"Unintentional Landlord"

Due to the state of the economy, there are many, what I call "unintentional landlords" these days. It is not necessarily a bad thing, I am one myself. My father and I purchased a house in Columbus, Ohio several years ago when I started law school. Our plan was for me to live in the house during law school, do some repairs and light remodeling, and sell it after I graduated. We were banking on the economy improving and it seemed like we had enough time. The economy did improve a little, but not enough. Now I am a property manager and my father is a landlord. There are a lot of people out there just like us. Many people have bought a new home before selling the old one and now are stuck with two mortgages. The only way to stay afloat is to acquire a tenant.

If you find yourself in this situation, you should speak to an attorney early on to make sure you understand the process and your rights and obligations as a landlord. You should have an attorney review your lease and make sure it is sufficient under the circumstances. You should also speak to the attorney about evictions and you should do this before you need to evict a tenant. No one likes evicting but the odds are very great that you will have to evict a tenant at some point.

Many attorneys will do evictions for a flat fee and this usually includes preparing the 3-day notice. Sometimes attorneys will offer a discount if a landlord owns multiple properties (doing more than one eviction at a time is more efficient). The attorney will likely require the flat fee be paid up front along with all filing fees.

The 3-day notice is a very important document and it has to be completed exactly according to the statute or the landlord may have to start the process all over and lose precious time (and time is money). When I am retained for an eviction, I like to prepare the three day notice for my clients so that I can be sure that it is done correctly. If you find yourself delaying hiring an attorney due to cost considerations, this is understandable; however, keep in mind that every day a non-paying tenant stays in your house, you are losing money. It is much more cost efficient to have the eviction done correctly so you can obtain a paying tenant.

If you found this article helpful, please subscribe to my YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/tibbslawoffice. You can also find additional information on the firm website: http://www.tibbslawoffice.com.