Typically a notice to quit is asking you to cease doing something that is a violation of the lease or the law. If you wish to resolve the situation and stay in your current home then you will have to ?quit? and inform the landlord or property manager that you will resolve the situation and expect to stay in your home.

If there is any legal or medical reason you cannot quit an activity, then you should probably contact a lawyer or a tenant?s rights advocate to help you plead your case. I know of a case where a woman?s medical condition caused her to scream at night while sleeping. Because this is a medical condition then she could not be evicted for routinely disturbing the peace. Also if you are handicapped and have a pet trained to help you, you obviously would not be subject to lease rules regarding no pets. So there are situations where you do not have to quit an activity even if you have received a notice to quit.

If you wish to stay and you have not ceased the activity which caused the notice to quit and you have not found representation to defend yourself then you will receive a summons and complaint from the court requiring you to make a court appearance. This means that official eviction proceedings have begun and you will most likely be asked to leave your residence.

photo credit:?jonfeinstein

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Eviction: Notice to Quit

No matter what the situation or why you?re in small claims court you?ll have to prepare for your appearance by bringing all the evidence you have. Don?t sell yourself short by relying on paperwork alone, but go the extra step if you can and bring photographs, letters from others involved, contracts that support your position and eyewitnesses if you have any.

Try to back up every bit of your case with evidence and make sure the evidence you?re presenting really supports your position. Be organized, thorough and make sure your argument is well thought out and supported.

If you?re going to small claims court for a matter unrelated to your property the rules are the same. You?ll fare better if you?re well prepared and have thought out the case from every aspect. There really is no need to get an attorney involved in a small claims case unless you feel you?d be better off with some professional advice, but don?t bring the attorney along, you are expected to handle a small claims case by yourself.

photo credit:?Wilson Afonso

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Handling Small Claims Court

Mediation is typically a better solution that court because it?s faster, private, and inexpensive and tends to be fair to both parties. This is especially useful if the person who is suing or being sued is someone with whom you?re going to have continued relations in the future. Mediation tends to be a bit more gentle and can help preserve the relationship a bit.

One aspect of mediation that most people forget is the privacy issue. Court events are public record and can be researched by anyone, but mediation is kept confident, which is one way it may help preserve future relationships by protecting reputations.

You can find mediators through traditional routes such as the internet or phone book, or you can contact an attorney and see if they can recommend a mediator to handle your disputes. Remember that while typically being less expensive than a full blown trial, mediation still has a price tag attached so the first step in any dispute is to try to figure it out on your own first and if you can?t come to an agreement, then proceed through other channels.

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Should you Mediate

Your first step is serving the process is serving the tenant with an unconditional quit notice, this lets them know they have to vacate the premises in a specified amount of time and they have no chance of rectifying the situation. Check with your state or local laws to see how long the tenant has after notification to vacate.

If the tenant still won’t leave then you need to move ahead with eviction proceedings. Again, you’ll have to check with your state and local laws or look for a landlord organization and they should have packages of information that will help you with the process and provide you with the appropriate paperwork. Make sure you follow every step to the letter because not doing so may delay the process.

Each court is different but yours will assign a trial date at which time you’re expected to show up with all of your evidence. If you win the case your tenant will be given some time to gather their belongings and leave, this can be several days or several weeks.

If the tenant has still not left the property at the prescribed time then you’ll have to call your local police and tell them that you need a tenant forcibly evicted, at which point they will come over and escort the tenants off the premises.

If this is new to you, you may want to hire a lawyer who is well versed in tenant law and has handled this sort of case before.

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If Tenants Won?t Leave

Some common Constructive Evictions include a landlord that turns off the heat or water or if there’s an environmental health hazard that is not property attended to. In these situations tenants are able to move without fear of legal repercussions, but each instance should be documented as well as your attempts to inform the landlord of the problem and his or her attempts to remedy it, if any were made.

Quite often you’ll hear small claims cases on court television where one tenant changes the locks on another tenant, this too is a form of Constructive Eviction which will leave the remaining tenant entirely responsible for any rent bills and typically will get sued for this action.

If you’re a landlord its important to take care of any complaints your tenants bring to your attention, especially health hazards. And if you have a troublesome tenant it may be tempting to have the heat and water shut off but as soon as you do that you lose your legal upper hand. If you’re a tenant, know that you have the right to leave if your landlord performs a Constructive Eviction and you are no longer tied to the lease.

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Constructive Eviction

Florida’s Clean Air Act initially contained a provision that banned smoking on common elements of a condominium. But this provision didn’t stay in effect for long and the anti-smoking restriction was removed. It’s unclear exactly why this was removed from the law but the initial step in that direction may be a harbinger of things to come.

In addition, there have been some situations in Florida where secondhand smoke which seeps into another condo unit has been considered a nuisance. The courts have stood by the neighbors and declared the secondhand smoke a nuisance and banned the smoking condo owners from smoking in their own homes.

It’s easy to see where this is headed and how quickly smoking could be banned across the United States. So if you’re a smoker and wish to continue to be a smoker you may want to dig deeper into local laws and regulations before you move into a housing unit that shares common walls and heating and air conditioning vents with other units. Public sentiment is definitely not on your side.

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Smoking Ban in Condos

Screening

Every person who responds to your vacancy needs to be treated in exactly the same manner. This means that you need to have the same application and screening process for everyone, no matter what their age, race, gender, etc. If you discover a good business reason not to rent to someone during the screening process it’s a good idea to note these on the application.

Know the Law

You should become familiar with all laws relating to fair housing whether they’re federal or local laws. If you happen to have a staff or property management company its important that they also understand all of the rules related to fair housing for your region.

Stay the Course

It seems obvious that all tenants should be treated equally but you may be tempted to give someone a break based on their situation but by doing this you’re simply setting yourself up for future discrimination suits from other tenants. So stay the course and treat all tenants the same.

Even if you do everything right it’s not a guarantee that you won’t be sued so keep accurate records to prove your case in court.

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Avoid Tenant Lawsuits

Contested Eviction

Most evictions you can handle yourself as long as you follow the rules and the detailed procedure but if you have a tenant who is contesting the eviction and has retained their own attorney then it might be time for you to pull out the big guns and get your own attorney involved.

HUD Investigates

If a tenant has filed a complaint against you and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) thinks there is enough merit to investigate then you may want to have a lawyer on your side as the fines issued by the HUD are very large.

Personal Injury Case

If a tenant claims that they became injured or sick because of something related to your property then you will probably want to have an attorney help you through the case as personal injury cases can be extremely expensive.

Buying/Selling Property

A real estate attorney can be an invaluable asset if you’re thinking about buying or purchasing property. They know all the ins and outs and the really good ones have a great handle on the value of property in the area and the current local market.

First Time in Court

You don’t need an attorney for your first court appearance, but it may help you understand the process and get your paperwork and information in order. You probably can do it alone but for some, having an experienced teacher at your side is well worth the expense.

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Do You Need a Lawyer?

The FHA provides mortgage insurance for loans made by approved lenders. It is actually the largest mortgage insurer in the world. FHA insurance protects lenders from people who default on their loans as long as they meet certain requirements. If someone does default the lender receives a monetary claim that helps defray the lender’s expenses. Remarkably the FHA is the only government agency that is completely self funded and costs taxpayers nothing.

By helping lower income Americans purchase homes with lower down payments and more generous household income calculations, the FHA stimulates the economy by encouraging more home ownership, more jobs for builders and contractors and other related industries, improves tax bases in certain targeted areas which in turn help local schools and other government funded groups.

Unlike regular loans, if you have an FHA-insured loan you don’t have to come up with a 20% down payment. The cost of the FHA insurance is passed through your lender to you and is tacked onto your monthly mortgage. As you continue to pay down your mortgage balance the FHA insurance will drop.

The FHA has a storied history of over 70 years of helping American people who own homes or who are affected by the industries that are supported by an increase in good economic housing, so basically everyone.

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What does the Office of Housing Do?

photo credit: thp365

If you’re creating a lease for new tenants there are several things to be considered but no matter what, make sure the following five are included to prevent future problems.

Names
Get the name of EVERY adult tenant who will be living in the rental unit. Even married couples should have the unit rented to both of them rather than just one. There is no end to how much trouble this can cause, just watch one afternoon of televised court shows and you?re bound to see at least one case where getting all names and signatures on the lease would have saved someone some hassle.

Rent
Believe it or not, this part is sometimes skipped and how can a court enforce a rental amount if its not specified in the contract?

Terms
When does the lease start, when does it end. And what are the terms after it’s ended, do you automatically slide into a month by month situation or will a new lease be required.

Security Deposit and Fees
This is the most legally contested aspect between tenants and landlords, and you can save yourself most of the headache by getting everything in writing at the start.

Restrictions
This category sort of runs the gamut but make sure your tenants know what you will allow and won’t, not just pets, but cars abandoned on the property, excessive noise, and anything else you can think of.

By no means are these the only things you should have on your lease agreement but every single one of these should be included in a lease with a new tenant. And don?t for get the signatures!

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The Five Lease Must Haves