take up your vacate premises process from start to finish in a very professional manner, and make the whole process as comfortable as a breeze for you. Furthermore, if you have any queries pertaining to the process in general or related to your business in particular, our executives can respond to them proficiently. So what are you waiting for? Just give us a call, or fill up our contact form, and our executives will gladly assist you further.

How to Evict a Tenant:

Before reading any further, there’s something that must be stressed up front: you cannot evict a tenant without a court order. An Eviction Notice is a part of the process, but you can’t simply pin one to the door and demand your tenant vacates. It just doesn’t work that way.

You need a reason to evict a tenant:

Although laws do vary state by state, you’ll need a proper reason to evict a tenant. Commonly, that reason is failure to pay rent. But evictions can also be caused by excessive lateness with rent, damage to property, or breaking the lease, perhaps by adopting a pet, having extra people stay in the property, making noise at all hours, or failing to maintain any other provision of your Rental Agreement.

Keep in mind, if you have a good tenant with a problem you can deal with, consider mediation. Eviction can be time consuming and costly and should be embarked upon as a last resort.

Serving an Eviction Notice:

An Eviction Notice is generally the first step of the eviction process. In your notice, you’ll want to include the reason you’re evicting the tenant (such as failure to pay rent for several months) and whether the tenant can remedy the offense. If you appear flexible, the courts may look more kindly on your claim during the process. Often, tenants are given 30 days to fix the issue, at which point you can call off the eviction.

If your tenant doesn’t remedy the situation, your Eviction Notice is the first step. Although it varies depending on where you live, you’ll eventually end up in court. A judge will decide if you have a claim and the tenant will be given a finite period of time to vacate the property. In California, for example, this is generally 5 days after the judge’s ruling.

Evicting someone who lives with you:

If you have a problem roommate or family member who won’t leave after you’ve asked, in most states, you’ll need to go through the eviction process. Typically, roommates are evicted because they’ve not paid rent, but if they’ve broken another part of the lease, you can ask they leave as well. Going through the eviction process with a roommate helps solidify that, even though the lease was perhaps broken, if wasn’t your fault.

The importance of a Real Estate Attorney:

Eviction Notices and the eviction process can be tricky. They’re not only different in every state, but often in every county. If you’re thinking about evicting a tenant, it’s strongly recommended you consult with an attorney. Eviction takes time and it takes follow through. If it goes wrong, you can be stuck with a bad tenant for a long time. So talk with an experienced lawyer before you serve your notice. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief.

Other documents for landlords and property managers:

Here are some documents you may need, either to finalize your eviction notice or, once you have an empty property, to fill it back up.

• Lease Agreement
• Rental Application
• Late Rent Notice
• Landlord’s Notice to Enter