Understanding Illegal Evictions: When Eviction Is a Bad Idea
Deciding to evict a tenant is never an easy decision. The process is not only costly, it can be complicated for landlords who have never been through it before—so knowing the legal way to evict someone is paramount. Eviction should be the last resort in dealing with a problem tenant.
Here’s what you need to know about illegal and legal evictions. Understanding when you can and cannot legally evict someone is crucial, as you don’t want to end up in a bad legal situation that could jeopardize your home or finances.
Retaliatory Eviction
You cannot evict a tenant as a response to an action or complaint made against you or the property. Retaliatory evictions are illegal and should be avoided at all costs.
For example, a tenant can choose to withhold rent as a form of leverage to encourage the landlord to respond to or fix a complaint. This includes things such as building code violations or poor living conditions.
As a rule of thumb, never take eviction action, such as sending an eviction notice, within six months of a tenant making a complaint. A judge may rule the eviction as retaliatory.
Discriminatory Eviction
You cannot legally evict a tenant based on them being a certain class. Not liking or agreeing with the way someone looks or their lifestyle choices has no legal grounds for eviction. In fact, the Federal Fair Housing Act protects people based on seven classes, to include:
- Race
- Color
- Sex
- National origin
- Religion
- Familial status
- Disability
Your state may also have additional protected classes to protect against discriminatory eviction and other discrimination-based actions. Make sure that you know all of the state laws as well as local laws that apply to protected classes.
Withholding Rent
If a tenant complains about a health or safety issue, they have legal rights to withhold part of the rent until the issue is resolved. Tenant complaints, especially those in regards to health and safety, must be quickly addressed and fixed.
Tenants can withhold rent to use as leverage to encourage the landlord or property manager to take action on their concern. Evicting a tenant who has complaints that have gone ignored or unaddressed is illegal.
Partial Rent
By accepting partial payments, you may have given up your right to evict a tenant. In some instances, if the following month’s rent is also late, and you refuse to accept any additional payment that month, then you may be able to pursue an eviction.
After starting the eviction process, don’t accept a partial payment.
Legal Reasons to Evict a Tenant
Now let’s discuss all of the reasons why a landlord can legally evict a tenant. Again, while kicking out a tenant should be a last resort, it’s sometimes the only available option to deal with a problem tenant. Is it difficult to evict a tenant? The process is manageable, but you have to make sure to cover your bases and abide by landlord-tenant eviction laws.
Here’s what you need to know about how to legally evict someone.
Legal Evictions
A common question from landlords is, “Do I need a reason to evict my tenant?” The answer is yes, before deciding to evict a tenant, you need a valid reason before proceeding in the courts. Refer back to the lease agreement signed by the tenant and make note of any clear violations. Some of the most common reasons to legally evict a tenant include:
- Failure to pay rent (unless due to a health or safety issue)
- Property damage
- Subletting without authorization
- Consistently paying late
- Disrupting other tenants
- Using the property for illegal activity
To make your case in court, thoroughly document any evidence of lease agreement violations. This includes bank statements, photos of damage, copies of text or email conversations, and records of bounced checks.
This information will need to be presented in court, so the more details you can provide, the better.
Minimize Your Risk by Hiring a Property Management Company
Minimizing the risk of having to evict a tenant starts with a thorough screening process. As a landlord, chances are you don’t have time to review every single tenant that submits an application. However, not doing so increases the risk of problems in the future.
By hiring a trusted property management company like Genuine Property Management, you can have peace of mind that your property is being rented to tenants that you can trust. Our company screens include the use of background checks for every single applicant.
We also collect rent, manage any service or maintenance requests, and deal with any disputes between tenants. In the event of an eviction, our team will handle all of the documentation and legal actions.
Want to learn more about how a property management company can benefit you as a landlord? Contact Genuine Property Management at 949-209-9494.
