What a Landlord Can Do If Their Tenant is Doing Drugs

There are many problems that a landlord has to face with their tenants. Problems with late rent and property damage are two of the common concerns. These do not even compare to the problems that a landlord faces if there is a tenant doing drugs on their property. This article will examine what a landlord can do if their tenant is doing drugs.

Evicting someone is a long and hard process. You have a lot of paperwork that you must do and will have to go to court a couple of times before the matter can be settled and the tenant thrown out. Evicting someone on the basis of drugs is a whole another story.

First, a court will not allow you to evict someone on the basis that you “saw” them doing drugs on your property, you “smelled” the drugs in the air, etc. The only way a court will allow you to evict someone is if there is solid proof that your tenant is doing drugs.

Most leases have some clause that states that illegal activity will not be tolerated on the property and will be cause for eviction. The court will back you up if there is proof of drug activity taking place on your property. How do you get this proof though?

To acquire the proof you need to have a judge evict someone you will need to get the police involved. Anytime you suspect your tenant is doing drugs inside your property you should call the police immediately. If the police enter the premises and see the drugs they will file a report and you can use that report to evict the tenant.

Outside of a police report it is extremely difficult to get a judge to evict a tenant based solely on your word. If you have a few other tenants come forward claiming they have also seen drug use on the property that will improve your case, but there is no guarantee the judge will take your side. The only solid way to guarantee eviction is with a police report.

How do you avoid this situation to begin with? When you are doing your background check on potential tenants you have an option to have them undergo drug screening. Often this will reveal if the tenant does drugs and will allow you to prevent them from ever living in your property in the first place.

Landlords have a lot of issues to deal with from getting the rent from the tenant to keeping the property from getting damaged. Drugs are a huge issue that can be a challenge for landlords. You should now know what a landlord can do if their tenant is doing drugs.