Landlords self representation, is it the right thing to do?
Learn the eviction process in your State!
If, like many landlords, you own or manage only a few rental properties, you are unlikely to have a lawyer on staff or even “on retainer” (where you pay a lawyer in advance to handle routine questions and issues). Fortunately, you shouldn’t need to constantly consult a lawyer or even keep one in the wings, “just in case.” You do have to be able to recognize those situations when expert help is needed — even if it’s just for some advice and coaching.
In most states, an eviction lawsuit takes much less time than regular civil cases. But in exchange for expedited treatment, landlords must follow highly detailed rules, from notifying the tenant of the lawsuit to filing the right papers and forms. In addition, because it’s the tenant’s home that’s at stake, many judges will set the bar very high when it comes to ruling in the landlord’s favor. Winning an eviction lawsuit, even one that you’d think is a slam-dunk, isn’t so easy. Still, many landlords try to evict a tenant themselves, often with success. But you may be better off hiring a lawyer
Evictions are one of the least fun parts of being a landlord. They can be very costly, time consuming and stressful. Most probably think that you have to hire an attorney to represent you to conduct a successful eviction. But do you? I have represented myself and used an attorney, either way you usually have to go to court. So, I think the answer depends on several factors. Those factors are:
- The complexity of the eviction process in your jurisdiction.
- Your level of knowledge and experience.
- Your personality.
- Peculiarities in your state and local laws.
Some states have very complex eviction procedures. In fact, I hear it can take many months to get a tenant evicted in places like Chicago and some of the northeastern states. Here in Memphis, TN the entire eviction process can be accomplished in a little over a month with the filing of a couple of forms. So while I will conduct the eviction process here, I might hesitate doing so if I faced messing up a six month long process and having to start over at square one. I would want someone more qualified to handle such a complex process.
Complications can also arise during the eviction process. For example, if a tenant files for bankruptcy while you are evicting them (and bankruptcy lawyers will be sending them solicitations advising them they can “stop” the eviction process) a stay is placed on the eviction process by the bankruptcy court. That means your eviction is stopped until the stay is lifted. You definitely need an attorney at this point as federal courts are much more complicated.
Your knowledge and experience with the eviction process will also be a factor. You need to know what the eviction process is for your jurisdiction. You absolutely cannot walk into court with out knowing what you are doing. It is just too easy to mess up. Sometimes the judge will help you out, but most times more deference is given to the tenant. In other words, the judge expects you to have your i’s dotted and t’s crossed. Once you have been through a few evictions, you may have enough experience to be able to go it alone.
Your personality is also something to consider. Many do not like getting up and speaking in front of other people. Some do not like confrontation. You also have to remember to keep your cool at all costs. The last thing you want is to be held in contempt because you angered a judge. I have seen more than one landlord shoot themselves in the foot by opening their big mouth in court.
There may also be peculiarities in your state in local laws that prevent you from representing yourself. For example, here in Tennessee if a property is owned by a corporation or LLC (which many of mine are) I am not allowed to represent myself and have to hire an attorney to file the eviction per state law. My case would be thrown out by the judge if I tried to represent my self.
To sum up, I think you should hire an attorney to represent you if:
- You have no or little experience in court.
- Your knowledge on your state and local eviction statutes is limited.
- Your particular jurisdiction has a long and complicated eviction process.
- Your tenant files bankruptcy.
- You personality is not suited towards acting as your own attorney.
- If state law prevents you from doing so.
On the other hand if you have been through the process before, know your local laws and are confident you can present a clear and decisive case, perhaps go for it.
If you want to get some experience and if you have some time to kill, you can always go to the courthouse and watch the other landlords and attorneys present their cases to see how the process works. It is kind of interesting to watch, much better than any reality show.
Landlords its a good rule to be on top of any Late Rent:
I have always set in my lease – The rent is due on the 5th and if a tenant does not pay, they have a 3-day notice on the 6th. You cannot allow any exceptions or people will really take advantage of you.
Dont take their word!
Honestly, everything that I am about to say is true. I mean, sure, you see on the news channel, the internet and sometimes you hear from others these horrifying stories, but to experience one yourself is something else entirely. It was truly mind blowing to witness firsthand how much lie-weaving people were willing to do in order to trap some unwitting landlord to rent them the property. Want to hear the story? Well, here we go.
One day, the mother of a family called to give a walkthrough of property. I always make sure to do pre-vetting over phone to make sure they fit the qualifications, i.e. the applicant has to produce 3x net monthly income in addition to good rental history, verification of time on their job, and also good landlord references. In my case, I thought I hit the jackpot—after all, it was a beautiful family with a stay at home mother, hard working father, grandmother, and newborn daughter. Why, you couldn’t possibly ask for better tenants!
The family took a walkthrough of the house and absolutely loved it (as they should because that home was truly lovely). As a result, they decided that they wanted to move forward and discuss terms and legalities. But here is where things start to get really interesting.
On their application, they had their current residence, in addition to the contact information for their present landlord. So, as per routine, I ran the application through, and after some brief investigation, I discovered that they were being evicted from their current residence. However, when I contacted the family, they waved away my concerns and said that it was simply a glitch, assuring me that the landlord could verify (red flag alert!). I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, so I called the landlord (who I later found out was a family member posing as a landlord).
The landlord a.k.a. family member mentioned that they were good tenants, and if given the chance, they would absolutely love to rent to them again. Obviously, I couldn’t take a mere word for something as serious as an eviction, so what I did from there was pull the public tax records out—which in turn showed the name of the actual landlord along with his true address.
It doesn’t take much guesswork to know what I did next. I whizzed over there, and the (genuine) landlord mentioned that the family that he had as tenants were in fact being evicted and looking to get my place ASAP in fear that they would be without a home. The moment I heard this, I went ahead and I declined them.
Honestly, the whole situation was mentally straining, and I just wanted to point out that these things happen in real life and not just in stories you hear from other people, so the moral of this story is that tenants do lie, so you should always do thorough due diligence.
So for Landlords Screen Tenants, Ask for Background checks, Search on county clerks records for their names, Go to or call the past landlords and speak with them. Dot Trust!
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