Advice on late rent please help

[Ryan Keenan]

hey bp,

Need some advice on what seems to be my first problem tenant! This is her first month living there and she is late paying the rent. The lease says to pay by the 9th and today is the 16th. Since she is mailing it to me is it not late if post marked by the 9th? But I live 20mins from the house and there is no way the mail can take that long.

I used a realtor to find this tenant and she tried to pay cash at first, doesn't seem to have a bank account because she gave me a money order and I found out after she was basically already in that she had a prior eviction. 

So my question is, what should I do? To early to try to evict ? I have never done this before so any advice I really appreciate!

Thanks

Ryan

[Michael Noto]

@Ryan Keenan The tenant is lying to you and using the "check got lost in the mail" excuse. It's didn't get lost. She didn't send it, every landlord has been through this. 

This person, as evidence by her prior eviction and her not paying you, either doesn't have any money to pay rent or is a professional tenant that moves from house to house doing this to landlords. Sounds like the agent did not do a background check or hid things about their background from you which is another issue, but nothing you can do about that now. 

I would contact an attorney ASAP and start the eviction process for non payment of rent. Make sure since it sounds like this is your first time going through this that you hire an attorney that specializes in evictions to handle this for you. Connecticut landlord/tenant law is very specific about the process of an eviction.