How canI evict tenants?
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How canI evict tenants?
The people in my house have not paid rent for the past 10 months. The reason I let it go this long is 1 of the tenants is my daughter. I found out the furnace has been red flaged and has to be replaced. I want to close down the house it is going to be sold in January. How can I remove the tenants.
Asked on October 10, 2010 under Real Estate Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
If they have not paid rent, they are in violation of their lease, whether written or oral (also called verbal). You may evict them for nonpayment. You can't simply lock them out, though; instead, you need to follow the eviction process and go through the courts. If you contact your local landlord-tenant court and/or go to your court system's website, you should be able to find the forms--eviction is fairly straightforward, but is technical in the sense that all requirements must be complied with. You should be able to do it fairly easily yourself, though if family is involved, it may be "cleaner" to get an attorney involved rather than handling it yourself. The whole process will probably take 4 - 6 weeks, from start to finish, so you should begin shortly...the important thing is, if the tenant(s) have missed rent, they have no defense (unless the come up with ALL the money) and can be evicted easily.
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