If you operate a recreational vehicle park in the United States, occasions will always arise where you would need to evict a customer.
The nature of recreational vehicle parks gives room for tenants to stay on your facility for a short period which may range from days to weeks and even months.
The fact that owners of recreational vehicles pay rent to make use of these parks gives room for some of them to over stay the duration of their payment.
This scenario can’t be ruled out from an RV Park, and the reason for that could range from lack of money to continue to pay for their stay or misunderstanding with the management of the park or even someone who is becoming a threat to other park users.
If you are confronted with the decision to evict someone from your recreational vehicle park, then the following steps should guide you in evicting the said tenant without breaking the law of the state.
It is important to point out that eviction laws are different from state to state, and it will do you a whole lot of good to consider them while writing up your rent or lease agreement with a camper or a tenant so that both parties know that such a document carries authority with it.
In order to be on the side of the law, it is advisable to make use of a rent or lease agreement that is written by lawyers, and specifically designed for your state. US Legal Forms have some great lease options that will keep you safe, legally.
Please note that if your rent or lease agreement is not based on state laws, or if you’re unsure, it will pay you to spend some time researching your current situation, and see if you can win an eviction case.
In order for the courts to be on your side, you will need to follow these rules closely, and make sure that you do not to give a judge any reason to doubt that you are a law-abiding citizen.
Before you consider evicting a tenant from your RV Park, you must have a good and lawful reason to do so. The following reasons will be good enough and legal to evict someone from your park:
Please note that you would need documented proof of any claim against your tenant. “Innocent until proven guilty” is still overarching rule in the U.S. court system.
Although there might be strong need to evict a camper or tenant from your recreational vehicle park, but doing that might pitch you against the law of the state.
If you find yourself in such situation, the best thing to do is to appeal to conscience of your tenant or camper to leave your recreational vehicle park in peace. In such situation, even if they have outstanding payments to make, you might be forced to let it roll as long as they vacate your facility.
If your camper or tenant has chosen to be uncooperative, and you have established that you have the legal right to evict your tenant, you need to make sure you follow the set legal procedures exactly.
The major step you are expected to take in this regard is to provide acceptable “notice of eviction”. This is usually a simple document or form that gives an ultimatum – telling your tenant why they are being evicted and what they can do to avoid that eviction; pay rent, clean up the house, etc.
In the United States and of course in almost all the states, an Eviction Notice;
Please note that your eviction notice will not be valid without the approval of the court which is why you must endeavor to visit your local courthouse to file your eviction and pay a fee, at which point the clerk will schedule your hearing and will eventually notify the tenant on your behalf – via a summon.
It is important to point out that at the court, you will probably have to present proof (via receipt from certified mail) that you have given the proper amount of time that your state requires for an eviction notice.
In case the tenant wants to go all the way, then you should be ready to go all the way with him/her. It means you should ensure that you have all related documentation and proof of your claim.
Some of the items that you should ensure you have readily available are; lease agreements, bounced checks, records of payment of any kind, records of the communication between you and your tenant (phone and email records), a copy of the written notice that you provided your tenant, dated proof that the tenant received the notice (a signature from the tenant, or receipt from the Post Office).
Please note that if you don’t have all the needed documents or if you can’t prove your case in the court, the case might turn against you. This is why you must always be honest and let your documentation and available evidence speak for itself.
If the court rule in your favor, then your tenant will have a set amount of time to leave, which is anywhere from 48 hours to a week, depending on where you live.
If your tenant doesn’t leave on time and want to prove stubborn, you have the right to get someone from the Sheriff’s department to escort them out and place their possessions on the curb. It’s definitely not a favorable outcome, but it does happen.
If the tenant or camper stayed longer than expected and has incurred more debt in the process, then you might be forced to collect all the outstanding amount due and you can do that by following the process below;
Some courts allow you to combine eviction and small claims lawsuits if they are related and involve the same individuals. If this is the case, you can sue for any back-due rent at the same time as the eviction case. If your local court does not allow this, you’ll have to file a separate small claims lawsuit to pursue the owed rent money.
If the judge determines that the tenant does owe you the past-due rent, you will receive a “judgement” in your favor. This judgement will be delivered in the form of a court order, which you can give to the tenant’s employer. This will force the employer to garnish the tenant’s wages, and then pay you before the tenant gets paid.
Believe it or not, you can actually garnish their tax refund. Wouldn’t that be a surprise when the tenant is expecting a $1,000 refund from the government, and it all goes to you instead.
Debt collection companies, like Rent Recovery Service, will help you collect the debt and will report it to the 3 major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). It is important to let the credit bureaus know about this dead-beat tenant so that future landlords will know to avoid him/her.
In Conclusion;
Evicting a camper or tenant from your recreational vehicle park is not what you want to engage in on a regular basis because it will put you against your clients. In essence, you should ensure that you conduct thorough screening before admitting a camper or tenant into your recreational vehicle park. With that, you will not go through the stress involved in evicting someone from your park.
