Eviction in Hoboken - Please HELP!

[Winn L.]

Hello everyone,

We wish to evict our tenant in our Hoboken condo.  He has not paid Dec and Jan rent so far.  Previously he was late in payment for October (where he insisted on using his business checks for payment and dragging his feet to come up with personal checks) and November (where the late fee was waived because he said his grandpa was admitted to the hospital).  

After reading your posts and research on the web, now i feel like a sucker for waiving the late fee as that could work against us.  Also i learned later that he falsified his lease application by including his business bank account info, as opposed to his personal account.  He had well over $100k as on May but he said he had used it to make some investments.   He has also habitually lied about having made payments.  i.e. claimed to have sent certified checks from bank to us, claimed to left money order with our doorman, claimed to have mailed checks via USPS... all LIES.. Sigh. 

Anyways, i filed the Summons and Complaint on my own and submitted to the Court.  The trial date is sometime in mid February.  

We are new in this area and would appreciate any advice from you.   I am just a bit stressed as i have accepted his $500 partial payment for December rent.  However i sent him a letter outlining the remaining balance due (after giving effect to the $500) via email and hand-delivered letter.  Also we only got one month deposit from him and he is currently 2 months overdue.  Plus he would damage our apartment and request to delay the trial. I am freaking out!

Should we hire an attorney?  is it too late?  I feel comfortable presenting our case to the judge but not certain if I have covered all the legal technicalities.   I will bring all relevant documentation with me of course but wondering if i can bring a payment schematic /one-pager that will explain our case?   Will the judge even bother to look at it?  Also we had quite a lot of text exchanges, do you think i should get a transcript our conversation?  

Any advice appreciated!

[Neil Schoepp]

@Winn L.

DO NOT ACCEPT ANY MORE PARTIAL RENT PAYMENTS. A partial payment resets the clock. 

First, this is not the end of the world. Sooner or later everyone goes through this. It may not seem like it now but you will come out of this a much stronger and smarter investor. I am from PA so I will not and cannot talk to NJ law. I can however suggest a few things.

1. No it's not to late to hire an attorney. This is an option since this is your first eviction. If you choose this route make sure you hire one that has specific experience in evictions. You should also try and find one that will do it on a flat rate.

2. Here in PA evictions are fairly straight forward. The judge wants to make sure that the law was followed so as long as I have served the correct papers at the correct time and in the correct fashion I will not have a problem. 

3.  If you haven't seen it yet take a look at NJ Eviction Law. Even if you choose to hire an attorney you should be familiar with this. 

Remember that you will make it through this and that your next tenant will be a much better one.

To your success.