Tenant not paying rent; Moratorium on evictions during holidays; evict or wait?

[Handie Kunen]

Hi all,

I have a situation where a tenant of 3 months has not paid his November rent.  Our property manager has called, emailed, and shown up at the door trying to hunt him down to get an answer but got no response. A note is on the door to call the property manager immediately.  The tenant did not pay on the first of the month, and then gave an excuse and a promise to pay last Friday, but never showed up with the money and has now not responded to us.

We'd like to file an eviction.  The property manager told us that if we file a ten day notice to pay rent or quit, we could then file with the court. 

However, due to the holidays approaching, the first hearing would be December 3rd.  After that, there is a moratorium until after the holdiays, and eviction could not be performed until January 2015.  We can handle the attorney fees, but we want to give the tenant as little time as possible to destroy the property. 

Question is, do we post the ten day notice now and proceed to evict? Or, do we wait until January, hope to collect for November and December, and eat the loss?  Any other options, like paying the tenant to leave?

FYI, the tenant doesn't have great credit history and gave us problems on the first month citing a water issue as to why he withheld rent. We want him out, help!

Thanks!!!

[Marcia Maynard]

This does not sound like a tenancy that can be saved, so don't delay. Post the pay or quit notice now. Also, at the same time, post a legal notice to enter the unit... for "maintenance".  I always do that, especially when a tenant is avoiding me. It forces a face-to-face and gives you a look at the unit. If you want to try cash-for-keys and your tenant goes for it, you might have him out by the end of this month. Otherwise keep your eye on the property and your eye on the goal. You will still have some time after you serve the pay or quit notice to try to convince the tenant to pay rent and the notice itself sometimes will kick-start a tenant into paying. But the reality is, once it has passed mid-month rarely will you see a tenant catch up on rent.