NJ - How to get rid of tenant at end of lease?

Question

I purchased my first rental property (triplex) 7 months ago and have had pretty good success with it thus far minus a few hiccups here and there.

In my one unit however I have trouble tenants who are habitual late-rent payers.  I probably have been too lenient but with juggling 3 units plus purchasing a new primary residence that needed major renovations I was a little hesitant to evict.

Regardless, here we are again nearing the first of the month and the excuses are coming in as to why rent is late.  With 4 months to go I'm not sure if it's even worth it to evict (they have 5 business days per my lease until it is late, so that's June 8 and it may not come to that).

My question really is how to end the lease and make the tenants move out.  I had a RE lawyer write my lease but it doesn't really say anywhere about non-renewal.  Here is my language:

So I could really use some guidance as to how to send a notice, let them know, etc that I do not wish to renew the lease with them and request that they move out at the lease end date, 9/30/17.  Any advice at all is greatly appreciated.  BP has been a great resource for navigating my first property!

Darren Sager · Answer

@Tim Dastis make sure you do everything by the book.  You will need an attorney if the property is in any other type of ownership outside of personal name, such as an LLC or Trust in addition to what @Johann Jells mentioned.  If it was me I'd file immediately.  NJ is not a slam dunk when it comes to Landlord/Tenant rights in favor of the owners compared to NYC.  Send your notice to quit and hopefully you kept your records as to when you received all the late payments.  Did you charge them late fees?

Johann Jells · Answer

I said it in post #2 "NJ tenants in anything but an owner occupied <4U have an automatic right of renewal."

Chris Masons · Answer

Tim,

As others mentioned serve your notice to cease when they are late. Another thing that I didn't see anyone mention is your tenants are protected by the anti eviction act which applies to 3 units and higher non owner occupied dwellings....

There are only ~ 12 reasons roughly why a tenant can be evicted while protected by the NJ anti eviction act.. I believe one of them is habitually late rent payments so you should be justified in your cause to evict. You will just need to show a pattern of continued late payments, and serve notice to cease, followed by notice to quit. A landlord is entitled to his/her rent on time on a continued basis. Paying rent continually late is cause for eviction I believe.

Good luck and perhaps before going eviction route have a in person sit down with them? I manage 27 units and feel this can go a long way and at the least  you can get a better feel and prepare yourself based on their response.

Chris

Tim Dastis · Answer

great thanks - I was unaware that the 5 day grace was not required.  The lease simply states If any of the rent is not paid by the fifth (5th) day of the month, Tenant must pay a late fee of $      50           as additional rent.  I use online processing or have my tenants deposit into an account so I don't deal with checks in the mail or anything like that.

Darren Sager · Answer

@Tim Dastis technically if your lease is worded that you're supposed to receive the rent by the first, then it's late but the wording on this is critical.  If you have a grace period of 5 days, it's just that you will not charge them the late fee if it's received by the 5th.   Paying by the 5th, and receiving by the 5th, are two totally different scenarios and hence why wording is so important.   If they pay by the 5th, and it comes to you in the mail on the 8th, technically they don't have to pay the late fee (if it's post marked on the 5th).

Get your wording on your lease proper to cover you.  Also you should know in NJ there is no requirement for you to have a 5 day grace period.  It only applies to a very limited number of people in state.  This is as per the  Truth in Renting paperwork:

SENIOR CITIZENS GRACE PERIOD

Any senior citizen receiving a Social Security Old Age Pension, a Railroad Retirement Pension, or any other governmental pension in lieu of Social Security Old Age Pension, and any recipients of Social Security Disability Benets, Supplemental Security Income or benets under Work First New Jersey, must be given a period of ve (5) business days grace period for payment when the rent is due on the rst of the month. No delinquency or late charge may be assessed during the grace period. Any person who fails to allow this grace period may be criminally prosecuted as a disorderly person. (45)

So if you have a 5 day grace period on your lease you're doing so out of the kindness of your heart.  My experience with this is that if you give them those 5 days, they'll always pay you late.  Send your notice to cease and move this forward.

Tim Dastis · Answer

Home is in my personal name.  Late fees ($50 per month) were charged.

At this point, I don't think I want to evict since it's probably not worth the effort, but I do want to LEGALLY have grounds to not renew their lease.

Even though my lease says a late fee is charged if rent is not paid by the 5th of the month, can I immediately send a notice to cease for late payments on the 2nd?  Looking at the truth-in-renting it says

I dropped the ball by not sending a notice to cease when this stuff first started happening.  Now it would appear to me that I need to send the notice this month and hope they pay an additional month between now and September late, which would give me the legal ground to not renew the lease.

Thoughts on this?

Johann Jells · Answer

No, sounds great, and less aggressive. You should combine it with a 5-10% raise at the end of the lease. Just be sure your documentation is airtight. Perhaps others are more expert in that. I'll bet searching here will produce lots of info.

Tim Dastis · Answer

thanks for the advice - reading the truth-in-renting it gives "Habitual late payments of rent" as a reason for not renewing the lease.  There's pretty specific guidelines I have to follow, including a notice to cease, followed by reminders every time we accept a late payment after that notice, but it is a valid reason to not renew the lease.  I'll start with the notice to cease this month (assuming the June 1 rent will be late) and that should give me grounds to not renew the lease.

If you think I'm getting myself into trouble with this strategy let me know!

Johann Jells · Answer

If your relationship already sucks, I guess you have nothing to lose by taking them to court and seeing if they come up with the money. You don't need a lawyer unless you're incorporated, and the filing fee is a pittance.

You could also raise the rent what you want and see if they're functional enough to take you to court, or don't know their rights and leave. You really don't have great options, but if the relationship is already sh*t you have no reason not to try.

Tim Dastis · Answer

I guess the main thing is I don't want to file for eviction (money), go to court myself or hire my lawyer (time or money), and have them show up with the rent in hand which I know they are capable of producing.

The most recent event was the window balances breaking on some windows.  I'm working on getting it fixed whether they pay or not, but the tenant has already stated they are withholding the rent until this issue is fixed.  Should I simply not fix it and evict since their argument won't hold up in court?

NJ - How to get rid of tenant at end of lease?

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