What Beaufort Property Owners Should Do About Bad Tenants
Bad tenants can cause a lot of problems in your rental property, cost you money, and make your entire investment experience a total nightmare. Even if you have a consistent and rigorous screening process in place, you can be stuck with a problem tenant who suddenly stops paying rent or refuses to follow the terms of the lease.
Most well-screened tenants can be counted on to pay rent and take care of your property. However, if you do come across a bad tenant, you need to have a plan in place to deal with that tenant. Experience has taught us that bad tenants rarely get better.
Tenants Who Don’t Pay Rent
The most common problem you’ll have with tenants is when they don’t pay rent. At Beaufort Rentals, tenants have between the first and the fifth of the month to pay rent. On the sixth, we consider the rent to be late if we have not received it, and there’s a late fee attached to the rental payment. We also begin trying to contact the tenant on a daily basis to attempt to collect the overdue payment. If rent has still not showed up in our office by the eighth, we discuss all options with you, including the potential for eviction. We will recommend beginning the eviction process if 90 percent of the rent has not been paid by the 15th of the month. We have found that most tenants will catch up with the rental payment before it gets to court.
Never waive the late fee. You need to be consistent and you need to let your tenants know that you are serious about timely rent collection. If you allow them to pay late once, you can expect a pattern of late payments to begin.
Evicting Bad Tenants from Your Rental Property
We have experience evicting tenants, and we understand the court process. We will deal with it quickly and efficiently, removing the nonpaying tenant and immediately seeking a good tenant. Our team has never lost an eviction case in court, and you can count on us to represent you in court if necessary. Courts in South Carolina tend to favor landlords, and we can often evict a bad tenant within 32 days.
Our Eviction Guide is a helpful resource for rental property owners. We’ll explain that you need to provide your tenants with written notice, file the notice with the courts, pay a $45 fee, and wait for your court date. The sheriff posts the notice on the tenant’s door, and you’ll get your court date in about a month. Once you’re in court, you can present your case. At this point, if the tenant has not paid rent, you definitely want to get your property back. You’ll be granted a Writ of Ejection by the court, and the sheriff will work with you to remove your tenant.
Problem tenants do not have to be a problem for long. If you’re having trouble with a renter, contact us at Beaufort Rentals, and we’ll do what we can to help you through the situation.