How to Handle Evictions With Compassion: Lessons From TLP Property Management

Episode 17 of the Cincy REI Show features the Director of Operations for TLP Property Management, who built and runs the eviction and delinquency process for a portfolio across Greater Cincinnati and has seen this play out hundreds of times from the ground level.

What the episode covers

• Why the eviction process starts before rent is ever late, and how TLP's tenant relations officers are already in conversation with struggling tenants before the first of the month.
• The human infrastructure behind the system: two dedicated tenant relations officers handling a split portfolio, so tenants know exactly who to call. That single design decision changes outcomes more than any automation.
• Why TLP posts three-day notices for every delinquent tenant on the same day, announces it in advance, and folds the notice so neighbors cannot see what it is, and the operational logic behind each choice.
• The rental assistance landscape in Hamilton County, including Hamilton County JFS, St. Vincent de Paul, United Way, and Women Helping Women, and why most of them will not move until an eviction has actually been filed.
• What happens in court, what happens when the magistrate issues the writ of restitution, and why TLP tells tenants their parking options and where to walk in, even at that stage.
• The documentation standard that protects landlords in Ohio and Kentucky: every text message and email is treated as a written record, emotional language is never used, and the language in every recurring message has been deliberately engineered.
• The one thing landlords can do at lease renewal that dramatically improves their odds of collecting after a setout, and why inherited tenants are the gap most operators never close.
• Why the eviction gets dismissed whenever a tenant pays in full, even after the writ, and why TLP fights for that dismissal to show on the tenant's background check.

The thesis behind the approach

Treating tenants with dignity and compassion is the right thing to do. It is also, empirically, the fastest path to getting the financial asset performing again.

Listen

Stream Episode 17 on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. To see how a property manager onboards a new portfolio, read the first 30 days of a master lease.