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My parents own a home that we have rented out for a number of years now. In October of last year, the lease was up and the tenant began a month to month lease rather than a yearly lease. Two months ago I told him look we are experience tough times and my parents need to sell the house. I told him he’s got two months to get out. Two months later he is still there and hasn’t paid a dime for last months rent. My parents didn’t know what they were doing and let him move in without a security deposit. I need to find the fastest legal way to kick this tenant out. If I hire a lawyer and pay people to get him out of there, is that an expense I can reclaim in small claims? Like I said he owes for last month rent and a $150 dollar water bill + shut off fees (he didn’t pay water bill). What can I do please help! The house is now in my name because my dad died.

Look man, just hire a property management company and they will take care of everything for you. They might want you to pay $500 up front to start the eviction process but it’s worth it to regain control of your property! A property management company will have an attorney they use for evictions and so they can usually get you the lowest rate. They will also take care of fixing your house up and getting it back on the rental market. If you don’t want to rent your house out anymore but instead sell it (which is not a good idea because house prices have come so far down), then contact the attorney yourself. They will handle the entire thing for you for about $500 to $750. DO NOT TRY AND DO IT YOURSELF BECAUSE IF YOU DON’T DO IT EXACTLY RIGHT, IT WILL DELAY EVERYTHING AND COST YOU EVEN MORE MONEY.

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I want to rent my house out in a few months. I’m getting married and will be moving into another house. I do not want to try and sell my house because the value has dropped so much. I’d rather just hold on to my house for now and instead rent it out until house values improved after a few years.

What do I have to do to make this happen? Do I need to contact the mortgage company, my insurance company, draft a contract, and so on? If someone can point me in the right direction, that would be great.

Your existing home insurance does not cover damages done by a tenant. So you do need to look into purchasing insurance when you rent your house out that covers tenant damages. Contact your homeowner’s insurance company and ask them what insurance you need. They will be more than happy to recommend what coverage you need to purchase. Personally, I use Traveler’s insurance for the house I live in, and for only an extra $25 a year, the liability coverage on my primary residence extends to cover my rental property as well.

As to the mortgage company, no, you do not need to notify them. Remember when you first filled out the form that the mortgage company required, you filled out a form that stated you intended to occupy the home. At that time, the form you filled out was correct as you did occupy the home; however, the situation has now changed and so you have changed your mind about occupying the home. This is none of their concern.

Some other things you might want to consider is the screening of applicants, getting the correct legal forms, and advertising your rental home.

I recommend you hire a property management company. The property management company will screen applicants by performing a credit check. They also have all the necessary forms for the city your rental home is located in. In addition, there is always a process regarding these forms especially if you need to serve a 30 day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit or to start the eviction process. You can do these things yourself, but a property management company does these things dozens of times a year and so they will do it legally.

When it comes to maintenance on your home, the property management company has relationships with various vendors and they can get things fixed in your home at the cheapest cost because of the volume of work orders they provide to these vendors.

Finally, the property management company will advertise your home.

Most property management companies charge anywhere from 7% to 10% of the monthly rent. For me, this is so worth it. My rental home goes for $1,200 a month and the property management company takes $120 a month. This $120 I pay the property management company each month is nothing to me. It basically means that my home rental runs on auto-pilot. Most months I have nothing to do with my rental home except to go to the bank to cash my monthly check.

Also, remember that at year end, you can write off the management fee you pay to the property management company as a business expense.

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