Owning an investment property in Columbus is a net-positive experience the vast majority of time, yet there are issues owners (or their property management company) will have to deal with from time to time. One such potential issue is evictions.
No one wants to have to post an eviction notice on a resident’s door, but sometimes the situation requires it. Read on to learn more about the eviction process and how to handle one if you are a landlord or property owner in Franklin County.
Steps Toward Eviction in Ohio
Evictions follow a fairly standard process, which we’ll discuss below. At RL Property Management, we handle evictions for our clients and charge a one-time flat fee to process them. Our attorney group also charges a flat fee, and there are some additional costs in terms of the court. In total, the estimated eviction cost for property owners is approximately $400 when all is said and done.
In terms of timeline, here is what you can expect when it comes to the eviction process.
- First, post a 3-day notice on a tenant’s door – If a tenant falls behind on rent, the first step is to post a 3-day notice on their door halfway through the month in which they are late on a payment. The 3-day notice informs the resident that they have three business days to pay the rent in full (or move out).
A quick side note – Because the property owner generally would rather not pay to evict a tenant, and the tenant would often like to stay, we offer the tenant a “pay and stay” option. This is when the tenant chooses (and is able) to pay the full balance of past-due rent, cancels the eviction, and gets fully caught back up on rent. In our experience, tenants choose to do a “pay and stay” roughly 50 percent of the time.
- The eviction process begins – Next, after three business days (or around the 20th of the month) if no action has been taken by the tenant to pay or move out, we begin the eviction process by sending the eviction paperwork over to our attorneys. They file it with the court.
- Schedule the eviction hearing – It takes about 2-3 weeks to get the eviction hearing scheduled. At the hearing, we (and our attorney) appear to testify that the resident is still living at the property and still hasn’t paid the rent. Typically at that hearing or the next one, we will receive judgment and that gives us the right to pursue a setout, which is the last step in getting a resident out of the property.
While no one prefers to pursue an eviction, there are times when it becomes necessary. At RL Property Management, we do everything we can to prevent evictions in the first place, but when they’re required, we handle the entire process for our clients. To learn more, feel free to contact us anytime at 614-725-3059.
