Tenant not paying rent prior to move out

[Christopher Munson]

I have a long term tenant in a SFH at $1766/mo that I contacted on November 8 to provide notice they would need to purchase the house or vacate by Feb 1. They were very interested in purchasing, and I gave him my mortgage broker's #, which he did contact. The tenant (male with Father cosigner, has wife and 2 teen kids living there) has good history other than occasional lateness (1 week), but always caught up with fees. They pay rent by depositing to my bank account by the 5th. At the time I contacted them, the Nov rent had been paid. Yesterday I checked the bank account to confirm Dec rent had been paid on time, but it had not, and the Nov rent check had bounced (which my bank never informed me of). I contacted them yesterday to find out what's going on and if they planned to move out or purchase. He told me they can't afford to purchase, they have to use their money for security on their new place, and they'll be out by Jan 1. In his mind, we have their security and last month, which should cover it. I explained what security deposit is for and that we did not collect last month rent at lease signing, and he needs to pay Nov and Dec rent Asap. He is offering to pay $1k this Friday and $1k two weeks later, and "go from there". He has a cosigner that had great income and credit 9 years ago. I told him I look forward to receiving the $1k this Friday and hearing confirmation of their move out date. I think my best option is to play nice, get what money I can through Jan 1, and then assess damages once they're out to decide if the damages are worth a small claims court suit against him and cosigner. If he fails on payments, is there any benefit to eviction notice assuming he follows through on move out by Jan 1? I think if I don't have payment and they're not out by Jan 1 (or scheduled reasonably close to that day), then I have to initiate eviction. Ideas from the landlord community?

[Roy N.]

Originally posted by @Ihe O.:

Yes profit is dependent on tenants paying their rent. 

I have tenants who regularly breach the terms of their lease but they pay the rent.

If you want to run your business by being in and out of court and sending letters and notices to and fro because of your contracts you can but to me that says you are not in control of your business - your contracts are.

Ihe:

Not only do I disagree, but believe you are trying to be inflammatory.

I would counter that if you have tenants who regularly breach the terms of their lease, then they are controlling the agenda of your business, not you.  There is a world of difference between the tenant who comes to you in advance to indicate impending turbulence in their ability to pay their rent on time and the one who simply does not pay and says nothing - one is a "good" tenant with a problem, the other is irresponsible at best or simply a problem coming to fruition.

If you screen well and clearly articulate - up front when the lease is signed - your expectations of the tenant and the course of action that will ensue in the event of a breach, you will spend surprisingly little time sending notices or going to court.  In all the years we've been doing this, we've never had to evict a tenant we've placed {we've evicted a few inherited tenants} and have only been to court twice ... and we have 50+  tenants {and growing}.

Your contracts, and systems (processes & procedures) are just instruments you use to steer your business of providing service to your clients and, while it is your obligation to provide quality and value in your product and services, it is the client's obligation to pay for those products or services as per the agreement.

It is really that simple.