I know I'm new at real estate and land lording but I just went through my first eviction and the process was truly eye opening. 

Am I crazy but why isn't anyone banning together and lobbying for landlords rights.? 

It took me 2.5 months to get a gentleman out of a unit he hasn't payed rent on ever and the previous owner sold because of this man. The court was on his side through the whole process and the sheriffs and town. Police are discusted with how much the tenant can get away with. 

I know there are exceptions to the rule but most evicted tenants I've heard of in my area are just total dead beats who prey on the system. 

Anybody know any places to start to make some change.

These types of laws are a pendulum.  Sounds like in your case, the last time the pendulum swayed, there were awful landlords taking advantage of innocent tenants.  Now the pendulum has swung back and you've got awful tenants taking advantage of innocent landlords.

Unless or until you've got enough horror stories to tell to sympathetic lawmakers, the laws won't change. These laws are local in nature, so you'll need to go to your local REI groups and see who wants to start a letter writing and political campaign. Depending on who is in office, they may not want to hear it, even if you have dozens of local landlords demanding a voice.

PS - 2.5 months isn't that bad.  @Will Barnard has somebody it took over 5 years to get out in California.  Here in Colorado, if your case is cut and dried and very simple, it takes about 1.5 months.  In some states, you're not permitted to evict during the winter.  

Best if luck - here's hoping you don't have another eviction

Write your congressman, write to your city officials, screen perspective tenants very very carefully.

@Susan Clark it's good that you've had that experience.

I don't believe in political campaigns - it's more practical to screen tenants, verify everything on the application, don't believe all their sappy stories and avoid evictions at all cost.

Good thing about this story - you bought this rental with the tenant already in. It's not your mistake to get such a tenant but it cost you and you'll watch out from now on.

I'm trusting my gut feeling and don't call to the previous landlords or employers as I should. I'll pay for that some day :(

Reading stories like that motivates me to not trust just how I feel but verify everything. 

After all, we are learning the lessons as we go.

Hope, you'll have better luck next time

Susan, 

I am sorry you went through such a difficult time evicting your non-paying tenant. It just goes to show how truly important it is to understand the application and screening process. Always ask for references, income verification, employment history, etc. Also utilize the resources you're given when doing a screening report!  Having their credit history,  completed background check and even their eviction history can ensure you never go into a new lease blindly. These resources are online and easily accessible to landlords! 

I can only imagine how frustrating this has been on you and I truly hope something like that never happens again. Good luck in the future, we will all be hoping for the best for you!

I will go ahead and message you.

Jeni

We are in the midst of a horror story produced by an inherited tenant as well.  It's very interesting on how the courts allow it things to go on, with literally no legal relevance.  We won the FED / writ but tenant filed Appeal.  Appellant Judge has heard the case, made a verbal declaration but has yet to file an order. Per our counsel (who I involved for advise once we went to Appeal),  Appellant Judge has UP TO 90 days to issue the order.  [[Once the issue is finalized and everything is public record, I will write a large forum post about it detailing costs and our process to help others in the future, should they ever be sucker-punched by the scenario]]

There are a lot of bad landlords, and there are also a lot of scum-bag tenants.  Think it will take a lot of foot stomping to even discuss change and it will likely just result in sore feet...  Would love to reform to a "fair" middleground even if it just meant expedited hearings / decisions by a judge well versed in tenant/landlord issues! 

Thanks for all our input. I was away showing goats at the state fair with my son and returned home to yet more drama from this tenant.  We have in my county one the need to put the remaining items at the curb for 24hrs and sure enough we did this and documented it and the tenant chose not to come to the final lock out and now he will be suing us for damage to a flat screen TV. 

The local police and local sheriffs have all said this guy is a really bad dude, thanked us for getting him out of our community and advised us to let him go. It makes me sick people like this get away with all that they do when everyone around here knows the kind of person he is.