One of the most stressful situations any landlord will encounter is the need to evict a tenant. No one gets into real estate investing and the ownership of rentals because they delight in kicking people out of their homes, but, ultimately, your rental property is a business, and hopefully, a money-making venture. That problem tenant can be a costly diversion. We sat down with Colin Newberry, Senior Associate Attorney, to discuss when and how to go about evicting a tenant.

So, should you evict your tenant?

Newberry says, “If you are asking this question, the answer is ‘probably.’” The fact is, if you are thinking about eviction, you’ve likely had several problem experiences with the tenant that have you heading down this path.

Evictable Offenses

Failure to pay rent

Owing back rent is an obvious one and is the most straightforward offense to enforce and prove. Is your tenant’s failure to pay rent this month an unusual circumstance? Or, is this just one instance of many months where they haven’t paid rent?

Failure to care for your property

What if the tenant pays rent, but doesn’t take care of the property? Your tenant is full of excuses as to why they aren’t keeping the place up, things such as not bringing in the garbage cans or the yard is a mess. Can you evict over maintenance issues? The answer is YES.

The above scenario shouldn’t get to the eviction point if you have a good property manager. Whether you are self-managing your property, or you’ve hired a company to do this for you, it’s essential to keep good records of the obligations of the tenant (per their signed lease) and their compliance with those requirements.

Lest you think a messy lawn is not a big issue, it can affect your overall property value. Some landlords, especially those with higher-end properties, provide lawn services as part of their contract with the tenant for this very reason.

Protect Yourself in the Case of Eviction: 3 Tips for Managing Your Tenant-Landlord Relationship

Communicate

A tenant-landlord relationship is like any other. It’s success, or failure comes down to communication. Excellent communication from the beginning can ensure that you find the right tenant and that they understand their obligations as your tenant per your lease agreement. A good back and forth dialogue between you, or your property manager, and your tenant will also help to nip contentious issues in the bud when they arise. Make sure this is in writing. Emails can be very helpful in court.

Don’t Let it Fester

As a landlord, the worst case scenario is to find yourself in a situation that you had the chance to prevent, lessen, or solve early-on. A tenant that has ongoing issues paying rent or that continues to neglect your property is a problem for your bottom line. With consistent communication, you can head off problems before you (or your tenant) get too deep in a hole.

Bottom line: if they can’t pay rent, then they can’t pay on a judgment against them if you enforce legal action. The less time you let lapse, the less money you’ll lose. The longer you let it fester, the worse off your business will be. After all, this is a business!

Document. Everything.

If your tenant-landlord dispute escalates and you must present your case in front of a judge, documentation of your requests and your tenant’s responses will go a lot further than merely he said/she said.

Landlords, prove your case by providing:

• Documentation by email, not text.
• Photos of your property before tenancy/upon move-in
• Pictures of the condition of your property at the center of the dispute

Judges will look for a way to let someone stay in their home. The burden is on you, as the landlord, to prove that you’ve done everything you could to make this work, that you have a property that you value, and that your property has not been cared for per the tenant’s lease obligation.

While we hope that you never have to evict a tenant, enlisting a property management company, such as 1836 Property Management, can help you protect your rental investment business. We care for your property with comprehensive services that span from finding the right tenant to administering lease contracts and compliance with state laws and regulations, to managing day-to-day communication, maintenance, and property oversight, to conducting an eviction should a need arise. Contact us to find out more.

Making money from your rental property comes down to a simple equation, right? Earning a return on your investment is not as easy as charging your tenants more than your monthly mortgage + expenses. If that were wholly true, then it stands to reason that cutting your costs as far as possible puts you on the road to a massive return on investment. Instead, as the adage says, you must spend money to make money. The spend-to-make principle applies to any business, including your real estate investment. Despite this knowledge, many property owners walk headlong into expenses that they could avoid.

Avoidable costs start piling up when property owners cut too many corners on their expenses in the name of trying to eke more profit out of their properties. This strategy, although tempting, is short-sighted. You must be smart, not cheap to succeed in real estate investing.

Watch out for these three common and avoidable landlord expenses.

Forced Vacancies: The vacancy you can control

What’s a forced vacancy? It’s a vacancy that is caused by something you did or did not do as the property owner. Vacancies are expensive, so try to avoid these two scenarios.

Your rent is too high.

But, you say, “I need to raise the rent every year! Most everything else in life goes up in price over time, because, inflation!”

Let’s say you have a wonderful tenant who has lived in your property for the past ten years, who pays the rent on time, and cares for your property like it’s their own. You’d like them to stay indefinitely. But, when you keep raising the rent on them arbitrarily, that’s a recipe for your ideal tenant to look elsewhere.

Treat rent increases with care, particularly if you have a fixed mortgage.

Your property is not well-maintained.

Don’t let your dream tenant leave because you neglected to fix something. Tenants don’t want to move and uproot their lives any more than you want to have to find another fantastic tenant. But, they will find another place to live if they are bearing the most significant burden of the upkeep and nagging maintenance issues keep rearing their ugly heads.

By maintaining your property well beyond the make ready and move-in, you will ensure that your renters feel that their tenancy is appreciated.

Bonus – by doing regular maintenance, you’ll also have less of a maintenance lift when you have a vacancy and need to get your rental property quickly back on the market.

High Days on Market: Get it right, then to market

When you bring your rental property to market, make sure it is priced right. When it is priced according to the market or slightly aggressively, you ensure that your rental property rents quickly. But this is only one-half of your go-to-market strategy. You must also get the condition of your property right before you bring it to market.

Don’t put it on the market to test your rent number, then decide that you might need to replace that carpet with a big stain on it to warrant that number. As we said above, vacancies are expensive! By getting the condition right before going to market, you’ll speed up the time it’ll take to get your property rented, and you’ll attract a better tenant.

Deliver your property to market in a great condition
with a great price and you’ll find a great tenant.

Repetitive Maintenance: Don’t spend good money after bad

When it comes to avoidable expenses, repetitive maintenance is a biggie. You know those things that come up every time you have to turn over the apartment to a new tenant? Carpet’s a big one. Don’t replace it with a low-quality option just because it’s cheap and fast. You’ll have to replace it again in 3-5 years. Engaging in short-term thinking will come back to take a big bite out of your wallet over time.

Don’t spend good money after bad, and spend it repetitively!

A better strategy is to pay more for a higher-quality product, like commercial-grade flooring that will last you 10-20 years. You’ll pay up to 25% more, but you’ll also get a break from having to replace it frequently.

Being a rental property investor can be your ticket to financial independence, so it’s worth doing your due diligence when it comes to the care and pricing of your rental property. Owning a well-maintained property that attracts (and keeps) long-term tenants will help you steer clear of these avoidable expenses and provide you with a great return on your investment.

Are you just starting out in real estate investing? Download our free e-book, Real Estate Investing 101: Your Path to Financial Independence. It’s full of tips, resources, and Austin-specific information to help you win in the rental property market.