Tampa Property Management Tip #6 – 50% of the time, the tenant pays the eviction costs and rent.

Believe or not, half the tenants will pay you rent to keep the eviction from going through. Difficult tenant are like children and often must test you before they believe you’re serious about what you say. You simply have to file an eviction before they get the point that rent is due and must be paid on time (or at least paid reasonably late with a late fee). Nothing makes your point stronger than having the sheriff post the eviction notice on their door.

Often, the tenant can come up with the rent but not the evictions costs.  You have an option: insist all the eviction money must be paid or make a payment plan.  My decision is based upon how the tenant has behaved up until this point.  Usually, I will make a payment plan.  

If you stop the eviction, you should make sure to have the tenant signs a “stipulation agreement”.  This agreement states that the current eviction will continue if the tenant fails to meet certain conditions, which is usually paying rent on time and repaying eviction costs and late fees.  A stipulation agreement can usually be obtained from your county court house website.  It can also be obtained from a lawyer but that costs money.

A stipulation agreement prevents you from having to re-file an eviction and pay all the court and lawyer fees again.  It is a wonderful tool, but you just have to spend some time to track down the agreement and keep it handy.  Once the agreement is signed by the tenant and yourself, you have to mail it to the judge assigned to the case and have them sign off on it.  

This technique has been around forever but eviction lawyers will not tell you about it because they know you can do this yourself.  Speaking of which, I am not giving you legal advice.  In Florida, the owner of a property can personally file an eviction and not use a lawyer.  Your Tampa property management company can also do this for a stipulation agreement.   

Explore it and see for yourself.