How to Evict When Tenants Don't Pay Rent

In a perfect world, tenants will only move into homes they can afford and property owners will always keep the home in great repair. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sometimes landlords are just horrible, and tenants have every right to retaliate. In other cases, landlords are as perfect as they can be and tenants still behave badly. If you have ever had someone move into your rental apartment start falling behind in rent payments from the very first month, you know what I am talking about. To make matters worse, they refuse to move out.

Others tenants will pay your regularly for a few months, and even a few years. When their luck runs out however, yours does too. They stop paying and refuse to move out. They may even get upset when you request rent and ask why you cannot wait or give them a break. If you are like most property owners however, you do not have a break to give. You need the rent payment in order to pay the mortgage. This means if your tenant does not pay, you need to evict them.

In most states, there is a process you have to follow to evict a tenant. If you skip a step or act impulsively, it will make it even harder to get them out of your property.

The first thing you have to do to evict your non-paying tenant is to send them a late letter. Whenever they are more than 5 days late with the rent, you should send a late letter asking for payment in full plus late fees. This will let them know that you will not allow them to go for months without paying you. Do an Internet search for "late payment notice" or "non-payment of rent notice" for your state so that your letter has the proper wording.

If your tenant still does not pay the rent, then you need to file and eviction lawsuit. This goes by a different name in each state. When you file the lawsuit, a court date will be given to the tenant by legal service. Depending on the circumstances, the tenant can be evicted immediately on the trial date. Other tenants will be given a grace period in which they must pay the past due rent amount or move.