No landlord every wants to face a tenant who has been involved in illegal activity or is under serious suspicion of illegal activity. These actions almost always inevitably lead to an eviction. Most jurisdictions (even in regions that have strong tenant protection laws in place) deal with illegal activity pretty seriously and severely.
The most common tenant illegal activity is drug use and/or drug dealing. But this can apply to assault, battery, theft/selling stolen goods, domestic abuse, etc. We’ve even seen tenants running illegal business operations (ie. health-related) out of their residential unit. These activities must cease at once. And most of the time, that probably won’t happen. So if you’re destined down the path of eviction, you have to start somewhere. And the best place to start from is this warning letter. It’s worded broadly but can and should be edited/tweaked for the specific nature of the offense.
Note: If you have direct evidence of illegal activity (rather than suspicions) we encourage you to contact local law enforcement for guidance in dealing with this.
Why Do I Need This Form?
- Being made aware or having strong suspicions of your tenant’s illegal activity requires an immediate response
- Informs tenant officially that there is suspicion of this behaviour and makes it clear to tenant you are aware.
- Provided immediate ultimatum that this activity has to be stopped and you will not tolerate this.