Tenant Eviction Question (Did i mess up?)

[Mark B.]

Hello BP - Before anyone directs me to the "How to evict a tenant guide", I did skim through and I will go forward and read the whole thing.

TL:DR - Do you let a tenant know that you will be starting eviction if they do not pay or do you move straight to the eviction procedure if they are a difficult tenant ?

I just purchased my first property (4 unit) and it came with 2 tenants.  One of which seems to be perfectly fine. The other started with the excuses from day 1.  I was texting the tenant as they dont speak english and using google translate and a friend to help me through the language barrier.  She would stop texting mid conversation as soon as when rent was due was mentioned or something like that. 

At one point, she told me I should already have the rent, and when I said, I will go check... She says "well I'll have it tomorrow, I can't get it yet".  

All this being said (and it being the 12th of the month (i did this yesterday)), i went to a property manager who works with a few investors i know and asked her about eviction.  She looked up the tenant and saw a criminal record as well as 2 evictions in 2016 alone (we didn't bother looking back any further).  After seeing that, I said lets move forward and the property manager is going to get the eviction process started.

I brought this story to someone who said I should have let the tenant know first that if they did not pay, i would be filing for eviction.

My thinking is that this tenant clearly doesn't care and is going to be a headache. I'd rather get her out asap and work towards getting a normal tenant in that wont make me lose sleep.

But I wanted to ask BP what your thoughts on this were.  Should I have told the tenant that i would be filing if rent was not received or am I right to get things started?

Thank you all!

[Mindy Jensen]

@Mark B. , a couple of things stick out to me.

Are YOU using Google Translate, or are you telling her in English then SHE is translating it through Google Translate?

If you are doing the translating, stop right now. Translating is not your job. 

Second, no, you don't have to give her any notice. She's been evicted twice last year, she knows the procedure to avoid eviction is to pay rent.

Start the process now, because it's going to take right up until the very end before she is out. Cash for keys won't work for her, because she won't be able to find any other place to go.

Be firm and follow the letter of the law, because you can bet she knows it better than you do. Do not accept a partial payment and do not stop the eviction proceedings. She's never going to become a great tenant.

I read someone else's quote in the forums, "I've never had a bad tenant go good." This woman will cause headaches and hassle every single moment she is in your property.