Need Tenant Eviction Advice - Posted by John Butler(Stl)

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Law
1

Posted by Jaime Raskulinecz on March 09, 1999 at 13:20:15:

I am in NJ so can only tell you what we do here based on our regs. Each state can differ in their requirements.

Generally our policy is that all rent is due on the first of the month. However, we offer a grace period of 5 days before a late fee is charged on the 6th day of the month. (For senior citizens I think the grace period must be 10 or 15 days). We then file with the courts and the tenant gets a notice from the court of the impendng court date. It sometimes takes 30 days to get a court date from the date that you file for eviction for non-payment of rent.

This is the short version

Jaime

2

Need Tenant Eviction Advice - Posted by John Butler(Stl)

Posted by John Butler(Stl) on March 09, 1999 at 13:03:02:

After coming back from Dallas, I have a renewed vigor for enforcing my leases and training my tenants to be good tenants instead of letting them train me. My question regards the eviction process. I have contacted the city and they have told me that I must give a 30 day notice of emminent eviction by certified mail before I can file with the courts. Does this sound right to you who have evicted before? I keep reading that as soon as then tenants are 1 day late with the rent to send a 3 day pay rent or quit notice. Does this have to be certified mail? Can I then file for evicition with the courts as soon as the 3 day period is up? The person I spoke with at the city seemed to not really know their stuff, so I am double-checking what you other landlords do.

Thanks,

John

3

Re: Need Tenant Eviction Advice - Posted by Mark (stl)

Posted by Mark (stl) on March 09, 1999 at 23:12:53:

John, I just did an eviction in the county. I had a lawyer and would highly reccommend the same. if you would like, call me and I can give you her name or just tell you what I went through. 477-7329

4

Re: Need Tenant Eviction Advice - Posted by Rob FL

Posted by Rob FL on March 09, 1999 at 20:11:23:

Every state is different in FL it is a 3 day notice. In some states that love tenants it might be 30 days. Go to www.findlaw.com and READ the law for your particular state. I have read my landlord-tenant law about 10 times to make sure I know it backwards and forwards.

5

Re: Need Tenant Eviction Advice - Posted by Randy -IL-

Posted by Randy -IL- on March 09, 1999 at 14:52:28:

John,
I talked to my attorney about evictions once. He said that he could provide me with all the necessary papers to file and an outline of when to file them for about $150-$200. After I had the papers he actually suggested that I put them in my computer so I could change the names and use them on other bad tenants.

Maybe an attorney in St.L. could get you the the right papers for MO. Evictions get a lot more expensive when the attorney has to do all the filing and represent you in court. But the papers aren’t all that pricey.

6

Re: Need Tenant Eviction Advice - Posted by Rose Leopaldi(CA)

Posted by Rose Leopaldi(CA) on March 09, 1999 at 13:22:48:

Hello John,
When I needed to kick out tenants, I surfed the Net (nothing), I called the city (duh!), I called an eviction service and they told me the sequence of things to do (without asking for any money for the info), and I went to the bookstore and bought 2 books on California Landlord Rights (Vol 2 was entire on evictions), AND I bought California Tenants Rights so I would know in advance what tricks they were gonna pull.

I also watched one of those court shows for the first time in my life just to get an idea. Then I went to a Small Claims Court session in my area as a “dry run” (tenants left on 3 day Pay or Quit but sued me for their deposit back).

These steps worked well for me. Hope I gave you some ideas. By comparing the eviction services advice with the books I was able to understand the process and execute it successfully. Make sure you get state/city specific info for your area.

DO NOT ask just anyone (your neighbor, your family) for advice. Think like a strict lawyer.

In CA there were 3 choices to serve someone notices. I used 2 instead of only 1, just to ensure CYA. And remember to keep a neat paper trail to present to a judge, if need be. Document every bit of action. In court the extenants had 30 pages of scraggly paper (notes and “witness” statements handwritten on spiral paper with the jagged edges) and their copy of the lease with food stains on it.

I presented the judge with 6 neat sheets of paper; the lease, a receipt for process service, copy of request for payment I gave to tenants, list of costs, etc.

It was funny. I was so prepared and the tenants and their “witnesses” (to what?) acted just like those loudmouth ignorant rude people on TV. Of course the judge didn’t like that, he got mad at them and almost yelled at them! I loved it, won my case and hightailed it out of there.

Hope this gets you going. I’m interested to see what the more experienced deadbeat-eliminators have to say.

Rosie