Why You Should Use an Eviction Lawyer

Are you preparing for your first eviction?  Maybe that “always late” tenant finally stopped paying and won’t return your calls.  Alternatively, maybe your tenant is violating the lease despite sending them some eviction letters to try and get them to clean up their behavior.  Don’t stress out, all landlords go through this.  All of us eventually have to evict someone.  If you own property for 10 years and you never evict someone, either you are lucky and find the perfect tenants everytime, or you are lazy and they simply move out owing you money!

Regardless, now it is time to do an eviction.  Take some time to learn more about how the process works.  Here is an example of the steps involved in a Minnesota eviction:

1. Go online to the county website.  Download the free printable eviction notice.
2. Take the required paperwork down the to county courthouse, pay the fees, wait for the eviction notice to be prepared.
3. Once it is prepared, you need to have the documents served.  This must be done properly and by a neutral 3rd party.  I often use a legal courier company because they specialize in doing this for attorneys often.  They understand the process.
4. Now you wait up to 2 weeks for the court date.
5. At court you go before the judge and explain why you want this tenant evicted.  The tenant will most likely argue with  you and hopefully you can work out a compromise.  If the facts of the case are in dispute, the judge may order you both to a trial to decide who is correct.

While there is a lot of simple administrative busy work that goes into filing an eviction, it needs to be done properly.  Additionally, it takes time to go to the courthouse to file the eviction and then return for a court date.  All of these reasons may be a good idea for you to consider using an eviction lawyer.  These professionals do dozens of evictions each month.  They understand the process, legalities, and any loopholes that the tenant may use to slip out.

If you are too busy or too nervous about evicting your tenant, let some eviction lawyers handle it.  You simply turn over the information to the attorney and let them do everything.  You get a call after the court date telling you about the outcome.  You don’t have to waste your time running all over and you don’t need to have any confrontation or negotiations with your tenant.  What a great way to get this messy situation cleaned up!