When your tenants don’t pay rent or break other important terms of their lease, you might have legal grounds to end the tenancy and get them off your property (but sometimes you have to give them a second chance, see below). But in either situation—when the law allows a definitive end to the tenancy, or when the tenant gets a chance to fix the problem and stay—your first step is to serve them with a written termination notice. After that, whether you can file an eviction lawsuit depends on the tenants’ response:
Understand that with either situation, if the tenant doesn’t leave as directed or fix the problem in time, you’ll have to prove in your eviction lawsuit that the violation happened. In other words, you’ll need to convince the judge that the tenants didn’t pay the rent, or that their “houseguest” was actually an unauthorized roommate, and so on.
A lease by its very nature entitles a tenant to stay for a set period of time (often a year). But that assurance isn’t absolute. Although state laws vary on the specifics, all states allow landlords to end a lease early in certain situations:
Late rent. Every state allows landlords to terminate a tenancy early when tenants don’t pay rent. However, most states require landlords to give tenants a chance to pay up before they can file an eviction lawsuit—more on this below.
Violation of a lease clause. Some states allow landlords to terminate for any lease violation. (However, even though the law might allow landlords to terminate the tenancy, most judges won’t evict tenants for only trivial lease violations.) Other states are more tenant-friendly, allowing landlords to terminate for only repeated or serious violations. For example, one noisy party that disturbs neighbors might not be sufficient to terminate, but raucous parties every Tuesday might be. Likewise, minor lease breaches—such as paying rent by check instead of electronic funds transfer—might not be serious enough to constitute cause, while serious violations—such as having a cat despite a no-pets policy—might be. As noted above, some states require landlords to give tenants the opportunity to fix the violation (or move out). If the tenant does neither, the landlord can file an eviction suit.
Violation of law. Leases often explicitly prohibit criminal activity on the premises, but even when the lease is silent on the matter, landlords can usually terminate tenants who commit certain illegal acts in their rental. For example, many states allow immediate termination for violent acts, drug-related activity, assault, prostitution, and discharge of firearms. You might not even have to wait for the tenant to be arrested or convicted of a crime—some states allow termination if the landlord has a “reasonable suspicion” that tenants or tenants’ guests are engaging in illegal activity. Landlords shouldn’t ignore the signs of criminal or other drug activity at their rentals: Under certain circumstances, landlords can be held liable for harm caused by the activity and risk confiscation of the rental.
You’ll have to serve your tenant with one of the following types of notice. Some states have only one form of required notice (unconditional quit), but most states have all three on their books.
This is the notice to use when tenants don’t pay rent. It gives the tenants some time (usually three to 14 days) to pay the rent or move out (“quit” is legalese for moving out). If the tenants don’t pay the rent in full or move out within the designated timeframe, the landlord can file an eviction suit. In some states, landlords must give a pay or quit notice every time the tenant is late, giving tenants unlimited chances to pay late and stay. Other states limit the number of second chances to two or three in a certain time period. After that, the landlord can use an unconditional quit, which means that the tenant must move when the rent is late again within the time frame specified in the notice.
This is the notice to use when tenants violate a term or condition of the lease (other than not paying rent on time). For example, landlords can serve this notice on tenants who have pets in violation of a no-pets clause, bring in unauthorized roommates, or otherwise violate a behavioral clause in the lease—so long as the act that constitutes the violation is one that is prohibited in the lease or is otherwise against state law. The notice gives tenants a set amount of time to correct (cure) the violation. If the tenant doesn’t fix the problem or move out, the landlord can begin eviction proceedings.
There are no second chances when tenants get an unconditional quit notice: Tenants must move out within the designated timeframe or face eviction. Some states allow landlords to use an unconditional quit notice immediately upon a tenant’s nonpayment of rent or lease violation (although landlords in these states can always give tenants a second chance if they want to). Most states, though, allow it only in certain situations, such as when tenants repeatedly violate the lease, continually pay rent late, seriously damage the premises, or engage in serious illegal activity on the premises. Depending on the reason for serving the unconditional quit notice, the tenant might have to move out immediately (this is often the case when a tenant poses a safety risk or has engaged in illegal activity), or within a short period of time. If the tenant doesn’t leave, the landlord can file an eviction suit.
State notice laws usually contain detailed directions and requirements for drafting and delivering (known as “serving”) termination notices. For example, the law might require that notices contain certain language in specialized fonts, or be served on a designated person (and not others) at a specific location. Violations of these very detailed laws are some of the most common reasons courts dismiss eviction lawsuits. When eviction lawsuits are dismissed on account of these technical violations, you have to start over—while your tenants remain in place.
If you’re planning to draft and serve termination notices on your own, be sure to check (and double check) the laws before preparing them and serving a tenant. If you have any doubts, consider working with a local landlord-tenant attorney—in the end, you might save a lot of time, hassle, and money.
