Delinquent

[Lawrence Rutkowski]

Hello all,

So as I alluded to in the title, I have tenants who are and delinquent and owe me February's rent, and now March. They called me saying they weren't able to pay because the one tenant's mother was diagnosed with cancer and they needed to put available funds towards treatment.  She had liquidated an annuity a couple months ago and allegedly it cleared the beginning of this month, that's when they said they'd send both months rent and late fees.  Now the month prior they were 2 weeks late because of "car trouble", and the month before they were 10 days late because they apparently misspelled my address.  ( I live in TX now, they are in NY.) The other 5 months they were late, but within the 3 day grace period).  They don't get along with the downstairs tenants and will be moving out come May.   I personally think they plan on sticking it to me as they haven't sent it yet or responded to my text from an hour ago now. 

I told them I expect to have the rent by this Monday(3/2)  I've never had to evict tenants  before, so I'm wondering what exactly the process is, if I have recourse to collect past rent, and how I can report it so it shows up on their credit report/personal background.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[James Wise]

Post the 3-day notice.

After the 3 days have passed file an eviction with the court.

Either you or your property manager will need to appear in court to testify that the notice was given and that rent was not paid.

You can go after them for back due rent but it can be more hassle then it is worth as it is not always that easy to collect. Winning a judgment does not guarantee you payment.