Evict Should be a Four Letter Word!

Tenants don't like eviction for the obvious reason, they are going to have to move. Plus, finding a willing landlord with an eviction on there record can be difficult. However, the truth is that eviction is a tough process for us landlords, too. For starters the eviction was probably originally caused by one or more of the following; not paying rent, damaging the property, not following rules, and/or doing or selling drugs. In addition to these frustrations, the landlord has to deal with the eviction process which has even more deleterious effect on the landlord including but not limited to the following;

Rental Income losses: It takes 30 to 90 days to formally evict a person, sometimes longer if you don’t follow the procedure exactly and have to start over. With rental rates running anywhere from $500 to $1,700 per month for a standard rental, that's $1,000 to $3,400 in lost revenue.

Damage to property: Problem tenants often damage your property, even more so after the filing of an eviction notice. Many tenants know that the damage will exceed their deposit, and they still damage the property to spite a landlord

Legal Fees: There is a great deal of fees involved to succesfully evict a tenant including; court costs, legal fees, and Sheriff fees. You can expect those fees to run $1,000 to $2,000 or even more.

Stress & Hassle: It takes not only money to evict a tenant it also takes time and energy and can create a stressful situation. Life, business and even the Government throw daily challenges at us. The last thing any of us need is a problem tenant, and all the inconvenience that arises from having one.

So bottom line, do your homework and don't let just anybody claiming to have a job rent from you. When asking yourself "Should I use tenant screening to screen my potential tenants" save yourself a huge headache and answer yourself with a resounding "YES"!!

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Dulcey is a member of Rentec Direct who provides Property Management Software, tenant ach payment processing, tenant credit check, and criminal reports for property managers and landlords.