How to Get Rid of Bad Tenants?

As real estate investors and landlords, we must keep any potential loses to a minimum. We  have limited time each day; we need to work on things that make us money, staying away from things that create losses and lots of stress for us.

Being a full-time real estate investor and landlord doesn’t have to be stressful, particularly if we utilize intelligent options that give us the best results.

As landlords, of course we love our tenants, however, when a tenant defaults on rent, we have a situation that can either be prolonged or we can nip it in the bud immediately.

Are Getting Post Dated Cheques a Good Thing?

Typically, landlords like to get postdated cheques from their tenants. Landlords who collect postdated cheques will have the most trouble in this situation. Why? Because banks alert clients on a bounced cheque 12 to 14 days after the cheque has bounced.

At that point you have to go to the tenant and say “I am sorry Mr. Tenant, but it appears your cheque has bounced.” And that tenant will say “I’m so sorry, I cant image how that happened. Here is another cheque…it will never happen again.” At this point, if this tenant’s desire is to not pay you again, they will write you another cheque that will bounce, but you won’t find out about that until 12 to 14 days later. At this point they will have been in the property for one month for nothing…but it’s not over yet.

Now you have to go to the landlord/tenant board, serve them with an N1 document that essentially says that you have taken notice that you haven’t paid, and legally they have a certain amount of time to respond to that, and put in their statement of defense.

If they put in a statement of defense, then that time gets prolonged even further, and this whole thing can go on and on, and by the time you get them out through the landlord/tenant board, they could have been in your unit for a minimum three months without paying rent, or longer.

How do we get those tenants out quickly?

If it is obvious that their financial situation has changed or they just have no desire to pay you anymore, or they are damaging the property, disturbing other tenants, or doing illegal things, we can’t wait 3 or 4 months to get them out. We need them out fast.

The answer here is to give them money…pay them off. Pay their first and last months rent in another place, pay their moving expenses, and put a few dollars in their pocket. Usually, the tenants are happy to move. It can be obvious in some cases they do not like living in your unit, so to get them out as soon as possible by paying them is in both your interests. Giving them first and last months for another rental unit, or even giving them a lump sum, saying “here is $1,000, please just move.”

You must do all you can to alleviate stress and time, because if you have somebody in there that is living in your property for free, you can’t show the property, you can rent the property while they are in there obviously.

So in this way, if we get your delinquent tenants out quickly, you will save yourself time and money by doing this, and save yourself a lot of stress and grief.

If you would like more information
email me at info@propertyprohets.ca.

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