If you engage in actions to remove a non-paying tenant without going through the courts and doing the proper procedure, this is called self help eviction. You should never engage in acts that could be viewed as a self help eviction. There are rules, laws, and steps that you must go through to legally evict a tenant.
Any one of the following actions could be viewed by the courts as a self help eviction: changing the locks to prevent tenant from entering the property, turning off the gas, electricity, or phone, threatening the tenant, and removing the tenant’s personal property from your home.
Do not even threaten to lock the tenant out or to shut off the utilities. Most states have statutes that clearly state that threats of a self help eviction are illegal.
If you are dragged into court for a self help eviction, the judge won’t care that the tenants were behind on the rent. If the tenant is in possession of the premises, and you want him out, and he won’t leave, you have to go through the correct procedures with the court.
Do not even think about engaging in a self help eviction. There have been many cases where a landlord removed a tenant’s personal property and put it on the sidewalk or even in the trash. A judge could easily award your non-paying tenant with a $20,000 damages award. Most judges will not require the tenant to produce receipts for his belongings because such proof of purchase could have been disposed of in the lock out.
Where you will really get slammed in court if you engage in acts of self help eviction is under the common law intentional torts of conversion statutes. This means you exercised control over an item in a manner inconsistent with the rights of its owner which deprived the owner of its value. Secondly, you could be hit with trespass which is the unlawful entry upon the property of another enjoying right to possession. These are claims for relief are intentional torts which means that if the court finds you are liable, they can award both nominal and punitive damages to the tenant.
In WILLIAM SPANO v. HANNA ABDALLA S.C. Superior Court (10-3-2002) Hanna Abdulla engaged in self help eviction by changing the locks and removing William Spano’s personal property from the premise to the sidewalk. Hanna Abdulla claimed that she thought the tenant had abandoned the premises. The court was not persuaded by her claim and awarded Spano $1,800 for the 3 months of rent expense he incurred to live elsewhere. The court further awarded $1,200 in punitive damages and attorneys fees.
In the case of Gordon v. Morris, 2001 Ohio App. (February 2, 2001) the landlord changed the locks just before the end of the month upon learning that the tenants had shut off the utilities and removed most of their belongings. The trial court awarded the tenants only $96.77 in actual damages (they had paid rent through the end of the month but were deprived of the use of the apartment, and this was the prorated amount). But the trial court further awarded $1,000.00 in punitive damages and $1,462.00 in attorneys fees.
The purpose of the courts for not allowing “self-help” evictions is to preserve the peace by preventing disturbances that frequently accompany struggles for the possession of land. If you could just change the locks and throw a tenants belongings out in the street or worse, in the trash, that same angry tenant could come to your home and put a bullet in your head. While at face value it may not seem like the courts are protecting you, they actually are.