Tenant screening helps you weed out the bad tenants from the good ones. It is not only based on their income and credit score. You also have to look for those whom you think have good personality traits. This process is significant because the tenant you choose could be with you for a long time and, it is not that easy to terminate a contract without any valid reason.
You might be wondering how much power you have to evict your tenant? Before you go to such extreme measures, here are a few examples that a landlord is not allowed to serve an eviction notice.
Discrimination
There are a lot of forms of discrimination nowadays. It has become a talked-about issue and it is not only happening in one place. It is everywhere and has caused concern for many years. You, being a landlord, should not discriminate against a tenant because of their religion or race. First of all, it is not good to do that. Second, it is illegal based on the Fair Housing Act (FHA).
You should not close your door to a Muslim tenant just because you or your Christian tenants will be uncomfortable. There are a lot of misconceptions regarding the people of this religion and you should not generalize them. You might want to please the majority, but it is illegal to refuse tenancy because of religion.
A married gay couple has the same rights as your conservative married couples. I know there is still a great number of people who do not support the LGBTQ people, but they are still entitled to a home. If thy have all the requirements to qualify to apply, why would you deprive them?
Revenge
Screening your tenants is not a guarantee that you will have a good relationship all the time. There may be times that you will argue and not see eye to eye. But it does not mean, you can evict them to get back at them.
Some landlords get angry at their tenants for these reasons:
- A tenant filed a lawsuit because he injured himself due to a broken step on the stairs. The step has been reported to the landlord but was not fixed immediately.
- A tenant took action and had something repaired because the landlord did not do it himself. The tenant deducted the cost of repair to his monthly rent which means the landlord got less than what he expected.
- A landlord was contacted by the health department because of a complaint filed by a tenant.
Do not evict a tenant because you want to get revenge on them. Evaluate the situation because they might have not done those things if only you did your part as their landlord.
Withholding Rental Payment
The tenant can hold off in paying their rent if they have a reported issue that has not yet been addressed by the landlord, particularly if it is a threat to their safety and health. You are not allowed to evict them because of this reason.
For example, you failed to repair an issue on the property’s plumbing, and your tenants do not have any water supply. Having a water supply is a need for everyone, and because it happened due to your lack of action, they can choose not to pay rent until it is fixed.
Protected Tenants
An FHA-protected tenant is usually an elderly person who has been occupying a home for more than 10 years. They are a bit difficult to evict and you might get sued if you insist on doing so.
Before you think of evicting your tenant, remember that you must have a valid and legal reason for doing it. If there is a clear violation of your contract and you properly conducted the legal protocols, then you will not have a problem with eviction. However, if you only want to do it for your satisfaction, it will backfire and will cause you more problems.
I hope this has been very helpful. Remember to keep making your property listing at Padleads, where you can syndicate your listing to other well-known websites for house hunters to see.