Tenant Has Paid Rent But Is Breaching Other Parts of Lease.

[Rehan A.]

I have a tenant in California who has recently decided that paying rent on time is no longer a priority. She has paid late the last 3 months and has not paid the water bill, or the late fees, or the bounced check fees.

I served her with both a "3 Day Notice to Perform Or Quit" for the unpaid balance of water bill, late fees and bounced check fees, along with a "30 Day Notice" at the same time. The 3 day period has expired and she has not paid the balance due so I filed an unlawful detainer with the court and served her and her husband with summons. 

My question is now what is the best way to proceed? Not that I expect her to, but if she were to leave tomorrow, do I pay her back some of the rent she paid for July minus the outstanding balance? And because the 30 Day notice expires on August 13th, do I try to collect rent from her on August 1st? 

Because I have served her with a 3 Day and a 30 Day simultaneously, and she has not remedied the requirements of the 3 Day, is the 30 Day simply a formality at this point? 

Thank you!

[Corby Goade]

Probably best to speak with your attorney on the details as far as what you can and cannot collect. Just a suggestion for the future- we use an online payment service to collect our rents. There are lots of them out there, we use cozy.co and it's been great. We can apply a late fee on the 5th (or whatever date your lease says) and it's tacked on to their payment. No arguing over a late fee, no knocking on their door asking for rent. It's totally changed our business and eliminated a ton of stress.