Evict or wait it through (hopefully)

[Deb L.]

First post but have been watching the forums here for over a year.

Tenant's lease is up at the end of January.  They have been late at least five times.  There are four months left (including October which has not been paid).   They pay about mid-month but never the late fees so I'm out almost 600 due to this.  My property manager takes the late fees.

The reason I am not fuming is because it is $100 more per month than the last tenant paid and it's actually a cash cow.

My PM did not push eviction at the beginning I think because the contract says there is no additional procurement fee (one month's rent) if the eviction is before they have been in there six months.

Now that he will get a procurement fee, he is pushing eviction.  

The security deposit is 160% of the rent (I know, odd amount).  So if I start the eviction, I will keep the security deposit but have to pay the attorney.  My PM says they do it for $500 which sounds cheap--but I am concerned about them trashing the place in retaliation of course.

Another consideration--there have been only two calls for service which have cost me only about $200 since February.  

Just recently my handyman went out there (he is awesome) and I requested his bill; he said no charge because the tenant fixed it.  (It was a minor leak under the sink).  He checked it out and said it was fixed.  

I asked my handyman how the place looked inside (being scared of what he was going to say).  He immediately said " it was immaculate."  

Now whether they cleaned it up because they knew he was coming--who knows,  but at least it was clean as of a couple of weeks ago.  

So... based on this info, would you recommend that I start the eviction or  just hope that they continue to pay about mid-month (without the late fee) until the end of the lease?  This is in Florida.

Thanks.