Delinquent tenant isn't following through on payment arrangements

[Christina Dunn]

I have a tenant that hasn't paid rent on time since the first month of their lease. Rent is due on the first with no grace period. We extended the due date until the 7th with no late fee to help out. The tenant still paid late and began making partial payments with no advance notice.  I notified the tenant that no more partial payments would be accepted after their rent check bounced. Last month I served a 3 day notice and they paid on the 4th day but still owe 2 months of late fees and the bounced check fee. I spoke with the tenant in person to discuss the problem and come up with a resolution.  He claimed to have lost his job but had started a new one and will be fine soon. We arranged (not in writing) for them to pay half the rent twice a month without including past due fees for the next 3 months and then we will re-evaluate the past due fees at that time. The tenants were very happy about that arrangement. Now this month comes and he didn't pay the first half of the rent on the agreed date, which was Aug. 26th. The second half of the rent was to be payed on the 9th. Today,  Sept.  2nd, he I put a money order in my mailbox for part of the first half of the rent and said he would pay the rest on the 9th. My fear is that on the 9th I will only receive part of the remaining rent and then unpaid rent may start to roll over each month.  I thought I nipped it in the bud last month with the 3 day notice and the in-person discussion but I guess not. My instinct is to refuse the partial payment and give them another 3 day notice on the 8th which includes all past due late fees. I've been through an eviction before. It cost us thousands of dollars and the vengeful tenants trashed the house to the point that we should have pressed charges on them. 

I don't want to evict these tenants anymore than they want to be evicted. This is a large family house that could sit empty until May or June, when school lets out again. I don't know what to do.  I want them to know I'm serious and not afraid to evict them but I also want to keep them in the house until the spring at least if I can. Any suggestions?