{"id":11250,"date":"2021-01-20T12:40:29","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T12:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/?p=11250"},"modified":"2021-01-14T12:56:34","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T12:56:34","slug":"evicting-a-tenant-basic-dos-and-donts-for-a-landlord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/evicting-a-tenant-basic-dos-and-donts-for-a-landlord\/","title":{"rendered":"Evicting a Tenant: Basic Do&#8217;s and Dont&#8217;s for a Landlord"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When a tenant violates the lease or rental agreement, keep in mind that terminating a tenancy must be pursuant to landlord and tenant law, which varies from state to state. Under Texas eviction laws, a property owner may evict a tenant for violations of the agreement. This could include non-adherence to a no-pets policy, unlawful stay, purposefully damaging or destroying a portion of the rental property, not moving out after termination, and other circumstances covered by state law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/eviction-landlord-representation\/\"><strong>Tenant eviction<\/strong><\/a> is not as easy as it seems. According to the legal process, before a landlord can evict a tenant, a notice of eviction must be served. If a renter is violating or has violated the rental or lease agreement and you cannot fix the problem, take note of the following do&#8217;s and don ts:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1) Do take into account specific landlord-tenant law when preparing a notice to vacate.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do remember that the written notice must include the full name of the tenant and the rental unit&#8217;s address. The notice in writing must likewise include the reason why the renter is being evicted, and how and when the notice was served.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2) Do not forget to indicate that legal action will be taken after a certain period.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State that legal aid will be sought if the tenant does not vacate the unit within the number of days stated in the agreement, or the default period of three days.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3) Do make sure that the notice is served following relevant landlord-tenant laws.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-11251 \" src=\"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evicting-a-Tenant-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Evicting a Tenant\" width=\"372\" height=\"248\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evicting-a-Tenant-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evicting-a-Tenant-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evicting-a-Tenant-400x266.jpg 400w, https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evicting-a-Tenant-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Evicting-a-Tenant.jpg 626w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 372px) 100vw, 372px\" \/> The notice must be served in the following ways:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">personally handed over by the landlord (or his or her agent) to either the tenant or someone above 16 years old who resides in the unit<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">left inside the door of the unit, for landlords who can legally enter the personal property being rented out<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mailed to the renters through regular, certified, or registered mail<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">securely posted outside the front door (if there is no mailbox or the notice cannot be posted inside the door), the front gate, or a visible portion in the main entrance, if the above is not possible<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4) Do not serve a notice of eviction with missing information.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An eviction notice will not be valid if crucial information, such as details of violations, non-payment of rent, or landlord-tenant disputes are left out. As part of the legal eviction process, in such a case, the three-day period will not take effect until a new notice in writing is served.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5) Do keep in mind tenant rights.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a tenant refuses to move out, get professional legal help to make sure that the eviction case you bring to court follows the legal eviction process. Do get legal advice from a lawyer specializing in filing a forcible detainer suit or a suit to evict.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6) Do not resort to unlawful self-help ways to evict tenants.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure to comply with laws on how to evict tenants lawfully if you want to avoid penalties that come with an illegal eviction case. Do not resort to changing locks, cutting access to utilities, bringing out belongings, and other means of illegally evicting tenants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eviction notices must be prepared for renters who have not paid rent or have violated the lease or rental agreement. For clarifications on eviction proceedings and paperwork, or legal assistance on court papers, give us a call. Contact us at <a href=\"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/\"><strong>Girling Law, PLLC<\/strong><\/a> for eviction cases and concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When a tenant violates the lease or rental agreement, keep in mind that terminating a tenancy must be pursuant to landlord and tenant law, which varies from state to state. Under Texas eviction laws, a property owner may evict a tenant for violations of the agreement. This could include non-adherence to a no-pets policy, unlawful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlinglaw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}