Eviction Court is Not Cool (No Matter How Much You Like Legal TV)

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.  Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown in prison.”

Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:25)

 

My wife and I have been watching the old legal TV show, The Practice, lately.  What an exciting show!  Bobby Donnell thundering at witnesses in court, Jimmy “The Grunt” Berlutti bumbling through cases, and Eugene Young intimidating opposing counsel makes for some entertaining television.  It almost makes being in court a “cool” experience where justice can be cajoled and won- a battle of righteous gladiators!

 

But in reality, going to court for an eviction is not that cool.  It’s a last resort.  Most of the time, it is a result of poor tenant screening, poor management of expectations, and poor management of life circumstances.  It’s a property management failure.  It’s costly, time and energy consuming, and an overall negative experience.  It’s a game of losers, played by losers; no one is a “winner” (besides the attorneys).

 

How can it be avoided? 

 

Let me preface this by saying that players in the rental game will have to evict a tenant and go to court at some point.  No matter how well the items below are managed, there will be some life event (job loss / illness / etc.), some expectation not met (“the air coming out of the AC is giving me headaches- replace it!”), or some sudden personality change that will necessitate it.  But I believe it can be avoided most of the time.

 

Here are four quick tips on avoiding tenant-related court visits:

 

1. Good tenant screening: I’d especially focus on the tenant’s ability to afford the rental by drilling down on their income (monthly cash flow) and the credit report (especially debt level and other current commitments).  We all want to fill properties quickly, but cutting corners on the money part puts everyone in a bad position when the numbers have little possibility of netting out.  Don’t be set out for failure at the beginning.

 

2. Set expectations upfront: Use a good lease and explain what the landlord is going to do and what is expected from the tenant, especially regarding the condition of the house and future repairs.

 

3. Manage life circumstances: Avoid setting eviction criteria in stone.  People have bad months.  Work with the tenant (within reason), but never go past 1 month due.  I’ve rarely seen tenants be able to get caught up being that behind.

 

4. Be nice: In my experience, no one wants to get kicked out of the house they are living in if it is not their idea; getting evicted is failure and life-altering.  However, if they want to exit, help them.  Someone else will want the house.  The first priority is getting the house back vacant; the money can be worked out at a later time.  Once the house is vacant, a new and better tenant can be found to get back to cash-flow positive.

 

Winning in court can feel “cool” in the moment, but cleaning up afterwards is definitely “not cool”.  Let the TV lawyers get the glory and try to stay out of court in real life.  Losing, especially at the hands of a sympathetic judge on some loophole, is even more “not cool”!

 

Happy Landlording!