Landlord Tools: Eviction & Termination

Reasons For Eviction

You can evict a tenant if the tenant:

• Has failed to pay rent.
• Has violated a term of the lease or the law.
• Refuses to leave the rental after the end of the lease.
• Or you can evict for no cause if there is no lease.

The Eviction Process

Tenant violates lease:
A problematic tenant consistently pays rent late, has a cat in violation of a no-pets clause, repeatedly disturbs other tenants by having loud parties, or otherwise violates your agreement or the law.

Landlord gives three-day notice:
You are ready to get rid of them, so your first step is to give proper notice to the tenant that you intend to evict them by serving a Demand for Compliance or Right to Possession form, which is provided in this website. This notice states that the tenant must remedy the situation or vacate the property within three business days.

Serving the three-day notice may be done by either leaving the notice with a resident of the household over 18 years old, sending it via certified mail, or posting it in a conspicuous place, such as tacked to the front door. If the notice is served by posting, a copy must also be mailed to the tenant no later than the next day.

After three days:
If the tenant pays the rent or fixes the lease violation in the three-day period, the landlord must accept it and cannot evict the tenant.

If the tenant doesn’t remedy the situation—such as fails to pay or does not give up possession of the rental—then the tenant is subject to eviction. Even if a tenant moves out within the three days allowed by the demand, he/she is still contractually responsible for the payment of rent through the lease term.

Call your attorney for filing an Eviction or Forced Entry and Detainer (FED) Action in your county court. It costs about $150 plus the cost of the sheriff for the physical eviction if needed.