Tenant is now 8 days late, now what?

Question

The tenants on one of my properties is now 8 days late on payment. Do I need to serve a notice to cease before I file eviction?  My contract states that eviction will be filed on the 14th day, the rent is 1400/m and they are offering a partial payment of 400. If this payment is accepted and they do not pay the rest, will this delay the eviction process?

Russell Brazil · Answer

Have you talked to your tenant? Communication is the first step. Everyone is going to be late with the rent at some point...so the question here becomes are they going to pay you or not? Answering that question even after the communication involves the skill of reading people. Of course the answer is going to no matter what be that they say they are going to pay you. If you do believe them then set up a timeline for that payment. However if you do feel that they are just BSing you, then file the notice to vacate. However if you do feel they are going to pay you, and they are generally good tenants, you dont want to sour that relationship by filing for eviction if they are going to continue to be your tenant.

Remember our tenants are our customers. We should provide them with great customer service, which I think is overlooked a lot on these forums. Now that doesnt mean we let them take advantage of us....but we should be aware that everyone is late with the rent at some point, and we should work to maintain a good business/customer relationship when possible

Thomas S. · Answer

In light of the fact that you have had a arrangement for them to pay late for the majority of your lease I do not see that you have any legal grounds to take action at this point in time. Your policy has been to allow them what ever time they require to pay and if you take action at this time they can argue the verbal contract of their lease allows for late payment. Your best option would be to simply wait for them to pay and at the end of their lease, assuming your state code allows, simply terminate them.

Roy N. · Answer

@Russell Brazil is absolutely correct!  I made an unwarranted assumption that you have already communicated with the tenant and my mind jumped strait to the mechanics.

We encourage our tenants to come to us as far in advance as possible if there is going to be an issue paying rent.  Only about 5 - 10% actually ever do.

Roy N. · Answer

Terry:

Start the paperwork!

Here we are able to serve a Notice to Vacate the day after rent is due - this gives the tenant 7-days to pay or 15-days to move out (the first time they are served ... on subsequent occurrences they have 7-days to pay and 15-days to move).  In our published procedures, we will not file before the 7th for the first offence (subsequent occurrences are filed on the 3rd).

As for accepting partial payments, check the landlord/tenancy legislation in your jurisdiction.  Here we are able to accept partial payments without resetting any clocks/counters on the eviction process, however there are other places where that is not possible.

Account Closed · Answer

Time to educate yourself, and toughen up regarding deadbeat tenants.  I love the Nolo books:

http://www.nolo.com/products/landlord-tenant/landl...

I suggest you give them written notice that late payments will no longer be tolerated.  Even if you've been accepting late payments, you can turn that around by giving them notice that it will no longer be tolerated.

And if you ever ended up in court over the clause in your contract that says you won't evict until day 14, I'd tell the court that was a scrivener's error and it was supposed to be four days.  Yep, I'd fib.

Get a lease that doesn't tell your tenants they can wait 14 days to pay their rent to avoid eviction.  And learn how evictions work where the property is, and file the first day you can if rent isn't paid by then.  No more Mr. Nice Guy.  They have the rent.  They're just spending it on something else.  Their finances are not your problem.  You're not their counselor.  What you need to become is a priority.  And when paying the rent becomes a priority, it gets paid.  And if they face eviction the instant they are late, they will either be gone or they will pay the rent on time.

Tenants learn when you mean what you say, and believe it or not, there is far less drama when they know you don't mess around.

Aaron Crook · Answer

You guys are fucked up, if peoples lives were going good they wouldn't be renting your crappy apartments. I can't believe landlords are such a privileged group of scumbags.

Account Closed · Answer

What is your history with this tenant as they aren't offering much in partial payment and no information about when the remainder will come. Stick to the terms of the lease and file paperwork, you can always stop it later if they come through.

Jason V. · Answer

I agree with Greg 100% on this one - and he's really being pretty gentle with you.

Take it as a learning experience: 99% of the time when a landlord gives a tenant a "break" for whatever reason, the tenant will take it as "oh, this is acceptable. I can do this all the time." And if you let it go on long enough (as you have here) the tenant can win a legal argument against you forcing them to pay "on time."

In any event, be glad they're paying at all, and don't renew the lease. You might still wind up evicting to get your unit back - people who take advantage in these situations are loathe to walk away from them.

Good luck - get tough!

James Wise · Answer

Do not accept partial payment. You will be unable to evict this month if you do.

If they do not pay in full by the 14th hire an attorney and file for eviction. Do not attempt to do the eviction without an attorney. It does not pay to do it yourself when it comes to evictions.

Penny Clark · Answer

@Terry Brennan, Sounds to me like this is a reoccurring pattern with nearly new tenants. Check the laws in your state and County and issue a three day notice to pay or quit (if that is your law) immediately. No more Mr. Nice guy Landlord.

If this had been a tenant with a solid payment record for two years or more and was suddenly hit by hard times, well, then I'd go with Russel's first suggestion. The last thing you want to do is rock the boat with a good paying tenant. However, it appears that either your tenants have taken advantage of your late payment acceptance generosity or they weren't qualified income wise to pay your rental rate.

Either train up these tenants quickly or don't renew their lease and get someone in there that can 1) afford your rent and 2) pay it on time. When you screen your next tenant shoot for at least 3 times income to rent, check income to debt ratio and do a thorough previous landlord check asking the following questions:

1) Were your tenants ever late with rent payments and what were the dates?

2) Were your tenants ever issued any 3 day notices to pay or quit or cure or quit and what were the reasons?

Good luck!

Tenant is now 8 days late, now what?

Most Popular Reply