An Eviction Notice Notifies Tenants That They Are Required To Vacate Your Property: Fill & Download for Free

How long after an eviction do I have to return a tenant’s belongings?You will need to check your local laws.If the tenant abandoned the property upon eviction, you are required to store it for a specified amount of time, in a secure location. Unless otherwise specified, that could be in the garage under lock and key.You will be required to notify the tenant that the items have been put into storage for however long the law specifies. (Here in Nevada, it’s 30 days from the date the tenant vacated the property.)You may be allowed to charge the tenant a reasonable amount for packing, moving, and storing the items. Your notice would have to specify how much is being charged. The tenant can be required to pay the charges - NOT the past due rent, just the storage fees - prior to releasing the items.How you notify the tenant (certified mail, personal delivery, etc) is determined by your local laws. If you have any questions, consult an attorney for guidance. It will be well-worth the small fee you might have to pay to avoid a lawsuit from an angry ex-tenant.

The tenant was given notice to leave, but refuses and welcomes an eviction simply to delay her stay for a few more months. The tenant is abusing the legal process in order to buy time.It is not an issue of non-payment and the tenant is month to month, but rather due to consistent late payments. Does the tenant need to give notification of departure while we are waiting for the court date to evict? This will greatly affect the loss of business if the tenant leaves randomly.As with all legal answers, the law is different in every jurisdiction, so no one here will be able to give you a definitive answer.In most jurisdictions, if the rental agreement is silent, and if the tenant has already been advised to leave, they are under no further obligation to provide a date at which they are going to leave; they are expected to vacate immediately. Now, it's clear with this tenant that they want to extend their unwelcome stay as long as possible, so the eviction hearing is appropriate."Consistent late payments" is interesting. Is this something that is part of your rental agreement? If not, it should be. In other words, you should have something like "Consistent late payments shall be defined as X or more late payments in a Y-month period, holidays and office closures notwithstanding" (you define X and Y). Hopefully, it's already in your contract.Anyway, if your tenant vacates before the eviction hearing can take place, your eviction hearing will usually just be converted to a breach of contract case, and you can use it to collect any back rent due, or any damages to the unit, and any other expenses that the pre-eviction vacation caused. You will have to use the hearing to collect any rent due caused by the tenant living in the unit beyond the rental period, as I'm certain the tenant will not pay rent when there is no contract.You have notified the tenant as required by statute that you will not be continuing the periodic lease. Failure to vacate is proper grounds for eviction.

I run a real estate software company that thousands of do-it-yourself landlords use to manage their properties. I often speak with our landlords and have learned a lot about the eviction process in different areas of the country.Unfortunately evictions in the US are complicated, expensive and time-consuming. The eviction process varies based on local statutes and, believe it or not, the time of year (it is quicker to evict someone in the summer than in the winter).I am not familiar with the intricacies of Pennsylvania landlord-tenant law, but it is probably safe to assume the process will follow the same flow used in most jurisdictions.The first step in evicting a tenant is to have a justifiable reason. Non-payment of rent is a strong reason for wanting to evict the tenant.As a landlord, your first step in starting the eviction process is to deliver notice to the tenant that he or she has violated the lease. In many jurisdictions, this notice can be served to the tenant five days after the breach of contract. Therefore, if rent is due by the 5th of the month, this notice can be served as early as the 10th. This notice will cite the reason for default and will provide a date by which the violation must be corrected. This time can vary from 10 days up to 30 days. In almost all situations, this notice must be physically delivered to the tenant (unfortunately snail mail and email don’t work here).If, at the end of that period, the tenant still has not remedied the situation (paid the rent), the landlord will file a complaint with the local court. This complaint will ask for possession of the property, and in some cases will seek a remedy for the breach of contract, such as payment of past-due rent. After the complaint is filed, the court will schedule a hearing and notify the tenant of the complaint. An officer of the court will deliver the notice to the tenant or place a notice on the door of the residence.At the hearing, the landlord and tenant will each argue his or her side of the case. For a landlord, this is oftentimes where things can become frustrating. Tenants will frequently appear at the hearing and ask for an extension. A reason that is often given is that he or she needs time to find an attorney. The court will often grant this extension. Eventually the court will side with either the landlord or the tenant. If the landlord prevails, the court will issue a judgment for possession.After the judgment is issued, the landlord will ask the court to issue an Order for Possession (may have a different name in your jurisdiction). The Order for Possession is a notice delivered to the tenant notifying him or her that he or she has a fixed amount of time to move out of the property. This period of time will depend on the season (in winter, tenants are given a longer period of time). If, at the end of this period, tenants still have not moved out, the sheriff will forcibly remove the tenant and any of his or her belongings.As you can see, the time can really add up. Each step requires a certain waiting periods, and tenants have several opportunities to delay the process if they are motivated to do so. To generalize, evictions can take anywhere from 3 to 9 months.So, what can landlords do?1. Follow all of the steps above as soon as you sense that there may be a need to evict a tenant2. Pay the tenant to leave. While this is painful to do, in the long run, it may be the best option for you after factoring in the amount of time you’ll spend on the eviction process, the stress incurred, legal expenses and lost rent. Many landlords opt for paying tenants to vacate the unit3. Avoid these situations before they occur. At Rentalutions, we have a lot of good advice on our blog around how to screen tenants. Developing a good process and following the steps is key to getting great tenants and limiting the odds of evictionsLastly, it is important to note that I am not an attorney and my answer should not be interpreted as legal advice. For actionable advice, I’d recommend contacting an attorney who specializes in this type of law.