You can't just 'throw them out'

http://foxbaltimore.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/prior-owners-refuse-leave-auctioned-owings-mills-home-20836.shtml#.UdeQScu9KSM

I was sitting in a Walmart parking lot this morning, scrolling through my Facebook feed while finishing my coffee, when I came across this little gem. Apparently, the family purchased a foreclosed home in January, only to have to file with the court in June to get the current residents to move. The comments (especially on the Facebook post, not just here) are hilarious. They come in all forms of "you're the owner, just throw them out!"

The same thing happens day after day in the rental world- tenants refuse to pay rent or don't move out when they say they will, and we have to go through the court system to rightfully regain 'ownership' of property that we already own. Just like the home owner in this story, we are losing money due to rent (income that's not being paid by the tenant) and in some cases, are also trying to pay the mortgage, taxes and repairs without a source of income. You can't withhold repairs on a property if the tenant doesn't pay, even if their refusal to pay means you can't afford to pay for the repairs. You have to forego repairs on your own home, and sometimes food on the table or gas in your car, to pay for the well pump that went up in a house where no money has been paid for rent. But you can't 'just throw them out.'

People fail to recognize these things when they think about landlords and tenants. The landlord evicting a tenant is the bad guy. They are 'putting someone on the street' or 'leaving people with no where to go', and little to no attention is given to the fact that the landlord will NEVER recover their court costs or the lost rent. Too many times I simply go to court to get a judgment - just an order for possession of the property to be returned to me. The thing is, from the time I file with the court until we go before the judge, two weeks has passed. Sometimes, the tenant will pay what they owe during that time. Most of the time, they don't. It goes to court, the judge rules in your favor if the tenant doesn't show up (when they owe money, they typically do not show up) and then you wait. You can't just run home, change the locks and say 'see ya sucker!!' to the tenant. You have to wait an entire week before filing the next piece of paper ($40 in my county). During that time, the tenant can still pay their rent and stop the eviction process- and yes, that happens more often than not. Yup, even though the judge ruled in my favor, the tenant can still stay. In fact, even after filing the next paper, speaking with the sheriff and setting up the actual, physical eviction, the tenant can still pay their rent and stay in the property - as long as it happens before the sheriff shows up for the eviction. By that time, an entire month has elapsed and their next months rent is due or past due already... and it just starts over.

Sure, there are provisions in the law that allow the landlord to secure a judgment and immediately file for restitution, thereby limiting the tenant to either moving out or being evicted, but those only exist after you've received FOUR judgments for possession in a twelve-month period.

...but we're the bad guy. No, you can't just throw them out. It doesn't matter who owns the property. The only thing that matters is the law.