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Should You Call the Authorities on Your Troublesome Tenants?

Highland Village Police Officers with Cruisers Outside a Residential HomeFor single-family rental home investors in Highland Village, comprehensively screening your tenants is one of the best ways to mitigate future problems. Yet the actuality is that regardless of your best shot, there’s still an opportunity that you will meet a problem tenant or two. If dealings between you and your tenant do go irredeemably wrong, you may wonder whether it is appropriate to call the police on your tenant. Before you get on the phone, in any case, you should consider certain crucial differences between standard laws and landlord/tenant laws.

In most of the states, tenants possess certain protections granted to them by law. This conveys that if you break a tenant’s rights, even if you feel warranted in doing so, you could end up being the one in trouble with the law rather than your tenant. For instance, you may believe that a tenant who extends their lease is legally trespassing on your property and can be removed by the police. On the other hand, this is not the case.

Once you’ve rented a property to a tenant, the police has no authority to remove them from the property. This is because you have given up certain rights to the property while it is occupied by the tenant. This is accurate even if their lease has expired and you have requested that they vacate the property. In cases like this, regular trespassing laws do not apply. To force the tenant to vacate the property, you will be required to legally evict them by procuring a court order.

One key difference among standard laws and landlord/tenants laws is how and when you can access a leased property, or give permission for others to do it. In most states, landlord/tenant laws require property owners to give advance notice before entering an occupied rental home. Unplanned and unannounced visits are typically illegal, no matter the reason. This similar regulation includes police officers and others who may need entry to the house.

Under standard laws, the property owner is the one who has the authority to grant access to the property. Although tenant/landlord laws present this right to the tenant. In most conditions, landlords do not have the authority to invite the police or anyone else into the property without the tenant’s permission. The one exception to this rule is in an emergency, police or emergency personnel may legally enter the rental house if someone inside is in dire need of assistance.

Despite these protections, however, there may be times when calling the police on your tenant is necessary. For example, if you encounter a situation that you feel is putting anyone in danger, it may be time to call the police. Being the property owner, the majority of the problems can be decided in a professional and friendly means. But if you ever perceive that your safety or that of your tenant, a neighbor, or somebody else is in danger, contact the proper authorities.

The same principle is accurate if you learn that your tenant is involved in criminal activity. Landlord/tenant laws do not protect tenants from being held accountable for their illegal activities. If you have grounds to consider that the tenant is connected in a happening like illegal drug use or distribution, or any other clear violations of both your lease and the law, it is time to contact the authorities and tell them what you know. They can then aid you to protect the property under local laws. Just bear in mind that criminal charges, if any, are independent of the legal process of eviction. Even if your tenant is apprehended or sent to prison, you will still be required to go through the full eviction process to regain control of your rental property. Being arrested does not alter your tenant’s rights to occupy the property under landlord/tenant law.

While no property holder desires a rental status to conclude this way, it is nice to be educated and ready whenever necessary. Tenant relations can be a challenge and are consistently one of the most arduous components of a lessor task. But help is accessible.

Real Property Management Lakeview can help property holders with all attributes of tenant affairs. Our Highland Village property management professionals will work with your tenants, managing any hapless events that may appear. This will save you time and, as they say, time is money. To know more, contact us online or call us at 940-323-0505 for more information.

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