While there is a long list of both federal and state laws that protect tenants who reside in rental property – such as invasion of privacy and discrimination – there are also various areas of landlord legal rights. Whether or not you have any trouble from your tenants, it is still good to be aware of these.
One of the most important rights that you have as a landlord is terminating a lease with a tenant who may be destructive to your property and / or conducting activities in the home or unit that may not exactly be complying with the law.
There are actually several factors where landlords are acting within their rights to evict a tenant. These include:
- Failure to pay rent (including habitual late rent payments without a credible reason for this tardiness)
- Violation of certain lease provisions, such as having a pet in the home or unit when the lease clearly states that pets are not allowed
- Violation of the law, such as conducting illegal drug related activities, or even a regular disturbance of the peace
If you do have to move forward with a tenant eviction, it is important to keep in mind that there are specific ways to go about this process in order to remain within the law. For instance, you will have to provide the tenant(s) with advance notice, which alerts them to the possible eviction if their current behavior is not changed. (An alternate method is to provide notice to the tenant that they will be evicted if they do not move out before a certain date on their own).
Making sure that you are dealing within the legal parameters can be a time-consuming task – especially if you have other properties and / or activities that also require a great deal of your time.
One way to remedy this is to work with an experienced property manager that will not only deal directly with your tenants, but also with any of the maintenance issues that may come up with your property(ies).
For more information on the many benefits of delegating your rental property duties to a property management team in Orlando or the surrounding Central Florida area, give us a call today.