The eviction process sometimes feels like it is never ending. Depending on where you live, the eviction process can be short and sweet, or it can be long and painful. If you are in Ontario, it is the later.
Just because it is a long and painful process, it does not give you an excuse to let this experience defeat you. The process of evicting a tenant is a true test of every real estate investor. It is an experience that you must endure.
As my friend Erwin Szeto (a.k.a Mr Hamilton) says, it is inevitable that every real estate investor will experience eviting a tenant at some point in their investing career.
In part one, two, three and four I spoke about the importance of over preparing for your hearing, the advantage of taking an entourage with you, as well as the importance of presenting a transaction summary at your hearing.
In this post, I am going to talk to you about the importance of forming alliances at your court hearing.
When I arrived at the Government building the day of my hearing, I came in with the mindset that I had to form one alliance. However, when I got into the building and assessed the situation, I quickly realized that I needed to form three alliances, not just one.
Alliance Number One
Prior to attending my court hearing, I spoke with several experienced real estate investors, who had all been through the eviction process before.
One common piece of advice that I got from these investors was the importance of working with my tenant in order to work out a mutually beneficial deal at the hearing.
This was a valuable piece of advice that I received. It was valuable because it gave me a winning mindset heading into the court hearing.
Naturally, many landlords who attend court hearings are adversarial towards their tenants. Landlords take on this adversarial approach due to the fact that their tenants owe them money. I can completely understand the frustration that landlords feel towards their tenants, especially on the day of the court hearing.
I quickly discovered that although I myself was feeling adversarial, I could not let this emotion influence me.
Rather, what I did discover by speaking to experienced investors prior to my hearing was that I needed to to maintain a calm demeanour throughout my hearing and not demonstrate any frustration or anger, as this would be looked upon in a negative manner by the judge and the ruling body overseeing the hearing.
Therefore, I realized that in order to succeed and eventually ‘win’ my hearing, I had to form an alliance with my tenant. By doing this, I would be demonstrating to the tenant and the the ruling body at the hearing that I was willing to work cocooperatively in order to work out an agreement of re-payment of rent.
Many of my experienced fellow real estate investors advised me that this was the only way to go. Further, they told me that based on their experience, in most cases their agreements of re-payment were not honoured by their tenants. Further, at the time of forming these ‘agreements of re-payment’ with their tenants, the investors knew that the agreements were probably not going to be honoured. However, the investors knew that this was just part of the process, and that they had to show ‘good faith’ at their court hearing by accepting the agreement.
In summary, you must be wiling to form and alliance with your tenant. By doing this, you are demonstrating to them as well as the Governmental ruling body overseeing the hearing that that you are willing to co-operate and work out an agreement of repayment.
In the next part of this series, I am going to talk about the other 2 alliances that I formed at my hearing.
These alliances were with the Governmental Ruling Body and with another landlord.
Until next time…
Being aggressive and confrontational is not going to help you win your court hearing.
Best Regards,
Neil Uttamsingh
ps: If you are a new real estate investor and you want to learn more about the eviction process, subscribe to my blog today!
