For McKinney property owners, evictions can certainly be time-consuming and obviously bad for your monthly cash flows, sound arguments to keep them from happening if you can. But indeed, if you’ve undertaken and failed to settle your dispute directly with your tenant, it may now be the time to get the eviction process started. In the sections that follow, we’ll go into effective practices to safeguard that your eviction is a successful one.
Contrary to what many people say, eviction is not the action of forcing a tenant off of the leased property. Instead, an eviction is a legal process by which a landlord or property owner regains possession of (or full legal rights to) the property. If you lease a property to a tenant, the lease documents legally assign both rights and responsibilities to you and your tenant. It is a legal contract. To void that contract, your tenant must agree to leave willingly, or a corresponding legal process will have to be done.
The first critical step of any eviction process is to perceive and completely understand the Landlord/Tenant laws in your area. Despite that a lot of federal laws apply to all incidents, there are indeed different state and even local laws that you need to understand. If you don’t have regard for all of the relevant laws, there is a high chance that your eviction will fail, and you may need to start all over again. For instance, you will need to ascertain how much advance notice you are required to give your tenant to remedy the lease violation, how long the grace period is for late payments, how many days you should give your tenant to vacate the property, and so on.
Once you now have an understanding of the law and how it affects you, your next step is to give your tenant a Pay or Quit or Notice of Lease Violation. This document is the official notice to your tenant stating that they are in violation of the lease. It should equally include instructions the tenant can abide by to once again be in compliance with their lease. As may be needed, make sure to send this notice by certified mail or another required delivery method and that any stated actions or remedies follow all time periods required by law.
Now let’s assume the tenant does not give a favorable response to the notice or points out that they are unable or unwilling to return to compliance with their lease terms. In such a case, your next possible step is to document your legal grounds for eviction and file a Forcible Detainer with the local court. On the basis of where your rental property is situated, the required documents may comprise both an Eviction Complaint and a Summons, both of which outline your case for eviction and inform the tenant of the action filed against them. You have to file your form with the court and serve them to your tenant, either in person or by taking the delivery method required by law.
After you file a Forcible Detainer, the court will consider your case for eviction and issue a ruling. If the judge rules in your favor, they may furthermore give instructions for the forcible removal of the tenant from the property, if needed. Without a judgment from the court, you cannot evict a tenant who is not ready to vacate the property.
Despite the fact that the judgment is the legal end of the eviction process, for landlords, the last phase is overseeing the removal of the tenant and their belongings from the property. In various states, landlords can demand the help of the local police, constable, or sheriff’s department to remove a tenant. It is illegal for a landlord to intimidate or harass a tenant in any state, even with an eviction judgment in hand. Each state has different laws in regard to taking care of the removal of a tenant and their personal belongings, so bear in mind to follow the law in your area conscientiously while doing so. If you violate a tenant’s rights, even after they’ve been legally evicted, they could sue you in return, in all probability delaying or even overturning your eviction judgment.
A successful eviction is a legal eviction handled attentively and expressly documented in all aspects. But indeed, evictions are moreover delicate concerns, demanding time and detailed knowledge of tenant-landlord laws. Why not let the McKinney property management pros at Real Property Management Focus watch over your eviction for you instead? Contact us online or call 469-820-0088 to learn more.
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