how to throw people out your house legally and sanely?

Question

they used to rent a room but are no longer paying or tolerable

Answer 1

Hmm, It depends on your state. But you may need to give your tenants a 3 day pay or quit notice. You can find these forms at staples or office supply stores. Be very careful when filling out his form. Any error in dates or amounts and a judge can dismiss it and you have to start again. You can't put in late charges, only rent amounts owed. If you don't have a contract that's ok (but not as good) it's then considered a month to month rental. Bring deposit proof to show prior payments and the amounts received. Photocopying incoming checks or Money orders is handy proof. Don't shut off their electricity or anything like that. When in court focus only on the non-payment of rent, the judge will not care about the rest (intolerable tenants). Just be calm and rational and above all bring all your documentation, well organized. Don't add unnecessary comments, don't make faces or noises when tenants say stupid things. Wait your turn. You could hire an eviction service if this is your first time, they can help you with the 3 day pay or quit forms and so forth. An eviction service will charge you about $600 (in California), more if they contest. Often the lawyer can talk to the tenants and they will agree in writing to vacate before seeing the judge. You can go to your local bookstore and read a bit about the process in the many books (Nolo press books are good) for landlords for your state. Best if you document in writing the date and time and actions of intolerable things that your tenants have done and your response in case they bring up issues. Always give a receipt for payment received so you can show consistency and the absence of payments is more provable. There are a lot of laws involved and some judges are very pro-tenant, but generally if they are not paying your OK. If their room is infested with rodents or has no electricity (and they have pictures to prove it) you may have more trouble. If the judge sides with you still have to wait for the sheriff to toss them out. Collection of the past due amounts yet is another battle, again the eviction service probably has a collection service as well.

There is another possibility, you can bribe them to leave, it might be faster and cheaper. "If you get out by next Thursday I will pay you $100, otherwise I will be forced to evict you".

Good Luck!

Answer 2

Judging by the question there is no written lease. However, because they are living there you need to give them a 30 day notice to vacate. After that 30 days if they haven't vacated then you can file for eviction. Once again though, if there is no written lease and they deny they agreed to pay you anything, the judge will just award the eviction, not a judgment for past due monies owed, but you can probably get the judge to award the court costs be reimbursed to you by them. You don't need to hire any kind of service for this. Usually the judge doesn't care what the tenant has to say, it always goes in the "landlords" favor.

Answer 3

You will need to go to your town magistrate and file for an eviction order. Depending on your state laws, the tenants will possibly have between 7-30 days to move out before they can be forcibly removed(by the sherriffs office). Do not attempt to physically throw them out, better to do this legally to protect yourself.

Answer 4

Give them 30 days notice in writing. If you have a lease you can file for an eviction, then go to court and sue them for back rent.