Many landlords see eviction as a last resort after all measures have been exhausted. Other than having to deal with eviction proceedings, landlords also have to cover expenses, like turnover costs and loss of income due to vacancies. With certain proactive measures for eviction prevention, you can avoid these headaches before they happen.
Why It's Important
Having a rental business means you must ensure tenants pay rent to generate income. However, there is also the ethical aspect of property owners contributing to housing stability.
Eviction prevention or diversion can benefit both tenants and landlords, and learning certain strategies can help achieve better tenant outcomes.
What You Can Do As a Landlord
Thorough Tenant Screening
One of the best ways to mitigate evictions is to conduct meticulous tenant screening and ensure renters can pay their rent. Property owners or managers can use certain criteria, like credit checks, employment verification, criminal history checks, calls to previous landlords, and more.
Offer Flexible Payment Plans
Housing costs are becoming increasingly expensive in Tennessee, and having a flexible payment plan can help prevent evictions. This plan can include installment options or modified due dates, along with convenient rent collection practices.
Provide Information About Emergency Rental Assistance
If your tenant is struggling to pay rent, you can offer information about rental assistance programs, which can help them with temporary financial setbacks. Research local, state, and federal rental aids. Instead of immediate evictions, you can help eligible tenants increase housing stability.
Use Mediation Services
You can use third-party mediation services to resolve disputes and prevent them from escalating to legal action. You may even consult your own legal representation for eviction prevention strategies.
Create Clear Lease Agreements
Your lease agreement is a legally binding contract that tenants should abide by. It provides information about the grounds for evictions, the timeframe of the eviction notice, and how the eviction process will be handled.
Connect Tenants to Eviction Diversion Programs
Eviction diversion programs are readily available, and in addition to providing information, you can connect tenants to programs, local community organizations, or contacts like the United Way’s 211 Helpline, which provides resources like legal aid, financial counseling, and rental assistance.
Why You Should Prevent Evictions
- Turnover costs: Eviction prevention means you won't have to cover marketing, listing, cleaning, and other turnover costs you might have to pay to prepare for new tenants.
- Tedious Process: You'll go through many steps through the local court system to finalize the eviction filings, which can take weeks to months.
- Extended Vacancy Periods: Eviction prevention helps minimize your vacancy rate. Otherwise, you might be facing a loss of income.
- Negative Reputation: It does not bode well for rental businesses when they often conduct evictions. Eviction prevention shows that you are a good landlord and can provide a good living environment for tenants.
- Community Impact: The lack of housing stability can destabilize neighborhoods, and an eviction crisis can impact property values.
- Legal Costs: When a tenant disputes the eviction, you can end up paying for legal services or even just for consulting legal counsel.
What You Can Do When It's Unavoidable
In some circumstances, eviction is inevitable despite prioritizing eviction diversion, offering emergency assistance, or providing sufficient notice. In that case, you must go through the eviction proceedings in accordance with local and state law.
- Serve a written eviction notice 30 days prior to the termination of the lease.
- Allow the tenant to correct violations, such as paying past-due rent, the cost of repairs, damages, late charges, and other costs incurred.
- Take out a detainer warrant against the tenant. Similar to a court summons, the tenant must appear in court at a specific time and date for the court process. If the tenant fails to appear, a default judgment will be entered against them.
- Once the detainer warrant has been settled, you must obtain a Writ of Possession from the local court clerk where the eviction judgment was entered.
- If the tenant does not move out or appeal within 10 days after the court date, the Sheriff's Department has the right to put their belongings out on the street.
Financial Assistance for Tenants
Property owners also have the responsibility to avoid housing instability by preventing evictions. Fortunately, there are emergency assistance programs in Tennessee that promote affordable housing, as well as give access to legal service providers for housing court.
- HOPE (Housing Opportunities for Persons Everywhere) Program: Low-income households who are behind on rent and facing eviction are eligible for the assistance. It covers rent payments, utility bills, and other housing stability-related expenses.
- Local Housing Authorities and County Programs: Like other states, there are cities and counties in Tennessee with local assistance programs like Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville.
- The Salvation Army: Depending on the location in Tennessee and the tenant's eligibility, they can acquire assistance for rental arrears and utility bills.
- Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program: This program holds funds distributed by the federal government, helping local community residents.
- Housing First Program (Homelessness Prevention): To be eligible, an individual must be experiencing homelessness or at risk of eviction.
- Eviction Prevention and Legal Aid: When a tenant feels like the landlord violated certain eviction protections, they can get legal help to fight the eviction lawsuit in housing court.
- Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF): The program is state-funded supporting affordable housing development and maintenance across Tennessee. Low-income individuals and families, particularly those facing eviction, are eligible for the assistance.
- Public Housing Authorities: There are 86 Housing Authorities of Tennessee, establishing tenancy for over 207,000 low-income residents.
Let Property Managers Worry About Stopping Evictions
You can avoid evictions by taking proactive measures or resolving them at the early stages. However, they don't always work. You might need to face the eviction process to protect yourself and your business, and it will almost certainly take up a lot of your time and effort.
That's where property managers like Green Tree Property Management come in. Not only are we vigilant with our proactive measures, but we also handle evictions for you in accordance to necessary laws and processes.
Our team of experts will handle it all for you. We will then find a new tenant for your vacant unit as soon as we can to maintain your rental income.
All you need to do is contact us, and we can tell you more about our services!
