getting ready for first eviction, sort of. Need advice

[Rodney Morris]

background:

We are new to land-lording and I had to make some concessions to get my wife on-board. the first property we put out was offered to a friend of hers (side note; I hate dealing with friends and family so i was against this from the beginning) and has been a PITA since. We (my wife) gave her a date and she kept asking when she could move in. So i gave her a date and told her she needed to give us the deposit and first months' rent. She and my wife met and she gave the full deposit and 1/3 of the first month's rent saying she got paid in a week and would give the rest then. My wife accepted, since they are friends, and told her she cannot move in until the remainder was paid.  the rest was due on 08/08 and hasn't been paid yet. she says she isnt staying there and i work shift work so i cannot do a stakeout right now. I have offered and prefer to accept automatic bank drafts and she said she was interested but has not signed up. We also just found out she no longer works at the place she did when we made the agreements. Not sure if she is employed at all.

I know i am going to blasted here so i may as well tell you now. She did sign a M2M lease but my wife opted to not do a background and credit check. I'm sure many of you are going to say i deserve what i get, and i agree.

my questions: 1- since she has not paid the entire first months rent and we have in writing she can't move in until she does has she technically established tenancy? 2 - if she pays before the end of the grace period should we still need to do an eviction? 3 - if she pays and the wife agrees to let her stay is it too late to make her complete the background and credit check before we renew the M2M?

Any other advice for this situation would be greatly appreciated.   

[Kim Meredith Hampton]

@Rodney Morris First check your landlord tenant laws to see if you can evict on partial rent payments, sometimes you can't! If so, go ahead and serve her a three day notice now. If you cant, wait until the first of the month, when and if she doesn't pay (don't accept partial payment AT ALL), then you could serve your three day notice, then file for eviction.

I wrote a blog on renting to family and friend;

We love our family and friends, but beware of them becoming your tenants. It’s always a good idea to treat your rental property like a business. Treating family or friends just like you would any other tenant regardless of your relationship is just good business. Its important to seperate business and personal relationships, and sometimes I think this is what gets lost in translation when it comes to family or friends.

Here are some things that I’ve seen regarding this type of rental:

• The owner never seems to want to run a background check
• they never want them to pay a deposit
• they want to give them “free rent” or a huge discount while they look for a job
• Family or friends become or seem entitled to special requests and take advantage
• Friends or family may hesitate to tell you about maintenance issues because you gave them a break
• They make you feel guilty when you ask for a late fee
• When the property gets damaged, you dont feel comfortable asking for money to make repairs
• Lastly you may have to evict a friend or family member. This is when really go south.

Protecting yourself from a business standpoint is still number one, no matter who you rent to.