Late Rent and Tenant Eviction in Key West

Our topic today is late rent and evictions. As you know by doing your research and buying your property, Key West is very transient. People come to this area, love it, stay for a little while and then they get homesick and they go back home. When you are screening people, make sure you look for their ability to pay rent. Check their income and their finances so you know they’ll be able to pay rent on time every month. This type of screening will reduce your evictions. That’s your main concern because no landlord ever wants to find themselves in the eviction process. It’s costly, frustrating and time consuming. If you do have to evict someone, you can usually expect to pay between $1,000 and $1,500, depending on how far you have to go with it. There’s also the time in court you’ll have to spend. Lots of landlords are from outside of the area, so you’ll have to come down to Key West if you want to be present. The other option is to have a property manager take care of the eviction for you. Finally, you’ll have to find a new tenant after the eviction process. There are many ways to prevent this. The most important tool is what I’ve just mentioned – screening. Once you have a tenant in place, you need to make sure they know that rent is due on the first of the month. If it isn’t paid on the first of the month, you need to give them a 3 Day Notice immediately. Don’t bother calling them or trying to find out why it’s late. A lot of people try to communicate with tenants when rent is late, but that only leads you towards a friendly conversation where they’ll want to give you an excuse. Business is business, and there is no room for personal friendships with your tenants. Don’t do the phone call. Keep everything in writing and if they don’t pay on the first, do 3 Day Notice on the second. That will give you more time to get your eviction done by end of month. When you absolutely have to evict, you don’t want to lose more than one month’s worth of rent. The quicker you get the nonpaying tenants out, the quicker you can get someone else in. It is much easier to have a property manager help you with eviction because they know the laws, they know what process to follow and how to keep everything documented in writing. A property manager will make sure you don’t lose more income than you have to. If you want to more information on the eviction process, or you need help with a tenant who isn’t paying rent on time, please contact us at Key West Residential Property Management.