According to lawyers specializing in real estate, the best option for landlords to protect themselves is to have a lease protected by an alternative justice agreement, as it offers the security of being able to evict a renter almost immediately, if needed, saving time and attorney fees.

Making an alternative justice contract to rent your home can be expensive at rental and property management offices, but there is a free method: through the Alternative Justice Institute of the State of Jalisco (IJA).

To process the Preventive Lease clause, an appointment can be requested at 331-380-0000 extension 1000, or a trip can be made to their offices.

They will require the following documentation.

– INE or passport of the landlord, tenant, and guarantor (only if a guarantor was requested).

– Deed of the property.

– Lease contract previously signed, specifying time, mode, and place of payment (the IJA does not make contracts).

– Data about of all parties (landlord, tenant and guarantor, if any): date of birth, marital status, occupation, place of origin.

– Home address of all parties.

– Phone number of all parties.

The lead time for an appointment is no more than two weeks. Once at the institute, the wait is less than five minutes, and the processing time is less than a hour.

The clause is signed by all those involved, and is attached to the contract. A copy of everything stays at the institute.

It becomes valid at the time of signature, although, later, the entire contract is passed to a validation area, which takes up to a month. The contract then includes the signatures of IJA officials.

Something that can delay the validation process is having to call the Social Prosecutor when older adults are involved, so that there are no elder abuses.

The law also allows the existence of private centers for alternative methods accredited by the IJA, where the procedure has a cost. This varies from center to center, since there is no cost regulation for this.

All accredited centers (public and private) can be found at ija.gob.mx/CentrosPublicosyPrivados.