What’s an eviction notice?

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Eviction is a legal process, not a single unilateral decision. As long as a tenant does not violate the terms of a lease, the landlord cannot physically force him or his belongings to leave the rental property. A landlord can, however, pursue certain actions to have a tenant legally evicted. The first step in this legal process is the delivery of an official notice to quit, commonly known as an eviction notice.

A special notice should inform the tenant of the conditions that have been violated and the time he has available to make the return. In the event of non-payment of the rent, this time frame can be a week or less. Depending on the landlord/tenant’s local laws, other violations such as property damage or neglect may take longer to correct, so the document may specify 30 days or more before further action can be taken. The notice is not necessarily a legally binding document, so it cannot be used to justify the physical removal of an unwanted or non-compliant tenant.

Once an eviction notice has been served on a tenant, the landlord has several legal options to consider. The tenant could pay all the back rent or remove an unauthorized pet or otherwise fulfill the terms of the lease, meaning the landlord can simply tear up the notice and stop the process. If the landlord does not want the tenant to remain in the property regardless of restitution, then the landlord can file an eviction request without payment, which means that the tenant cannot do anything to remedy the violations indicated in the eviction notice.

To comply with the law, notices must be served on the tenant in the prescribed manner and the language must be unambiguous. This is why many landlords purchase generic eviction forms from an office supply store or have a draft created by professional lawyers. During future court actions, a tenant may argue that the landlord did not deliver the notice to the correct recipient or that the language in it was too vague to be considered legally binding.

Many landlords use eviction notices as stronger warnings to delinquent or non-compliant tenants. Legal evictions cannot begin without official receipt of this document, but more often than not, the tenant and landlord reach an informal agreement before taking any further action. If the landlord attempts to physically remove the tenant during the eviction process, he may be fined for “constructive eviction”. Only a duly authorized court official, often a deputy sheriff, has the legal right to remove or evict a tenant from the property after an eviction order has been finalized by a judge.

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