Can you evict a tenant after they’ve filed a complaint?
July 1, 2011
Your tenant has filed a government complaint. Now what?
If a tenant has complained to a governmental agency about a code or regulation violation on your property, you can’t evict them for several months. In most states it is six months, but check your state’s Landlord/Tenant Law to find out.
The same goes for a tenant who simply asserts his or her rights to you or a government agency. If you try to evict or raise the rent unreasonably in the next six months, the courts will probably decide the eviction or rent increase was retaliation for the complaints.
You can still evict, though, for four reasons
• if the tenant doesn’t pay the rent,
• if the tenant doesn’t follow the terms of the rental agreement,
• if the tenant made the complaint in bad faith, or
• if you will have to have a vacant unit in order to do the necessary repairs
About the Author: Bob Cain
Some 30 years ago Bob Cain went to a no-money-down seminar and got the notion that owning rental property would be just the best idea there is for making money. He bought some. Trouble was, what he learned at the seminar didn’t tell him how to make money on his rental property. He went looking for help in the form of a magazine or newsletter about the business. He couldn't find any.
Always ready to jump at a great idea, he decided he could put his speaking and writing skills to work and perform a valuable service for other investors who needed more information about property management. So Bob ferreted out the secrets, tricks and techniques of property management wherever he found them; then he passed them along to other landlords.
For over 25 years now, Bob has been publishing information, giving speeches, putting on seminars and workshops, and consulting for landlords on how to buy, rent and manage property more effectively.
