Many landlords are worried about San Jose tenant eviction, and that’s understandable. The process is expensive and time consuming. Today, we are sharing some tips to help you avoid an eviction.
Understanding Eviction
First, you need to know what an eviction is, and what it isn’t. A lot of people will come to us and say they were evicted in the past, but they weren’t. They were simply given a notice to vacate. That’s different. An eviction is an unlawful detainer. This is a public record that’s done in a court. It takes about a week to serve the notice and go through the process. The unlawful detainer is the first step towards evicting a tenant in San Jose, once a three-day notice is served.
Remain Engaged with Your Tenants
It’s important to stay engaged with your tenants throughout the eviction process. If the tenant fails to pay rent, they will be evicted. But when a tenant fails to pay, you have to follow up and stay engaged. Encourage communication with your tenant. You can avoid eviction by working through the problems together and avoiding the awful mess that is an eviction. Tenants don’t want to be evicted; it stays on their public record and on their credit for a long time. This will prevent them from being able to rent in the future.
Avoid Eviction with Incentives
Make sure you offer incentives. If your tenant won’t comply, or lost a job and is struggling financially, you can help them get out of the property without eviction. Maybe offer them money or give their deposit back. That’s a way to encourage the tenant to get out sooner without having to go through the process. An eviction costs $1,500 or more, so you want to avoid it if possible.
Maintain Credibility
It’s important that you be credible when dealing with tenants. If you have a reputation of waffling on promises or commitments, your tenants will feel like they can get away with more. Let them know what you’re going to do, then do it. This provides more credibility. Property management companies do a good job with this, while private owners are often more connected emotionally with their tenants. But you have to follow through. When a three-day notice is served and they don’t perform, give a final phone call and tell them you’re starting the eviction process. They’ll call you back.
We don’t want to evict anyone. It serves us all to try to work together and figure out a solution. If you have any problems with tenants and evictions, or you’d like to talk about San Jose property management, please contact us at Cal West HMS Property Management.