Evicting a tenant

On Jun 4, 6:58 am, "Richard" <RichardS...@aaaYahoo.com> wrote:
> I own a two family house and reside in it.  My tenants are married and their
> relationship has deteriorated and one spouse has moved out.  The rent due on
> June 1 was not paid.

You don't say what state you live in, or even if it is in USA.  That would help the denizens of MLM point you in a suggested direction, since state laws differ widely on the protections they give tenants, esp. a tenant in a one-unit rental  where the landlord lives on the premises (often, such situations are more favorable to you, the owner, but not always).  You also don't say whether these tenants have a written lease or were just paying you month-to-month.  In the latter case it would be relatively easier to evict them at the end of any one-month prepaid lease term simply by not agreeing to renew their tenancy for another month (in a manner that complies with the law, see below).

You really should contact a local real estate attorney familiar with landlord-tenant law from the landlord's side.  Attorneys who have experience representing residental lease brokers or property managers would be a good choice.   You will probably have to pay market rates even for an initial consultation with one of these.  The ones who staff free or low-cost legal clinics, OTOH, generally focus on helping poor tenants.   If you do decide to take legal action, your impoverished tenants can most likely find one of those attorneys to defend them agressively, so you definitely will need an attorney on your side as well, if you want to have any realistic chance of success.   And, in the long run, if you are going to stay in the landlord business, you ought to begin to establish a relationship with a "company attorney" who can advise you on all sorts of legal matters related to your leasing business.  If you think you can't afford it, then keep in mind that the risk of abusive or nonpaying tenants is one of the costs of being in the landlord business and that your lawyer can help you manage and minimize those risks.   Just think of it as another cost of doing business, for damage control.

Of course, no matter where you are, "there's no harm in asking" your tenants to pay up and/or to move out or both.  The question is, what do you do after that, if they refuse to play nice.

But basically, if that fails, in just about every state you have 2 legal choices, which are not mutually exclusive: you can sue the tenants for back rent owed (it's a debt like any other), and you can ask the court to evict them.for nonpayment of rent and/or other reasons.   Please DO NOT try to evict the tenants thru self-help (just putting their stuff on the street and changing the locks) without having an appropriate court order, if they refuse to cooperate with your initial request; you could get yourself in a heap of trouble and wind up owing THEM money for srongfully evicting them, if you did that.  Good luck,

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Mike Jacobs
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