A Philadelphia landlord lawyer can provide representation to landlords who are going through the formal legal process of trying to evict a tenant from a residential or commercial property. The eviction process can be complicated, time consuming, and expensive for landlords as a result of the strict landlord/tenant laws that have been put in place in order to try to protect tenants from abusive landlords. Unfortunately, this means that as a landlord, you could face a long period of time with no rent coming in as you struggle to try to evict a tenant in accordance with the law.

Curley & Rothman, LLC knows the ins-and-outs of Philadelphia landlord/tenant law and we can guide you through the eviction process in order to ensure that you are able to get the tenant out as quickly as possible so you can begin to rent your property again. We will help you to ensure both that you are able to evict a tenant in as timely a manner as possible and to ensure that you make smart choices during the eviction process so you do not leave yourself vulnerable to a legal claim being made by the tenant against you.

What Happens if a Tenant Challenges Eviction?

As a landlord, there are certain steps to eviction. You must provide notice for the eviction of the tenant and you must have grounds for eviction. You cannot evict a tenant during the term of a lease without grounds to do so, such as nonpayment of rent or violations of the tenant's lease agreement. If the tenant is on a month-to-month lease or if the term of the lease has expired, you can evict a tenant without reason, provided that you follow the proper procedures for doing so.

You will need to go to court in order to get an order of eviction for the tenant who you want to force to leave your rental property. In many cases, tenants will not contest the eviction and the court will simply grant the order of eviction. When this happens, your only challenge will be to enforce that order.

In other circumstances, however, the tenant might challenge the legality of the eviction and you will need to prove you have justification for evicting the tenant.

If the term of the tenant's lease is up and you have provided proper notice and are evicting the tenant, there will be little that the tenant can do to argue against the eviction. You can simply demonstrate that the lease has ended and that you have followed the protocol in informing the tenant of the eviction. While you cannot evict someone for unlawful reasons, such as disability status or race, you should not have any problem with an eviction when a lease is up, under most circumstances.

If the tenant is still under lease, however, then the eviction could become more complicated if the tenant challenges the eviction. For example, if the tenant argues that he or she has not violated the terms of the lease agreement and you are trying to evict the tenant for a lease violation, you are going to need to be able to prove that a violation actually occurred. You should have documentation providing proof of exactly what the tenant did wrong and you should be able to present the lease and show the specific clauses that the tenant has violated.

A Philadelphia landlord lawyer can provide you with assistance in demonstrating that eviction is lawful and proper based on the tenant's nonpayment of rent or based on the tenant's behavior in violation of your written lease agreement. The stronger your arguments, the more likely you will be able to successfully force a tenant to leave your premises by convincing the court to order the eviction of the tenant.

Getting Help from a Philadelphia Landlord Lawyer

A Philadelphia landlord lawyer understands the eviction process for both residential and commercial tenants. We can provide invaluable assistance to landlords in making certain that they provide required notice and followed all appropriate protocols for evicting a tenant in accordance with Philadelphia law.

We help to make sure you are not at risk for potential legal action against you and we assist you in documenting and proving violations of a tenant's lease which should justify the eviction of that tenant. To find out more about the different ways in which we can provide you with help, give us a call today at 610-834-8819 or contact us online to speak with a member of our legal team about how we can help you.