We had a tenant who walked on her lease.  She wanted to end her lease early, we told her that we could not do that.  She then said the apartment was making her ill and gave us notice on 12/20 to move out on 1/20.  We told her that her claim was not justified and that she would still be responsible for the lease.  we also said we would try to rent it. 1/1/2012 she left text that she was leaving and would leave rent and paperwork in rent box.  she did not.  what are our options?  we don’t know her fowarding address.  do we file a UD?  thanks

My response to her was probably not what she wanted to hear.  Unfortunately, there is not much a landlord can do when a tenant is determined to break the lease.  You can still file and serve an eviction if the tenant bails and you cannot find them – service is by mail and posting.

A copy of the eviction action summons and complaint gets mailed to the property address (even though you know that are not there), and the process server serves by posting on the property at least 7 days prior to the hearing date (two failed attempts at personal service, then the summons and complaint get posted on the property).  The required affidavits get filed with the court (Affidavit of Not Found, Affidavit of Posting, Affidavit of Mailing, Affidavit of Plaintiff’s Attorney).  This is what is required for service of process in order for the court to have jurisdiction to sign the eviction order when the defendant cannot be found in an eviction action.

Tenants have the right to possession of the property until their rights are terminated by the court – even if they break their lease early.  As such, some landlords will go through eviction process just to make sure the tenant does not come back in a month and say “who is in my property?”  In addition, the eviction will show on the tenant’s record for future landlords.  Ultimately, all this will get you is the satisfaction that she now has an unlawful detainer on her record.  This may help warn other landlords about this tenant (and give you the satisfaction that she will have a harder time in the future finding an apartment).  This is not going to get your apartment rented faster or make you any money.  So, why would you spend $500-$1000?

One other option is to take her to small claims (or conciliation) court.  The cost to file a claim there is cheaper ($70).  If the claim is less than $2500, the court will actually mail a letter to the tenant about the court date.

If you chose to simply move on and re-rent the apartment, you should document all the details about this tenant moving out and breaking the lease.  Write down everything including dates, times and all communication.  Put this into the file along with her application and lease.  Then if this tenant ever comes back to sue you claiming they left possessions in the property or that you actually pushed them out, you have documentation to fight with.

I hate to tell you , but if you are a landlord long enough, you will have a tenant break their lease on you unexpectedly.  It is unfortunate, but there is not much you can do.  My best advice is to simply and quickly get over it and move on.

The most common reason to use the 3 day notice is to inform the tenant that they must pay rent and that if they do not, you as the landlord/owner intend to file an eviction.  This rent payment notice must follow the below guidelines:

• An actual demand for the exact amount currently due.   This may include late fees, but sometimes this can simply complicate the issue and confuse the tenant so don’t add a trivial late fee like $30 and have to argue about it in court!  California judges seem to be very strict on this point, so it is better to be a little low on the total due than over.
• How and where to pay it (as a landlord, you can’t hide from the tenant to prevent them from paying it).
• A demand that if the rent is not paid within 3 days that the tenant vacates the property.
• The signature of the landlord and the date signed.
• The notice to pay must be served after any grace period has expired.

The 3 day notice may also include an “election of forfeiture of tenancy”.  This effectively means that no matter what the tenant does, you are cancelling their lease.  Without this language, the tenant could pay all the past due amounts and other fees and the landlord would be required to allow him to stay.  Now, this may be OK, but there are certainly many bad tenants that you don’t want to stay.

This notice must be formally served on the tenant by:

• Delivering a personal copy to the tenant
• Leaving a copy with an adult that lives at the premises or works at the business.
• Posting a copy in a conspicuous area.

If you do either of the last 2, you must also mail a copy of the documents to the last known address for the tenant.  I would send that via certified mail and I would document all the steps you went through (with dates and times) to show you made every effort to find and serve that tenant.  California judges (especially ones in San Francisco) seem to love to throw out cases when they see that the landlord was sloppy in the service of the 3 day notice to pay.  Don’t make it easy on the tenant!

After the 3 days have passed (I personally would wait 5 days to insure that again, you can demonstrate you have given ample time for the tenant to respond), you can move forward and file the eviction in California Superior Court.

I get many visitors from other states such as Florida, Texas, and California.  Obviously there is not great information on the internet about how to do an eviction in those states.  I did some research into what it takes to evict tenants in California for you.

Disclaimer:  This website is meant for informational purposes, only. The content is based upon my experiences and opinions on doing many Minnesota evictions.  I am not an attorney, CPA, nor expert. Different cities and states will also have different laws, ordinances, and customs regarding the landlord/tenant relationship.  Please consult a competent adviser.

Before starting your eviction process in California, understand that just like most jurisdictions, you as the landlord must follow every step perfectly or risk the judge throwing out your case on a technicality.  You will lose your filing fees and more importantly, you will need to start from scratch on evicting your tenant.

The California Landlord-Tenant Laws
The California Civil Code (“CCC”) and Code of Civil Procedure (“CCP”) contain the state’s entire Landlord-Tenant Code. A little-known fact is that these laws reflect a legislative compromise of sorts. To prevent frustrated landlords from resorting to destructive, disruptive self-help measures, the lawmakers have build the eviction process to be pretty quick and painless to settle disputes.  Because of this, a typical California eviction takes slightly less than one-tenth of the time that ordinary civil suits consume.  In order to benefit from these quicker process, the landlord must follow all the steps perfectly.

Step 1: Eviction Notice Preparation
Just about all valid California evictions start by serving a “3-Day Notice to Quit” on the delinquent tenant. Form 982.1(90) is California’s standardized Unlawful Detainer Complaint. Pursuant to CCP Section 1161(2), this notice to quit must contain:

• Date of notice;
• Signature of landlord or his/her duly authorized designee;
• An explicit demand for an exact sum of money;
• Complete instructions about where and how it must be paid; and,
• An unambiguous demand for immediate possession of the tenant fails to pay all past due amounts within three days of receiving this notice.

Step 2: Notice service
CCP Section 1162 allows 3-day notice service by:

• Personal delivery to the tenant;
• Delivery to any other adult of suitable discretion found upon the premises; or
• Conspicuous posting on the rented premises.

Landlords opting for service via either of the two latter methods must also mail of a full copy of the notice addressed to all lessees at the property’s street address.  Be careful on this step as many landlords will cut corners or not understand the process service.  While the statute does not spell it out, I recommend that you have a professional process server or sheriff deliver the documents.  That person should then sign an affidavit specifying when and where they served the document.  Bring this with you to court so that there is very little chance the tenant could claim that you did not serve them properly.

Step 3: Complaint Preparation
If the tenant fails to pay all past-due amounts by the 3-day deadline, the landlord must file a “Complaint” in the appropriate California Superior Court. All relevant details surrounding the situation must be fully and accurately stated on the eviction documents.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find an electronic copy of California eviction form on-line to link to.  A fee of $240.00 must accompany this filing.

Step 4: Summons issuance
Upon complaint filing and fee payment, the Superior Court Clerk will prepare and issue an Unlawful Detainer Form 982(a)(11) Summons. This document provides the tenant with official notice that an Unlawful Detainer action has commenced and how to respond to it.

Step 5: Service of Summons and Complaint
The Sheriff, a professional process server, or other non-interested legal adult must then serve the tenant with both the Summons and Complaint. State law allows the tenant five days within which to answer the Complaint.

The importance of doing the Summons and Complaint service properly cannot be overstated. In fact, this technicality is so essential that professional process service is virtually indispensable as I mentioned above.  While the California Landlord-Tenant law allows any mentally competent legal adult who has no interest in the litigation to execute service of process. Despite this, the cost of engaging an expert process server is minuscule when compared to the consequences of adverse court rulings due to legally defective notice to delinquent tenants.

Complaint contents
The Complaint is the formal document that initiates a lawsuit and informs other party(ies) and the Court of the specific legal grounds for the landlord’s claims and requested relief. Thus, strict procedural rules apply to its proper preparation and service. To avoid summary court dismissal, a complaint must contain, at a minimum:

• All surrounding circumstances leading up the claim(s) asserted;
• Method by which the 3-day notice was served and a copy thereof;
• A copy of the original lease or Rental Agreement;
• Itemized accounting of all delinquent amounts due; and,
• Formal request for judgment awarding full monetary compensation and immediate possession of the premises.

Experienced California landlords also serve a “Prejudgment Claim of Right to Possession” along with the Summons, Complaint, and any accompanying exhibits. This form negates any potential claims by unknown premise occupants.  In other words, if there is someone living in the property that you don’t know about (who is not on the lease), they can’t come back after the eviction and say that the eviction was invalid because the landlord did not notify them also.

Step 6: Trial demand
Roughly one-third of all California Unlawful Detainer suits go to trial. The means that the tenant must official protest forced removal from a rented home by filing an “Answer” to the landlord’s Complaint.  Fortunately, most tenants go through the process without an attorney and their “answers” represent mere attempts to stall. Consequently, most Answers are dismissed or otherwise resolved in the landlord’s favor.

After being served with a tenant’s Answer, the landlord must file a formal Request for Trial Setting by completing a standardized Judicial Council Form. By law, the trial must commence within 20 calendar days of the filing of this request.  In most cases, the judge is the sole case arbiter who hears all evidence presented at the trial. Occasionally, however, tenants demand trial by jury. In such cases, the landlord should immediately find a good eviction attorney.  This is not the time to try and figure this out alone.

Step 7: Pre-trial settlement conference
After either party files a Request for Trial, the court will usually schedule a “Settlement Conference.” This information meeting gives the parties a chance to attempt amicable dispute resolution via negotiation.  This may include a payment agreement or allowing the tenant to move out immediately.

Step 8: Eviction
After completing all the above steps, if the landlord wins his case, a California landlord may request a Writ of Possession. This court order gives the landlord the legal right to immediate repossession of the leased premises.  Most tenants are long gone at this point. In those rare instances involving persistent deadbeat occupants, the landlord must present the Writ of Possession to a local constable, marshal, or sheriff. That official will then physically evict all occupant(s) from the premises.

Petition for Default Judgment
If the tenant fails to respond to a properly served Summons and Complaint within the legally allotted time, the Court will issue a default judgment against the tenant(s) after the landlord fills out the Request for Entry of Default document.  Final Default Judgment entry precludes any subsequent tenant protest or defense presentation against the landlord’s initially allegations. It also automatically grants all legal relief the landlord initially requested.  Keep in mind that this judgement and the writ are only for taking back possession of the property.  It is NOT for getting your money back.

Writ of Garnishment
After regaining possession of their premises, landlords may request file a Declaration in Lieu of Personal Testimony.  This is essentially a summary of the eviction and other details to convince the judge to issue a judgement for the money owed.  Once you obtain this, you can file a Writ of Garnishment. This court order enforces all monetary judgment(s) by compelling employers to withhold a portion of the former tenant’s wages. Entry of either a Default Judgment or Writ of Garnishment in public records puts an immediate and severe blot on the tenant’s credit report for up to seven years.  Unfortunately, I have been told that getting a Declaration in Lieu of Personal Testimony is very difficult and if often rejected for trivial mistakes in the paperwork or the original court case.  There is a story of an attorney in San Francisco trying for 3 years to get a Declaration done with no success.

Most landlords will actually take a different tact.  Once they have possession of the property back, they will file a dismissal of the unlawful detainer and the go to small claims court to get a judgement against the deadbeat tenant.  The bar is much lower in that court and you will always have an opportunity to get a decision on your case (instead of the constant paperwork battle of a Declaration).  The biggest challenge with small claims court is finding that newly evicted tenant to serve them the court papers.

Evicting a tenant in California is very similar to the process in other states.  You need to follow the letter of the law closely and ask questions along the way.  Good luck!

The procedures for filing an eviction in Dakota county are almost identical all the other counties, such as Hennepin.  No oddities to report.  I do like the Apple Valley facility as they do not have any security to deal with when either filing documents or attending court.  West Saint Paul has typical security at the front door to access any of the filing windows or court.  Because both locations are in the suburbs, parking is easy as both of these buildings are build on enormous plats of land.

Because there do not appear to be many evictions in the West Saint Paul location (at least the time I was there), you will be lumped in with all other civil proceedings.  I had to unfortunately listen to a couple get up in front of the judge and talk about why they wanted a divorce and where their kids were going to go.  Very uncomfortable watching the wife crying.  I also sat through a name change, a custody case, a motion for expungement of a civil offense, and a couple other miscellaneous items before it was our turn. In Hennepin and Ramsey county, the court room is half the size and every chair is full just for evictions.  In West Saint Paul, there was maybe 20 people and only a few were there for evictions.

The Apple Valley courthouse has more activity and felt more like my typical haunts at Hennepin County eviction court.  All the counter people knew the drill, they see many more evictions and they have dedicated court time for just handling housing court.  Unlike Washington county, they will process your paperwork on the spot.  Plus, this seems to be an easier location to get to as it is just down Cedar Ave into Apple Valley and east on County 40 about three blocks.  The last time I had an eviction here, I got to court at 8:45, court started promptly at 9:00, I was third on the roll call, no tenant appeared, I was out of there by 9:30 after getting the writ.  At 9:45 the tenant calls asking where I was.  I told him court was over and he had to move.

Costs in Dakota County were the same as in the other counties for both the eviction ($318) and for the writ ($55).  One downside with evictions in Dakota county is that if you need a writ served by the sheriff, it has to be brought to Hastings!  This is a about a 30 minute drive straight east on County Road 42 from the Apple Valley courthouse and about the same distance down Hwy 61 from West Saint Paul.  Not a big deal, but most other counties have the sheriff at worst across the street, not 20 miles away!

I believe it takes more time for most landlords to make up their mind to evict the tenant that it actually takes to go through the legal process!  Many landlords hope and wait.  They believe every excuse and promise the tenant gives them.  I understand that.  Even after all these years, I find myself wanting to believe.  Wouldn’t you love to think that if you gave your tenant one more week that they will pay you the $1200 in late rent they owe?  That is a much better thought than having to spend $322 to evict them (and probably not seeing the $1200 you are out).

Here is some sage advice, take it for what it is worth.  As long as I have been doing this, I have rarely seen a tenant that is more than 2 weeks late on rent come up with back rent.  Think about it.

Let’s use this example:  It is February 1.  They had all January to figure out how to get the rent, borrow it, work harder, whatever.  February 1 comes, rent is due, they don’t have it, they ask for a week.  Why do they need another week when they had the month of January to get it?

A week goes by and they say they need another week.  By now you have added a $75 late fee and you sent them the late rent letter.

Now you are into the week of February 15th.  Most tenants (and frankly most Americans) live right at the edge of their paycheck.  Each month they rarely have anything left over.  How is this tenant going to come up with the late rent of $1200 plus the $75 late fee this week and still make the March 1 rent of $1200?

Only when a tenant gets some type of financial assistances from Section 8 or Emergency assistance have I seen them be able to pay off a month’s past due rent.  If the tenant does not have access to those resources, I am skeptical you will be seeing your rent.  Start the eviction process now!

***Disclaimer:  I am not an attorney, this is just my opinion, based upon how things work in Minnesota.  Consult an eviction lawyer if you have further questions.***

Before the bank (or anyone that has a mortgage against a property) can evict the owners/occupants, a legal proceeding must happen.  You should receive notification of a sheriff safe occurring on your property.  It varies by state, but most jurisdictions require 2-6 weeks notification in newspapers and sending certified letters to the owners prior to the sheriff sale.  The sheriff sale is the method by which a creditor that holds a mortgage on a property forecloses.  Depending upon the position of the bank/creditor, they may need to pay off other senior lien holders in order to foreclose.

Once the sheriff sale happens, there is typically a redemption period.  In Minnesota, this is 6 months.  In some states it is 24 hours.  At the end of the redemption period (if there is one) if the owner or tenant is still in the property, they would be considered hold-over tenants.  They now need to be evicted through the standard process for the jurisdiction that the property is located in.

The eviction letter is a written way that you can inform the tenant that they have one last chance to fix the problem (which may be lease violations or late rent payments).  It is used to try to gain compliance without the added expense and time of filing a true eviction.  This letter can be phrases in multiple ways, but you want one of a couple outcomes:  compliance, move out, or a work-out plan to become compliant.  Anything short of those should result in eviction.

So here is a sample eviction letter than you can use.  Modify as you like:

Dear Mr. Tenant;

This letter is to inform you that you are in breach of the Lease Agreement on the above described lease premises due to {failure to timely pay rent, other lease violations}.  You have 3 days from receipt of this letter to resolve this situation.  Failure to resolve this situation by that date will result in further action against you including, but not limited to eviction.

Sincerely,

Mr. Landlord

Make sure this eviction letter is typed up and is hand delivered or sent certified mail (signature required) to insure the tenant receives it.  This will insure that the tenant can not say they never received it.  Frankly, I prefer having a neutral 3rd party deliver the letter.  I can then have them sign an affidavit of service stating when and where they served the document.

Do not go into more details about the problem or invoke an argument in the letter.  Keep just to the facts so that there is no opportunity for the tenant to argue the situation or try to slide around what you need for full compliance.

Evicting a tenant is not fun, but using an eviction letter first to highlight the problem, may bring compliance.

• How long the family member has lived with you may change how you can force them out of the house.  Evicting a 18 year old child that has always lived with you may be different than evicting a brother that was supposed to stay for a week and has now been there 6 months.
• If the family member has some ownership in the home, this can change things.  Even if the family member does not have ownership rights, but has historically been the one paying the mortgage or the main bread winner, again this eviction can be difficult.
• In some jurisdictions, if the family member can be considered a guest, you can simply have them removed by the police for trespassing.  In Minnesota, if the family member does not pay rent or utilities, he won’t be considered a tenant, but may be considered a “licensee” because you originally gave him permission to stay in your property.  You will actually need to serve him with a notice to vacate also called a notice to quit, which should give him 14 days to leave.  If at the end of that time he does not leave, you will need to evict him as a hold-over tenant.
• Inform the police or courts immediately if you have reason to fear for your safety before or after you start the eviction process.  This may get worse before it gets better.  You may need to file for a restraining order prior to filing for the eviction.
• When it comes time to file the eviction and/or go to court, stick to the facts only.  Why are you evicting them?  If it is for non-payment of rent, than do not talk about how they stole your favorite music CD.  Just keep to the fact and take the high road.  This will be evident to the court if the family member tries to draw you into a fight or argument in court.

In the end, you should do research on eviction laws in your area.  These can vary wildly and you should understand your rights and your family members rights.  I would recommend that you consult competent eviction attorneys to help you weed through the case and give you sound eviction advice one what your chances, risks, and challenges will be.

When it is finally time for you to evict a tenant with no lease, you need to put together a strong case because at the end of the day, without anything in writing, this could be a terrible argument about he said/she said in court.  Here are some ideas on how a landlord should prepare his case:

• If the disagreement is over how much the rent actually is supposed to be, historical records are going to be your best evidence of what was originally agreed upon.  An example is that if the tenant had been paying $500 for 6 months and then starts paying $400 because he thinks that is the correct lease amount, the 6 months of history can be good evidence that was the agreement.  Bring rent statements, bank account records and anything else you can find that will show a history.
• If the eviction is regarding non-payment of rent, but the tenant is disputing this, you may be able to coast through this as they will need to bring their evidence such as canceled checks or payment receipts showing that they paid you.  If you had previously been mailing statements, bring that up in front of the judge, because the tenant should have brought it to your attention immediately if the statement was incorrect.
• When the eviction is about what you believe to be a lease violation, such as pets in the apartment or other items, this will be much more difficult to prove that you did not agree to this.  If this is a multi-unit building, you may be able to show that other tenants understood this rule was in affect by getting copies of their leases or signed affidavits from the tenants.  You may want to consult with an eviction attorney about this case as it can be difficult.  You can add to your documentation by writing a letter to the tenant prior to the eviction explaining the violation and giving them a chance to remedy the issue.  This can show the judge that you tried to work through the issue, but the tenant refused.
• Criminal matters can also be difficult to evict for unless you have police reports showing a consistent problem.  You may need multiple incidents if the calls are minor (parties).  Major items, such as drug sales or prostitution, should be dealt with immediately on the first offense.  Get some eviction advice from the local community service officer at the police station when dealing with criminal evictions.
• Just like you are using the history to your advantage, don’t let it work against you.  If you verbally agreed to allow the tenant to paint instead of paying rent, that will come out in court.  Make sure you have not made any agreements like that.

Evicting a tenant with no lease can be much more difficult than a tenant with a lease.  You just need to make sure that you have a solid case put together before ever filing the eviction.

So what do you do if you have one of these frequent fliers.  Here are a couple different options:

1. Just keep filing the eviction to get them to pay their rent.  Some people seem to work best under pressure, others are procrastinators, others avoid unpleasant situations or discussions.  Show them your are serious about evicting tenants.  Whatever the case, if they want to keep paying the court fees and late charges, but are otherwise decent tenants, keep them!  Just know that at any time they could wake up and decide they are not going to pay or stay.  Keep them on a short leash and don’t expect that because they have done it this way 6 times before, they are going to do it a 7th!
2. Consider using a letter of eviction, which is a non-binding letter stating that if they don’t pay up, they are going to be evicted.  Maybe this will be just enough to get them to pay or come up with a payment plan.  This could save you (and them) the hassle and costs of eviction court.  Plus, if you send this letter earlier in the month, maybe you will get resolution to the problem quicker than waiting the 2-3 weeks to get to housing court.
3. Push them out at court.  This can be either a hard or soft push.  There are many times when I can see that a tenant is not going to be successful at making a payment plan or even if they make the payments this month, they are exhausting all their options for next month’s rent.  I just simply tell them that if they move out in 7 days, we will let them break their lease and this stress of finding the money will be over.  While you are out the rent, it at least get’s this problem tenant off your books and you can find a new one that maybe will pay on time.  A hard push is to refuse to accept anything but full payment immediately.  No payment plans, no grace period.  Money now.  This may be more difficult if they bring an eviction lawyer to court.
4. Push them out prior to court.  In certain situations, I have met with a tenant and said:  “You owe me rent, but if you move out in 7 days, I will not file an eviction.  You can simply go somewhere else.”  Hopefully they see that you are serious about evicting tenants.  This does work if you have a good rapport with the tenant.  Again, it can speed up the process of getting them out and often the tenant will see this act as generous on your part and will probably leave happily.

While these are not a complete and exhaustive list of what to do with your frequently flier tenants, it can give you some ideas of how to handle them when you are down at court for the Nth time to evict a tenant.