Virtually every landlord eventually faces the need to evict a tenant. It’s almost never an easy task, and it produces a lot of animosity between the tenant and landlord. State laws also make certain the steps that landlords need to follow to evict a tenant. Failure to follow the appropriate processes can prolong a undesirable tenant’s stay and might lead to fines to the landlord. In California, for instance, using unlawful means to evict a tenant can lead to liability and can lead to fines up to $100 per day to the time that the tenant was evicted. In most states, evictions demand the participation of a court. Landlords, however, have choices when it comes to how they evict tenants.
Three-Day Eviction Notice Process
Under certain states, landlords can evict tenants after issuing them a three-day notice of intent to evict. This notice is permitted by state law when a tenant fails to meet the conditions of the rental agreement. Most frequently, the notice comes out of the tenant’s failure to pay rent. The notice can also be issued when a tenant is determined to be engaging in criminal activity, such as drug dealing, that proves harmful to the owners of the property. When the notice is served, the tenant has three times to look after the violation to the rental agreement. By way of instance, the tenant would need to pay the due rent. If payment is not made, the matter goes to another measure, which is a court filing of an official complaint. The court filing causes a summons, which provides the tenant official notice from the local courthouse that he is going to be evicted. This starts the eviction procedure, and the tenant is given the option of accepting the eviction or contesting it through the courts.
30-day Notice Terminating Tenancy
When a landlord wants to evict a tenant, he’s the option to do this even when the tenant doesn’t violate the rental agreement. Certain conditions, however, have to exist. Basically, the rental agreement shouldn’t have a set ending period. The agreement in such cases is from month to month or week to week. When these conditions apply, the landlord must file a 30-day notice that he is terminating the tenant’s rental agreement. This offers the tenant 30 days to proceed. If the tenant fails to maneuver inside the 30 days, then the landlord can file a legal complaint with the courthouse, which then issues a summons to the tenant. This begins the formal eviction procedure, and the tenant can select whether to fight the eviction in court.
Sheriff’s Eviction
When a landlord files a legal complaint, the landlord should answer the summons so as to contest the eviction in court. Failure to reply to the summons within five days leads to a default judgment, and the tenant is called for at this stage to vacate the property. Following a default judgment is attained, a sheriff’s notice is sent notifying the tenant that he must vacate the property. The tenant then has the time to vacate before the sheriff proceeds to force an eviction. Back in California, a sheriff’s notice is sent one to five days after a default judgment and a sheriff’s eviction takes place six to eight times after the sheriff’s notice is sent.
Court Eviction
Sometimes, filing a legal complaint is not enough to evict a tenant. Tenants have the right to file a motion to strike or even a motion to quash the summons. Tenants can also file an answer to the jury or judge stating why the eviction should not occur. At this point, the landlord should continue through the procedure. If the tenant files a response, the case goes to trial. The trial then decides whether an eviction is required. If this is so, the tenant is served with a sheriff’s notice and have to vacate the premises. Attempting to do so causes a sheriff’s eviction. If the tenant wins the situation, the landlord can’t evict the tenant. When the tenant files a motion, the court holds a hearing to determine whether the case should go to trial. If the hearing is determined in favor of the tenant, the landlord should establish new reasons for evicting the tenant. Basically, this implies re-starting the eviction procedure.