Tenant behind on rent - Terminate month-to-month lease or evict?

[Ricco Ardemagni]

Hi BPers - I inherited a tenant several years ago. He's currently on a month-to-month lease. Over the last year he has slowly slid to consistently being 2-3 months behind on his rent. His attempts to "get caught up" are not happening anymore. I started hinting a couple of months ago that I will need to take legal measures if he doesn't get caught up and back to consistent payments. Other than rent issues, he keeps the house very clean and maintains the property decently. If you were trying to remove this tenant from your property, would you:

Give 30 days notice that you're not renewing his lease next month and ask him to leave? 

Or start the eviction process?

Monthly rent is $750, so I'm wondering if the costs/time/stress of eviction are worth pursuing if an option is to just tell him I need him out in 30 days. I was planning to renovate and update the property once he did decide to move out one day, so not renewing his lease would just be an opportunity to jump start that.

Thanks for your comments!