As a landlord, the law requires you to provide the tenant with a safe place to live or to do business. Tenants and landlords sometimes violate lease or rental agreements. If the tenant does not pay the amount of rent established or if some other term in the contract is not followed, they are in violation of the contract. In these cases, a landlord may file a notice to evict.
Notices let the tenant know that there is a restricted amount of time to correct the situation. Some notices ask just for the immediate payment of the debt, and some other notices ask the tenant to vacate the facilities. The type of notice depends on the breach of contract and also the amount of time the tenant has been using the property.
Types of legal notices
Legal notices vary in time and purpose. They can give the tenant a couple of days to act, or they can give a month or even more. They can also demand payment or solving of other types of problems. If they don’t pay or fix the problem, the alternative is eviction. You can visit https://expressevictions.com/california-eviction-notices/ for more information.
Non-fault eviction notices
Landlords serve no-fault notices of eviction when the tenant has done no wrong, but the landlord wants to terminate the contract. Since there is no fault, the tenant has more time to quit the place. A period of 30 days is given when the tenant has been using the property for less than a year. Whereas a 60-day notice is given if the tenant has been living there for more than a year. State law allows more time in month-to-month agreements to give the tenant time to find another place to live.
A three-day notice to pay rent or quit
As the name implies, the notice gives a 3-day period to allow the tenant to pay the total amount of rent due. If rent is paid right away, there is no further action, and the tenant can remain in the property. If the tenant fails to pay, then the landlord can proceed with the eviction process.
A three-day notice to perform covenant or quit
In this case, rent is not past due but the tenant has done something wrong. The fault of the tenant is of a different nature. The lease agreement was violated but not in terms of rent. It can be due to the presence of pets that are not allowed, extra tenants that were not allowed, improper use of the common areas, or general disruption of peace in the building or neighborhood
As with the rest of the notices, if the problem is solved in the given amount of time, there is no need to continue with the legal action of eviction.
How to avoid these issues
Renting out a unit is not an easy job. As a landlord, the premises have to meet certain criteria to be rented. And, as a tenant, certain rules have to be followed according to the lease. The best way to avoid problems is to respect the lease or rental agreement previously established. Among other things this agreement has to explicitly establish:
- The amount of rent to be paid and when it is paid.
- The limits of the property that are rented to the tenant.
- The services and utilities that come with the place and who is responsible for them.
- Common-area rules and other routines that have to be respected. Rules vary according to each building and neighborhood.
It is very important to seek legal advice from a professional if an eviction process is deemed to start. These legal actions have to be taken very seriously, and they have to be carried out by the corresponding authorities.
Do not:
- Evict the tenant yourself.
- Change locks or stop the tenant from entering the property using the force.
- Cut off utilities so as to “punish” the tenant or force them out.
If the tenant is not following the terms agreed to and refuses to leave the property, collect the necessary evidence to be able to win an eviction process to court. Evidence may be necessary in lease situations where the tenant is at fault. If the eviction is no-fault, usually a lawsuit and evidence are not necessary. Pay attention to local laws and local requirements for each case, and these can vary from one state to another.
