I get a lot of questions about tenant evictions.  I suppose it is like any job, it is the one thing that landlords have in common across all investment properties.  Here is a recent note I received:

I have a renter who’s lease expired in September so she is on a month-to-month lease currently. She has not paid November and Decembers rent. I spoke with her in November [2 weeks after she was late on her rent] and she told me she would pay and I said apparently you cannot afford to live there and maybe you should move out. Then I gave her [on November 27] an ‘unofficial” eviction letter telling her she needed to be out by today Dec 28th. Do I have the right to lock the doors tomorrow if she has all or her stuff or most of her stuff moved out??? I was in the property yesterday and there is damage to the property so I really don’t want anymore damage at this point. Just want to know what my options are.

This is a very common scenario.  Here are some thoughts about what she did right and wrong:

• This landlord did a good job of proactively getting in to speak to the tenant and assessing the situation.  Many times landlords want to quarterback from their cell phone and just leave messages.  She also succeeded by not waiting another 30 days to ask the tenant to move out.  She dealt with it in the same month.
• Despite that, I would have recommended that she proceed with an eviction instead of a letter to move out.  This landlord runs the risk of that tenant not being out by December 28.  Ultimately the tenant did move by December 28, but if she did not, the landlord would have then been forced to start the eviction process, which would have taken until mid-January before this tenant was out.  Starting the eviction on November 27, would have had this tenant gone by December 15th or so.
• In response to her question “Do I have the right to lock the doors tomorrow if she has all or her stuff or most of her stuff moved out??” That is a judgement call.  If you truly believe that the tenant has vacated the property by either giving you verbal confirmation or by removing all their stuff and leaving the keys, then yes, change the locks.  Alternatively, if there is a lot of stuff in the apartment, you may want to change the locks, post a notice on the door, and wait a week to see if the tenant returns looking for their stuff, just to be safe.

There is no right answer when dealing with evictions and non-paying tenants.  My best recommendation is to move quickly and decisively as every day they stay  is one more day without income.

I know it is very common for people to rent this homes or apartments to friends.  I suspect that like most things in life, 80% of those rental relationships do just fine. I probably just here about the 20% that do not.  Here are some tips to making sure that you as the landlord (not as the friend) is protected if this friendship goes south and your “friend” becomes the bane of your existence!

• Many “friend” landlords simply let the tenant “friend” move in and just pay them some verbally agreed on amount of rent.  WRONG!  You need a standard written lease.  This may seem formal, but this really protects both of you.  With a written lease there is no opportunity for one party to remember the conversation differently.  Plus, as the landlord, if the friend stops paying you or does something you disagree with, it will be difficult (but not impossible) to evict them.  One example is a couple that let a brother rent this old house in the country.  After about 6 months, the brother started paying parts of the rent every couple weeks when they would hound him.  He then started to remodel the house, plus he moved in a couple other roommates and they all had parties every weekend.  Without a lease in place, these landlords had a terrible time getting this guy out.
• Keep a key to this home and install a 2nd one in a lock box that only you have the combination to.  You can give out this lock box code to repair guys that need access to the property for repairs without bothering your friend.
• Do not allow your friend to be late on the rent.  This will be worse than letting the average stranger tenant be late on their rent.  You will get into this strange situation where you want to hang out with your friend, but will be frustrated when he is buying a round of drinks for the bar, all the time you know he owes you back rent.
• Consider putting your friend on a month to month lease.  Then you can simply give him 60 days notice to move out if the relationship starts to sour.  Then there doesn’t need to be an eviction involved (unless he doesn’t leave).  You just part company from a housing standpoint and go your separate ways.

Renting to friends can be a great way to have a quick and most likely wonderful tenant.  Just don’t leave all your landlord experience and common sense behind!