4 Tips for Landlords to Prevent Pricey Evictions

It’s every landlord’s nightmare - being stuck with a tenant who doesn’t pay rent or isn’t looking after your property and refuses to move out, no matter what you do.

In an ideal situation, it would be a simple matter to evict these kinds of tenants. Unfortunately, eviction is never an ideal situation.

South African housing law does, arguably, favour tenants’ rights at this point in time.

And this stems from the need to protect citizens from the kinds of mass evictions that took place during apartheid, but it has left opportunities for unscrupulous tenants to take advantage of underprepared or uninformed landlords.

So how does one prevent the need for eviction?

1. Know the law

First of all, you need to familiarise yourself with the Rental Housing and Prevention of Illegal Eviction Acts and understand your responsibilities under contract law and the Consumer Protection Act.

2. Get it in writing

As part of this process, you’ll need to put together a rental contract that complies with all the legal requirements without leaving any loopholes.

Breach of contract is the trigger that begins the eviction process, but if you don’t have an enforceable contract, breach can be impossible to prove.

3. Screen your tenants

It’s absolutely imperative that you check credit records, financial and employment histories, and get contactable references if at all possible.

4. Dealing with the fallout

Any deviation from the standard eviction process weakens your chances of success. It’s vital that you dot all your I’s and cross all your T’s. The eviction process starts with issuing the tenant with written notification that they are in breach of contract, and giving them a minimum of 20 working days to rectify the situation.

If they don’t comply, you can officially cancel your lease agreement and apply to the court for a summons, rent interdict and eviction action.

There are, of course, costs associated with taking legal action, but if you’ve made provision in your rental contract, it is possible to recover these costs from the tenant.

Ultimately, however, she says it is up to the courts to decide if your contract was legally cancelled and you have grounds for eviction.

This can be more complicated if your tenant opposes your action, but if you’ve followed the correct procedure and your actions have been lawful from the start, your chances of success should be good - it’ll just take time.