The life of a landlord: acquiring the building is just the beginning. Maintaining tenant relations is critical to becoming a successful property manager

Dispose of the bad apples. Nevertheless, a landlord has to let tenants know that he or she means business. "If you don't have the heart to evict, people," says Poe-Hartsfield, "you shouldn't be a landlord." Moreover, your actions shouldn't come as a surprise to tenants.

"You should have a zero-tolerance policy on late rent," says Dunagan, "and you should let your tenants know about it. If the rent is due on the first of the month, for example, and it's late, you should give notice right away."

Evicting an unwilling tenant can be done without delay in most areas, according to Cain, if it's done properly. "Be sure to follow the guidelines," says Gulley. "If a five-day notice is required before you can ask for an eviction, be sure to give that notice. Otherwise, the judge will dismiss the case and you'll have to start all over."

Unfortunately, not all landlords observe the steps to a successful eviction. "Too often." says Cain, "a landlord just shows up in court, unprepared, One landlord, for example, tried to evict a tenant who had not paid rent. The tenant claimed he had paid, so the judge said to the landlord, 'Show me your ledger.' The landlord did not bring the ledger into court, so the process had to start all over." [See sidebar: To Evict of Not to Evict?]

You can avoid such mistakes by investing a little of your time. "Go to the local court that hears disputes between tenants and landlords," says Gulley. "You'll learn a lot by sitting and listening." As a landlord, you may wind up in that court some day, so it is important to have an idea of what separates winners and losers.

To EVICT or NOT to Evict?

Every landlord's nightmare Is the problem tenant--the one who doesn't pay rent and whose guard dogs terrorize the neighbors. Such frustration, though should not tempt you to try the "self-help" eviction: changing locks while the tenant is out, shutting off the water, or putting the tenant's property out on the curb. "Self-help evictions generally are not permitted," says Aaron Larson, an attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "Such actions might give a tenant grounds to sue you, have assets to lose." Instead of the actions, Larson offers these pointers rid of undesirable tenants:

* Serve written notices of any lease violations. If a tenant keeps a dog, for example, in violation of a lease, a string of notices can support your story in case the issue comes to court and the he was just dog-sitting.

* Your notices should specify a fixed of time for the tenant to remedy the invite a written response. A be sympathetic to tenants who claim they immediately complied with the lease once the nature of the violation was known, but it becomes harder for tenants to make such an argument if they ignored a prior notice and deadline.

* Don't accept partial Payments during the eviction process. In most jurisdiction, the acceptance of any rent payment will result in the dismissal of an eviction action.