Deposit rental income from a tenant I'm evicting?

Question

Hi there,

I have a tenant that I am in the process of evicting due to having two pitbulls.  I served him on 7/15 with the hopes of him being out by 8/15 -- he's still not out but I'm giving him until the end of the month before taking him to court.

He paid full rent on 8/1 in cash (which is how he normally pays).  Is there any reason I shouldn't deposit this money?  Somebody suggested that depositing the rent was essentially an agreement that I'm allowing him to stay and I wanted to get the groups thoughts.

Thanks!Robert.

James Qiu · Answer

@Brent Behoriam what does your 30-day notice say? I assume it terminated the lease on 8/15. If so, you need to return the partial rent after 8/15, even if you allow him to stay pass 8/15. If your city's law is pro-tenant, this may become a technical issue to void your 30-day notice. It's better to be safe, when you're the "evil" landlord.

Thomas S. · Answer

If you are not evicting for non payment then depositing the rent is OK. He still owes the rent regardless of whether he is being evicted.

Edward Schenkel · Answer

@Robert Lindsley, be careful in this situation. Your notice to quit must contain specific language to allow you to accept rent after the notice to quit is served without it interfering with your eviction. You can accept the rent, but the tenant (he would have to be savvy) can argue that by accepting the rent payment after the notice to quit, you created a new lease and you need to start the eviction over. There are pros and cons to accepting the rent. PRo is you get the rent. Con, if he is savvy he can make you re-start the eviction process. You can protect yourself but adding special language to the notice to quit.

If you have any other legal questions, let me know!

Ed (I am a practicing lawyer)

Robert Lindsley · Answer

Yeah, this tenant really likes to shoot his mouth off about everything.  He says it 'just being honest and calling it like it is.'  The life of an investor/property manager lol.

I have an attorney for closings but they don't do evictions.  I'll line up an attorney that's local to Norwich for those.  I'm still doing small PA's (<10 units), but hopefully I'll be doing larger ones soon.

Thanks!Robert.

Jonathan Makovsky · Answer

What a jerk-thing to say! My only other advice is I would speak to an attorney that ONLY (or primarily) focuses on evictions. I use 3 attorneys regularly for my business (and more on certain deals): 1 for evictions, 1 for small purchase agreements, and 1 for larger transactions.

Robert Lindsley · Answer

Thanks @Jonathan Makovsky.  It sounds like I need to speak with a lawyer before making a final decision what to do.

Also, thanks for the clarification on landlord favorability.  This will be my first potential eviction, so hopefully it isn't too tough.  The tenant has made jokes about how 'he's going to live rent-free for a year.'  Hopefully that doesn't happen!

Thanks,

Robert.

Jonathan Makovsky · Answer

*Also, I am not sure if I would go as far to say that Connecticut law is not very favorable to landlords. We have yet to have anyone out in 3 days, even once we received an execution.

Jonathan Makovsky · Answer

If it's in CT, my understanding is that you serve a Notice-to-Quit - which is intended to "quit" the tenancy - than you can still accept money, but it is not collected as rent, rather it is collected as "Use-and-Occupancy". However, I would STRONGLY advise you speak to an attorney before taking any advice.

Good luck! :)

Robert Lindsley · Answer

Hi @Deanna McCormick.  Thanks again for your help with this.  He normally pays rent on the first and the lease is month-to-month.  Either of us can terminate the lease with 30 days notice for no reason.  I gave him verbal notice on 7/1 and followed-up with an official 30 day or quit notice (delivered by a Marshall) on 7/15.

He's been trying to find a place to live (I believe he's been looking in good faith) but hasn't found anything.  On 8/15 I offered him a cash bonus to be out by the end of the month.  If he's not out by 9/1 I'm going to need to contact a lawyer and proceed with eviction.

So his official written notice was delivered 7/15 and he paid his full month rent on 8/1, which I have not yet deposited.

Connecticut tenant laws seem very favorable to the landlord (I could have him out in 3 days if I went to court), but I'm trying to keep it civil.

Thanks!

Deanna McCormick · Answer

When is his rent due ? the 1st  of month... If so your 30 day notice of non renewal (not technically an eviction) if given on the 15th of July, would give him proper notice to vacate on or before 8/31.. a full 1 month period.. you can't split the month if rent is due on the 1st..

So if he paid his rent for the month of August.. in full, Deposit it.

Sounds like to me you gave him improper notice,, so to be safe I'd send him a move out reminder that his lease ends the 31 of August...  So would be helpful to us if you can clarify what his lease term is.. For non-renewal on a lease you don't have to give a reason for non-renewal.

Download your landlord tenant laws for your state..

Next phase is if he fails to vacate.. you then give him notice that you will file for cause failure to vacate after proper notice...

YOU JUST need to make sure your Written NON-renewal notice was properly given and posted, and mailed.. or you MAY have to start all over again...

Deposit rental income from a tenant I'm evicting?

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