If you’ve decided that now is the time to sell your rental property, it’s important to be aware of not just your rights as the owner of the building but the rights of the tenant. If you’re dealing with tenants that aren’t paying their rent, it’s important to take the following steps before selling your property:
- Read over the lease.
- Check your state’s laws.
- Contact the tenants.
- Evict the non-paying tenants.
- Consider Selling the Property to an As-Is Home Buyer.
Consult the Lease
It’s essential that before you speak with the tenants that aren’t paying rent that you consult the lease. In the case that there is a dispute, this lease will back up anything that you say and will make the whole process easier. If a tenant hasn’t paid their rent, it’s important to consult the lease in case there is a section on grace periods. If there is and you take action while they’re within this grace period, this can make for a lot of unwanted legal trouble.
Understand the Law
After you’ve looked over the lease the next step is to make sure that you understand your state’s laws regarding rental properties. Knowing your rights as well as your tenants’ rights can save you from a lot of time and money in legal fees. In Missouri, a landlord must give tenants that haven’t paid rent five days’ notice to pay the rent or leave. If they don’t do either, the owner can evict the tenants.
Contact Tenants
Most of the time if you reach out to tenants they will come clean about why they haven’t paid their rent. In this case, you can either allow the tenant to pay the late rent by a set deadline or evict them. If you let them pay the rent, they don’t have to vacate if you choose to sell the property. In fact, most prospective buyers of rental properties will be thrilled if there are still tenants in the building. Having built-in tenants will save them the time and effort of having to find trustworthy tenants, so this can be a plus for buyers. It’s important to keep any tenants updated on the sale of the building so they don’t feel blindsided. You can tell them about the sale in-person or by letter.
Eviction
If you have contacted the tenants and they haven’t paid their rent or let you know that they plan to leave, you can evict them. There are a few things to keep in mind before making this decision:
- You must give the tenant at least ten days to vacate.
- Understand that the tenant might retaliate and fight the eviction.
- If they fight the eviction you’ll have to deal with an eviction lawsuit.
- Once you win the lawsuit, you won’t remove them from the unit; law enforcement will.
Consider Selling the Property to an As-Is Home Buyer
Dealing with tenants who don’t pay their rent can be a major headache, so if you’d like to avoid this, it could be worth selling your property to a St. Louis as-is home buyer. As-is home buyers understand that selling a rental property can be stressful, so they are dedicated to making the process quick and hassle-free for you. They have the resources available to provide all-cash offers in as little as a week and make every effort to offer the absolute most for properties.
If you’re interested in selling your rental property to a St. Louis as-is cash home buyer, Evervest Home Buyers is a local favorite. We have bought more than 700 homes since 1996, and as St. Louis natives, we are proud to be able to help local homeowners in the area. We are dedicated to making the process of selling your property a great experience so we will make an all-cash offer for your property in as little as a week. If you’d like to schedule a free consultation, call us at (314) 730-0366 or Contact Us today!