Should I serve a Pay or Quit notice?

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Was the $9.11 short-pay a subtle hint she needs help?

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Travis, what happened ??

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You've basically already told her she is out, by offering to let her out of the lease AND by filing suit against her. Since she had a hard time paying in the first place, she's not going to pay because she knows she is going. You have to do whatever it takes to get that to happen as quickly as you legally can.

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GET HER OUT ASAP! she sounds like a professional scammer-- when a tenant is having charities pay the rent that is Bad!! This happened to me and they got three months of a house for free ---they finally abandoned the house due to not paying their water and electric For months so the utility companies turned everything off- so a free house with no water heat or electricity wasn't too appealing--get rid of your tenant or she will be there forever--

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Where is the house? In vienna area....great area with good rents. Turn it into shared housing for all of the youngsters working in DC. Remember the area well..did my masters at GWU and studied vienna and falls church developments as part of it. Shared housing will take away these headaches and you always have revenue. I would almost never take a tenant on charity....it just doesn't work long term. If she is working 2 jobs, where's her money going - sounds awful and some of you will slam me for it but I bet she's got a nice car and a better tv than you do. I got a ton of that when I was renting single family homes. Put her out...and no matter what DO NOT TAKE A PARTIAL PAYMENT...you'll reset the whole eviction wheel. If she communicates about a payment, just ask her to bring it to court with her and you can work it out there. I doubt the $9 was a test of any kind but just a measure of someone not good with her money and reliant on everyone else to solve her problems...the worst kind of tenant in my book. Charity is one thing....business another.....I let some of my renters stay for free if they lose a job and every single one of them have worked it back out with me. The key is "they worked it out" - I gave them temporary help but that's it and I did it on properties that I own outright and not with JV partners. It shouldn't take that long....but just hope she hasn't filed for bankruptcy...could take even longer. Best of luck and let us know how it turns out!

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Hi Travis, NJ is tenant friendly, although our experiences in Trenton court have been landlord friendly. The tenant we're evicting now is in FL, another mostly tenant friendly state, but they do have guidelines for them to follow if they are contesting the eviction. If they respond to the 5 Day Summons, they must fill out considerable paperwork and bring everything they owe to put into the court registry until the court date. If a tenant claims they don't have any money, they will have to find it somehow if they want to appeal on their court date. A few years ago, we had a tenant find a social services organization to give her the money and Legal Aid helped her with the paperwork. This tenant has done neither.

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@Dawn Anastasi At this point I think this is just short-payment. This woman works 2 jobs and to date she has only payed $750 of her own money toward rent (since December). As I said, I offered to help her find a more affordable place, release her from the contract, help her move, and expedite the return of her security deposit if she would just move, but she refused. @Bob Hines The thing is that she never paid in full from last month, and I am filing for eviction based on the amount she is in arrears. On the Summons I have included the amount she is in arrears + all rent due until Date of Judgment. As such, I don't know whether serving her another Pay or Quit will interfere with the Summons that I just filed. @Aly L in VA after serving the Pay or Quit notice, the next step in the eviction process is to file a Summons for Unlawful Detainer, which sets a return date for court. I'm kind of surprised, but it sounds like the eviction process in NJ is streamlined. Is NJ landlord friendly? VA is supposedly landlord friendly, but if a tenant misses a payment, I'm looking at a minimum of a month and a half to have the tenant removed. If the tenant contests and the sheriff is slow in serving them notice, it seems like it'll be more like 4 months. Thank you all for your input.

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I'm not sure what a summons for unlawful detainer is, but I would definitely serve a Pay or Quit regarding the rent for March. When communication from a tenant stops, so does the rent and any attempt to pay it. I'm evicting a tenant now for the same thing. She did not pay February's rent, did not pay or quit after the 3 day notice, and did not respond to the 5 Day Summons. We have won by default, and are waiting for the signed Writ of Removal to have the sheriff remove her within 24 hours.

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I'm not in VA, but my understanding is that the Pay or Quit is for each occurrence as you told them to pay, or to quit. If they remedied that by paying, you would need to issue a new one for the next instance. I had similar tenants so I suggest getting them out ASAP. Mine ended up paying eventually each month, sometimes with charities, so I waited until the lease was up to serve notice that it would not be extended. I've had great tenants in there since.

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You wanna get this tenant out as fast as possible.