Any experienced landlord will confirm that there are occasional tenants who do things so outrageous that the landlord is tempted to bypass normal legal protections and take direct and immediate action to "help them move out" in order to repossess his property.
It is certainly be understandable that after a tenant's numerous broken promises to pay rent, a landlord will consider changing the locks and putting the tenant's property out in the street. Or, a landlord who is responsible for paying the utility charges may be tempted to simply not pay the bill in the hopes that the resulting lack of water, gas or electricity will hasten a particularly outrageous tenant's departure.
When you realize how long a legal eviction can sometimes take, these actions can almost seem sensible.
However, if you are ever tempted to take the law into your own hands to force or scare a troublesome tenant out of your property, heed the following advice: DON'T DO IT!
Shortcuts such as threats, intimidation, utility shutoffs or attempts to physically remove a tenant are illegal and dangerous. If you resort to them you may well find yourself on the wrong end of a lawsuit for trespass, assault, battery, slander and libel, intentional infliction of emotional distress and wrongful eviction. You might even find yourself being prosecuted for felony assault. So, although the eviction process can often entail some trouble, expense, and delay, its important to understand that using the legal system to evict a tenant is the only option open to you.
If you are sued by a tenant whom you forcibly evicted or tried to evict, the fact that the tenant didn't pay rent, left your property a mess, verbally abused you, or otherwise acted outrageously will not be a valid defense. You will very likely lose the lawsuit, and it will cost you far more than evicting the tenant using the legal system, in terms of both money and aggravation.
Virtually every state forbids "self-help" evictions and their eviction statutes warn landlords that using legal procedures are the only way to retake possession of rental property. In most states the penalties for violating self help eviction laws are very steep. Tenants who have been locked out, frozen out by having the heat cut off, or denied electricity or water can sue not only for their actual money losses (such as the need for temporary housing, the value of food that spoiled when the refrigerator stopped running, or the cost of an electric heater when the gas was shut off), but for punitive penalties as well.
For example, in Arizona and Michigan a landlord can be forced to pay the tenant up to two months' rent or the tenant's actual damages, whatever is higher. And in Connecticut, the landlord may even be prosecuted for a misdemeanor. In some states, including Michigan, the tenant can collect and still remain in the premises rent free; in others, he is entitled to monetary compensation only.
Even if your state has not legislated against self-help evictions, throwing your tenant out on your own is highly risky and likely to land you in more legal entanglements than had you gone to court for an eviction judgment in the first place. The potential for nastiness and violence is great; the last thing you want is a police car at the curb while you and your tenant wrestle over the sofa on the lawn. You can almost count on a lawsuit over the "disappearance" of your tenant's valuable possessions, which they are likely to claim were lost or stolen when you removed their belongings.
Additionally, be very careful of ever disposing of tenants' stuff under the guise of "abandoned" property. Although a few states allow you to remove and freely dispose of a tenant's leftover property when they have moved out, you should do so only if it is provable that the tenant has left permanently, intending to turn the place over to you. Disposing of personal property under an assumption that the tenant had abandoned it will expose you to significant monetary penalties.
The only way that a landlord can forcibly remove a tenant from their property in through a legal eviction. The next step is to learn all you can about how to do that.