Q: If someone is arrested in my rental home, does that automatically mean I can file an eviction for an immediate and irreparable breach of the lease?
A: Just because there is an arrest on property, doesn’t necessarily mean that a landlord has grounds to pursue an immediate termination of the lease. The arrest and the underlying crime have to be connected to the property. For example, it’s possible that your resident had a guest on property and that guest had an outstanding warrant for unpaid parking tickets. If the police track the guest down and arrest him in your property, that is not grounds for an immediate as the arrest had nothing to do with your property and there was no crime committed there. On the other hand, if the guest was arrested on property because he caused damage to the home or did drugs on property, that is cause for an immediate eviction.
By Mark B. Zinman, Zona Law Group