Tenant Evictions
Tenant eviction is a distasteful but often necessary part of the property manager’s responsibilities, if so designated by the landlord. The most common reason for eviction is non-payment of rent. However, there are instances when tenants are evicted for other reasons, such as creating a public nuisance, or repeated loud or drunken behavior that is disruptive to the peace and tranquility of other tenants.
Nevada law is quite specific as to the processes and procedures required to lawfully evict a tenant. For instance, Nevada tenant eviction laws require specific advance notices to advise the tenant that they are in violation of their lease, and to specify the violation.
A brief example of such notices:
- Five Day Pay or Quit: This notice advises the tenant that rent is past due. This notice is not sent until after any allowed grace period for rental payments has passed. The five day notice period does not count the day of service. The landlord must accept if the tenant offers a full and immediate payment of the past due amount. Partial payments can be accepted only if the landlord so chooses. In such cases, the landlord can issue a new notice for the balance owed.
- Three Day Nuisance Notice: This notice advises the tenant that he or she is in violation of one or more of the lease requirements and restrictions, and must correct the problem immediately or be subject to eviction procedures commencing on the fourth day after receiving the notice. The notice does not involve rent payments, and the violation or violations must be clearly specified in the notice.
There are various other types of notices and follow-ups to these notices that the landlord, landlord’s attorney and the property manager must be fully versed in, not only for the purpose of avoiding eviction law violations, but also to deal with any issues that may evolve in the event a tenant files an unlawful eviction lawsuit against the landlord. Additionally, there are notices, issues and procedures that apply separately to manufactured and non-manufactured homes.
Specifically, there are notices that apply to manufactured homes, such as change in land use for example, that obviously does not apply to non-manufactured residences.
In the event a tenant leaves behind any personal belongings after eviction, the tenant lawfully has thirty days to reclaim the property.
The landlord has the option of charging a reasonable storage fee based upon the amount of time the belongings have been kept, or the belongings can be turned over to a storage company, and the tenant can reclaim their property from them.
Under no circumstances, in accordance with Nevada tenant laws, can the evicted tenant’s property be held as “ransom” for past due rents.
Click on the link, the eviction process for more information.