There are stories that are much worse, with tenants purposely utterly destroying the entire property, after being warned of eviction when they hadn’t paid rent in months. This story isn’t meant to make you averse to becoming a rental property owner, but rather to impress upon you the importance of laying down the law and enforcing your lease. Unfortunately, despite your best efforts in enforcing the lease and laying down the law, you might have to end up evicting tenants. This just comes with the territory of being a homeowner renting out your property; it’s one of the risks you take. Even if you’ve taken all the previous steps detailed in the previous chapters—from creating minimum qualification standards to screening applicants to having a rock-solid lease to regularly inspecting your property—you can still end up in a position in which you must evict a tenant. It’s one of the most difficult aspects of the job of a landlord, and the eviction process can escalate quickly to the point of non-compliance, with tenants trashing your place in anger and even refusing to move out. Many property owners—especially newbies—have a difficult time with the idea of eviction, either because they don’t know how or because they just don’t want to (or both). Maybe you’re not naturally a confrontational or authoritative person. Maybe you like giving people second or third chances. The issue, though, is that “problem tenants”—tenants who don’t pay or who destroy your property—are not only costing you, but also stealing from you! You have to think of it this way if you’re going to succeed in this business: They’re stealing money from your family. They’re stealing money from your retirement fund. They’re stealing money from your bank account. Wherever that money’s going to come from, they’re technically stealing money from you.
67
Powered by FlippingBook