If you are a landlord, on occasion there will be times when you have to evict a tenant. That can be a lengthy and drawn out process, especially if your tenant decides that they want to fight the eviction process. So, what is the process?
Legal Termination
The first thing you need to do to start the eviction process is to give your tenant a legal termination of their tenancy. Depending on your state, you may have to give a 30 or 60 day notice to start the process. You generally can't just kick them out. There are different kinds of notices that you can send your tenant, and the best way to do it is to have a legal form that is written up by a lawyer who deals with residential real estate. You can have them write up blanks for the various kinds of notices so that the forms are legally correct and then all you have to do is to fill in your information and your tenant's information as well as the reason that you are terminating their lease.
Pay or Quit
If your tenant is behind on their rent, the form that you will need to give them is a pay or quit notice. What this means is that you have given them the option to pay their rent or start the eviction process. Generally, that notice will give them X amount of days before they have to pay their rent or start the move out process or you will continue with the eviction process. How many days you have to give them depends on your state. You may have to give them 10 days before you can continue the process. If they pay their back rent, then you may decide to stop the process.
Cure or Quit
Cure or quit notices are the same as pay or quit notice, but instead of paying their back rent, they have to fix whatever the problem is. For example, if they have a dog or cat and that's not OK in their lease, then you will give them the notice and they can either get rid of the animal or start getting ready to move out.
Unconditional Quit
WIth an unconditional quit notice, there is no way that the tenant can fix whatever problem, all they can do is to start the move out process, or failing that, for you to keep moving your eviction process along.
If you are a landlord, there are times you are going to have to deal with things you don't want to, like evicting tenants. Knowing the right kinds of forms to use and having a lawyer write those forms up can help you make sure you are doing everything legally. Contact a firm, like Stoddard Law Firm, for more help.
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