Late rent / tents not paying / eviction

[Frank Quesada]

My situation is a bit unique, i bought a house in march and have a tenant on the first floor of a one story ranch. I know this person and literally are like family i closed on this house as quick as possible to get him in asap due to having housing issues. The first few months were fine and paid on time, after having some family issues and dealing with a break up he started paying rent late he would pay some but not all when it was due. It’s been months now and he is paying less and less and the rest later and later. At this point I’m lucky if i get all the rent for the month at all i maybe get 90% of it. NOW ...this isn’t so much the issue i know i should start the eviction process BUT i am currently deployed in the Middle East and my father is the one that is just helping me out with the property while I’m gone. Now my property is in NY and as most know in winter it can be difficult to find a tenant and the way i kind of look at it at this point is anything is better than nothing because I wouldn’t even know how to go about doing all this from more then 6k miles away. I get back early next year, and i guess my question is should i tell them I’m starting the eviction process now and try to get everything done here which would add more stress on my dad who is helping or just leave it for a few more months until I’m home? Oh and  Yes i have learned my lesson i will never rent to family/ close friends ever again.