Evicting Tenants

This is an article I wrote for the September 2007 Issue of Broker Agent Magazine, North Central New Jersey Edition.
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A few months a ago you sold a multi-family property to a client. The client calls you up in a panic: one tenant hasn’t paid rent and the client doesn’t know what to do. How do you advise them?

New landlords are often squeamish about evicting tenants, they “Feel bad” throwing someone out of their home. First piece of advice is “Get over it.” You are a landlord now and evicting tenants is part of the business. Just as boxers can expect to get punched in the nose as a matter of course, landlords must expect to evict tenants periodically.

When you don’t pay the phone bill, the phone company turns off your phone. When your tenant doesn’t pay their rent, you must turn off their apartment.

The eviction process is how you turn off a tenant’s apartment. This is a legal procedure, which must be done according to the law. Each county has a tenant landlord court, and your case must be handled through this court. Never harass a tenant to leave or attempt to evict them by yourself. This is known as a “Self Help” eviction, and you can get in big, big trouble for doing it, so don’t.

Since this is a legal procedure, you will need an attorney; don’t try to handle this on your own. You must find an attorney in your area that is experienced in tenant landlord court, and represents landlords exclusively. Do not hire an attorney that “Dabbles in real estate” or handles only residential closings. You want an attorney that goes to tenant landlord court several times a month, specifically to represent landlords in eviction proceedings. You can find one by calling the Property Owners Association at 732-780-1966 or the New Jersey Apartment Association at 732-992-0600 and asking for a referral. Or you can go to your County’s tenant landlord court at 8:30 AM on any business day and snoop around for one.

When do you file for eviction? I file for eviction on the 10^th of the month. Rent is due on the first of the month. Tenants get a five calendar day grace period after which a late fee is added. If rent is not paid by the 10^th, you know there is a problem. I fax a list of tenants in arrears along with the amounts outstanding and their address to my attorney, who files on my behalf.

I then send tenants a notice telling them that my attorney has filed court papers, and I enclose an invoice which will at this point include base rent, late fees, county filing fees, and attorney’s filing fees. Hopefully you have a lease in place that spells out these charges and specifically calls them “Additional Rent.” Occasionally this will be enough to get the tenant to pay, but normally not. It usually takes four to six weeks to get a court date. The tenant will get a postcard from the court notifying them of the court date. This may motivate them to bring their account current.

If not, be prepared to show up in court with the books and records pertaining to all tenants you will be opposing. Be sure to ask your attorney what else you may need, such as building registration forms. If you do not have all required documents, you may be forced to default and re-file. Upon arrival, both the tenant and the landlord or his representative must check in with the court, or face default: dismissal of the case.

Before or after check in, the judge will give a speech advising both parties of their rights or a court administrator may play a video for the same purpose.

Next, you will have an opportunity to negotiate with your tenant. Let your attorney handle this. I recommend you give the tenant no more than two weeks to bring their account current. At this point they will be two months in arrears, longer if you did not file aggressively on the 10^th. If you give them longer than that, they most likely won’t catch up, and you will be forced to evict them anyway. Any extra time you give them anywhere in the process will become free rent. If you come to agreement on a payment plan, this must be documented in a legal document called a stipulation. If the tenant fails to uphold their obligations outlined in the stipulation, a judgment for possession is automatically awarded to the landlord.

If you can not agree on a payment plan, and the tenant will not agree to move out, you must go in front of a judge in an attempt to be awarded a judgment for possession. Once a judgment for possession is awarded to the landlord, an application for a warrant of removal should immediately be filed by your attorney. Within two weeks a warrant should be issued and posted by a court officer. You are then eligible to lock out the tenant three business days later. You should schedule the lockout as soon as you are eligible.

A lockout cannot occur on weekends or holidays. Snow days can cancel lockouts. Some counties have a two week moratorium on lockouts straddling Thanksgiving and Christmas. So it is very important to be aggressive throughout the eviction process, especially once the leaves start turning colors!

You tenant will probably be gone by the time the court officer comes to lock them out, but sometimes they are still there! You will need to change the lock (sometimes the court officer can do this for you for a fee), and secure the windows. You must leave the apartment as is for ten days. Within that period, the tenant can pay all outstanding charges and reinstate the lease, although that is unlikely. You must allow tenants to reclaim any possessions left behind within the 10 days.