Zelle problem if you want to evict

[Mark Forest]

After a discussion with other landlords I have discovered a potential problem with Zelle. What happens when you are actively trying to evict an uncooperative tenant? Let’s say the tenant is intentionally or carelessly damaging your property, or he has acquired a pet in violation of your lease, etc. If you go to court after filing your state’s required eviction paperwork, and the first of the month comes up there is no way to refuse your tenant’s payment. So the tenant can keep paying you, and the judge will say that since you have “accepted” the rent payment your case of eviction is dismissed. Sure you don’t want to take the payment, but Zelle is going to put it there anyway.

When I contacted Zelle about this they said I would have to “contact the sender.” Well the sender is my uncooperative tenant, so that won’t help me. The Zelle employee then suggested I contact my bank to see if they could somehow refuse to accept my payment from the uncooperative tenant. I will call my bank Monday to see if they can do this.

For me this is strictly a hypothetical problem now, but I could see this becoming an issue based upon my years of experience as a landlord. Once you enroll in Zelle it will be up to your bank to help you out from what I have learned.