QUESTION:

I am a property owner who is seriously considering renting out a house I just bought. I could use the extra money to help with the payments, but I have heard some horror stories about landlords who have been tied up in court with tenants who just would not pay their rent on time, and, worse, refuse to vacate. I am told that it often takes longer than it should to get a tenant who is not paying their rent out of the property. My question is, is their anything I can do to reduce the risk of having my property tied up in this way, and, even more importantly, what can I do to ensure I do not get sued by a tenant?

ANSWER:

Your question is one that every prospective landlord should ask him or herself. Unfortunately, in the world we live in today, there is only one way to make yourself 100 percent immune from disputes with tenants, and that is not to have any tenants at all. However, there are many things you can and should do to protect yourself and reduce the chances that you will have problems in this regard. While this article cannot comprehensively approach the subject, below I list some basics which you might want to keep in mind.

For starters, I believe that before you become a landlord, you should familiarize yourself with the basics of landlord tenant law. By basics, I do not mean you need to arm yourself with enough knowledge to take a law school exam on the subject, or to write your own treatise. What I do mean is become reasonably informed as to the common issues that come up so you will know how to avoid them, and/or handle them when they happen. This can be done easily enough with a few trips to the law library. While these research trips will not make you an expert on all of the intricacies of landlord-tenant law, the knowledge you will gain is likely to arm you with enough information to be able to plan for, and often avoid, some of the more common disputes which arise. You might also want to invest some money in a basic book on law from the landlord's perspective, as they often contain sample forms, resources, and an understanding of the basic concepts.

The first thing you probably want to keep in mind is that how you select your tenants at the outset may have a lot to do with whether or not a dispute ultimately arises. Tenants who have not, or could not, pay their rent in the past may repeat their patterns, either intentionally or otherwise. Although it seems like common sense, it might surprise you how many landlords, generally those who rent single units and are inexperienced, do not do credit checks on perspective tenants. This is the basic minimum you should be doing to protect yourself. You also want to do more thorough investigation, if merited, such as reference checking, verification of employment of income, and other tasks such as checking court documents to determine if they have ever been involved in an eviction lawsuit. If you have a manager or property management company to do this for you, you should allow them to take up this task. You should insist that each potential tenant over 18 years of age fill out a written rental application.

Once you have made the decision to rent the property to a certain tenant, you hopefully, and usually, will have no problems whatsoever. However, it is important to know, before you become a landlord, the basic responsibilities of the landlord during the tenancy. Landlords, like tenants, have responsibilities which they must live up to, and all too often landlords make mistakes, either through carelessness or worse, which end up costing them money.

While the scope of this article is no where near large enough to cover all of the landlord responsibilities, suffice it for here to say that if the landlord wishes to end the tenancy, he must take the legal steps necessary to do this. Whether or not the services of an attorney or document preparation professional are necessary to accomplish this will depend on the complexity of the facts, the sophistication of the parties, and the financial situation you find yourself in as the landlord. However, there are certain things you should never do if the situation has deteriorated to this point, and below a few of the major actions which the landlord must avoid at almost any cost are listed.

First, you must not, under any circumstances, forcibly evict a tenant by yourself. This is called a "self-help" eviction, and can end up costing you thousands of dollars. This is the case even though, in some instances, the landlord may feel the conduct of the tenant is so disrespectful and outrageous that resort to quick self help is necessary. In the end, if you are sued by a tenant who you forcibly removed, or attempted to forcibly remove, on your own, the simple fact is that the tenant's conduct in failing to pay rent, keep the place clean, or respect you will likely be no defense. You must keep in mind that it is simply illegal to either forcibly enter the tenant's residence, or to otherwise enter the residence and then threaten to forcibly remove the tenant. Only a sheriff, marshall, or other designated law enforcement officer are legally allowed to physically evict the tenant.

Additionally, it is illegal for you, as the landlord, to lock the tenant out by changing the locks, nailing the door shut, or similar methods. Also, attempting to otherwise make the tenant's life miserable by altering the condition of the premises can also get you sued, and quick. For instance, removing tenant's property, or any furniture or fixtures in the unit, even if you provided it as the landlord, is illegal and should be avoided at all costs.

Another major mistake made by some landlords is the shutting off of utilities. This could include the electricity, the water, the gas, certain services, and the like. This also includes causing their shut off, indirectly, by failing to pay the utility bills in instances where the landlord pays for the utilities.

These mistakes are very costly. They can result in a suit against the landlord. They can also substantially slow down the legal process of eviction for the landlord, even if the landlord has valid, independent reasons for trying to terminate the tenancy. While the eviction process can be costly and slow, these costs are minimal when compared to the costs which may arise if the landlord does not use common sense and follow the rules.

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