What to do about late rent? When to Evict?
I have a 2 family house, and my tenant who moved in in February has been late with every month’s rent since the first month. He also bounced checks for the first two month’s rent, so we now only accept cash or money orders. This month is the worst so far – it’s the 26th,…
I have a 2 family house, and my tenant who moved in in February has been late with every month’s rent since the first month. He also bounced checks for the first two month’s rent, so we now only accept cash or money orders. This month is the worst so far – it’s the 26th, and we’ve only received a third of the rent. What are our remedies? At what point does non-payment become grounds for eviction?
You could stop being an asshole and realize people have hardship sometimes. You are obviously better off than you tenant if you own property. You ARE being paid. Act like a human being for once.
If there is an existing lease, you can not start holdover proceedings (eviction). You must first sue them for non-payment, if they can not pay the rent by the trial date, the court will allow you to evict the tenant. If the tenant pays the back rent, your non-payment case will be over and you will have to wait until the lease expires before starting any eviction/holdover proceedings.
If this is a habit of the tenant, you may be commencing non-payment proceedings numerous times through out the lease term. Good luck.
I used to read an online real estate investment blog that always had this question come up. It was amazing to me that outside of NYC, most people had no hesitation about starting eviction proceedings about 2 or 3 days after the rent was due, and without a doubt, by 10 days, and that was for the softies. Very few people got too touchy feely worrying about the tenants feelings or problems. Outside of NYC, late means out.
This is business. If you are in business and a client doesn’t pay a bill, you do what you have to do to get paid. Your bank doesn’t worry about your health or other excuses when you don’t pay your mortgage. They charge late fees. If you are delinquent for months, they forclose.
You need to get tougher. It doesn’t mean you have to become Simon Legree. Get a lawyer to send a letter. That scares all but the dedicated deadbeat. Make rules and stick with them, no exceptions. If they are decent people who are just going through a tough patch, and that can happen to anyone, they need to know that you are the number one priority in their financial lives, or looking for a new place to live will be the consequence.
I agree with 8:00 pm. Hopefully you do your due diligence up front, but if you inherit a deadbeat or are unlucky enough to get one of these dishonest, incorrigible individuals, court is what they understand. I did it once; dealing with that individual was really unnerving, but I knew that being the “nice guy” or “reasoning” with them was a total waste of time. Also, hopefully, this will be the last time you suffer in this way. Next time you will screen the person(s) very thoroughly (I prefer brokers) and won’t have to go through this. But don’t be afraid to take this route. I suggest getting a dedicated tenant landlord lawyer who is a human being (I met a couple of slimeball attorneys, so make sure you like that person). Some attorneys charge for each court appearance, some for the whole eviction. The legal services for the total eviction process should cost about 1200 dollars.
Just nip this shit in the bud.
anon 5pm you don’t get it. read the post above yours. you cannot talk to deadbeat tenants. eviction is all they pay attention to. you cannot reason with someone who signs a legal contract then does not fulfill their obligations. suggesting they get a roommate is laugable concept. they are scamming you. evict them.
have you spoken to the tenant? do you have a good relationship? If he is having a financial hardship could you suggest he get a roomate?
Housing Court is a zoo. Get a landlord/tenant lawyer. It is quite confusing going it alone.
Last year I had nightmare tenants who at the end of their lease stopped paying AND sent me a letter that one of them was having surgery and would stay an addition month past the lease expiry AND did not intend to pay. Nothing worked as far as talking to them and working out any issues, nothing. they even said if I bothered them again they would get a restraining order against me. (I also live in the building I contacted them by phone to ask to come upstairs and then a knocked on the door.)
I got a lawyer and took a month and a half to get them out. They ended up moving two days before the final court date. Getting evicted was the ONLY motivator to make them do something. This was last November, If I hadn’t gone ahead and filed in court, I believe they would still be in my building. I’m sure you’d like your tenants to get with it, but unfortunately sometimes you need to act tough and fast.
I agree – speak to an attorney immediately. Use someone who specializes in Landlord/Tenant matters. I am in the midst of an eviction and I can tell you it takes months and many tenants know how to work the system.
Good Luck
9:52 definitely makes the most sense.
1. your lease should have a late fee if rent received after midnight of the x day of the month. I use the 3rd day. $75 is a reasonable charge that shows you are serious, and is unreasonable.
2. similar fee for bounced checks
3. always, always, always – two months of security deposit.
4. carefully assess prospective tenants’ past payment habits on rent, credit cards, loans, etc. also, look carefully at the ratio of income to expense including all debt and your proposed rent to see that the prospective tenant can easily pay the rent, and has enough liquid assets to cover a period of unemployment, say six months.
5. sit down with your tenant, and lay out the ground rules. you can go to court, but to make it worthwhile you would need to really know that a) your tenant is not going to pay, and b) your tenant is not going to vacate.
good luck.