Everything You Need to Know About Eviction Laws

What Is a Typical Eviction Process?

Eviction laws vary from state to state, so use this information as a high-level starting point. Always consult your state’s specific eviction laws to be sure you’re in compliance with your specific legal obligations.

That said, there’s a basic eviction process that’s fairly common across most states:

1. File for an eviction lawsuit.
2. The court hears your case and makes a ruling. It’s important to have plenty of documented evidence to support your case. Include dates, what happened, what you did to resolve the issue, and the result of your efforts.
3. Request law enforcement to escort tenants off the property. 
4. Police deliver a written notice to the tenant that they will return in a certain number of days to escort them off the property if they aren’t already gone.
5. Law enforcement returns to escort the tenant, if necessary.
6. If tenant possessions are left behind, you may need to store them (and pay for storage) and contact the former tenants to retrieve their items. This will vary, depending on your state.

The entire eviction process can take a couple of months — or longer, if the courts are backed up. But compared to other civil cases, eviction lawsuits are usually fairly quick.

There's a good reason for the restrictions on property managers. On your end, you have a business to take care of. But the stakes are higher for tenants — their home is being threatened. It’s only right to make sure that tenants are fairly treated and have the time they need to find a new residence.

Know Your State’s Eviction Laws

Since eviction laws vary from state to state, it’s important to consult with your legal counsel to make sure you understand your legal responsibilities to your tenants. If you embark on an eviction process incorrectly, it can be detrimental to you and your business. Not only could your tenants stay in the rental unit, you can end up in legal trouble yourself.

At the same time, you have certain protections as well. You should be familiar with your own rights under your state’s eviction laws.

Have a Process Before You Need It

The worst time to figure out your dispute resolution and eviction process is when you need to use it. Your emotions are high, you’re in reaction mode, and the pressure is on to act fast. That’s a perfect storm for making mistakes and overlooking aspects of the process.

Instead, start working now with your legal counsel to establish an eviction process. Don’t leave any room for discrimination — or for the perception of discrimination. Know what to avoid so that you don’t open yourself up to a lawsuit.

And when it comes time, follow your eviction process to a “T”.

What Are the Types of Evictions?

There are different kinds of lease terminations — for example, termination with cause and termination without cause. Usually, termination without cause is only valid in month-to-month leases, so it’s important to make sure you have cause when pursuing an eviction.

Typically, when you have cause to evict a tenant, there are three types of termination notices:

• Pay rent or quit notices. As the name suggests, the tenant has to pay back rent owed or be evicted. Usually the tenant has three to five days to pay, or they must move out.
• Cure or quit notices. When a tenant violates a rental agreement, such as a no-pet clause, they must resolve the issue within a defined period or face an eviction lawsuit. 
• Unconditional quit notices. In this case, the violation is grievous enough that the tenant has no opportunity to make things right — they’re being kicked out, no matter what. In most states, unconditional quit notices are allowed only when the tenant has
• Repeatedly violated a significant lease agreement clause.
• Been late on rent multiple times.
• Caused serious property damage.
• Engaged in serious illegal activity at the property, such as selling drugs.

When there’s a lease violation, you’ll need to be very specific about what is and isn’t acceptable. Make sure your lease is thorough and addresses all of the scenarios it needs to cover. Don’t simply grab a templated lease off of the internet and add your name and logo to it. Send it to your attorney for review, and verify that it covers all of the situations that you would evict someone for.

For example, an increasing number of tenants are placing their rental property on Airbnb, without the landlord’s permission. In the past, this situation hasn’t been written into lease agreements, but property managers are discovering the need to add this restriction to their leases.

An Ounce of Prevention

There’s no guarantee that you can prevent evictions altogether, but the best chance of avoiding the scenario is to find quality qualified tenants. That starts with a well defined, thorough screening process. 

Always follow best practices, and don’t take shortcuts while qualifying a tenant lead:

• Perform a criminal background check
• Run a credit check
• Verify employment
• Check rental history
• Contact references

Also, ask the right questions as you screen applicants. This is the foundation of Tenant Turner software. Tenant Turner’s built-in screening questions help you identify the qualities of a good tenant — especially the qualities you won’t find in a credit report.

Use Tenant Turner to ask your tenant leads about:

• Pet situation
• Smoking
• Active bankruptcies
• Income-to-rent ratio
• Past evictions
• Felony convictions
• Custom questions

Reduce Evictions by Finding the Right Tenants

The eviction process is time consuming, labor intensive, and costly. It’s in everyone’s best interest to resolve tenant issues before you get to the point of eviction. Your eviction process should actually be the last-resort option at the end of a larger dispute resolution process.

You can’t always avoid evictions, but attracting the right kind of tenant is a great place to start. Discover how to get better results from your rental advertisement — download our 2022 guide for advertising your rental property.