Eviction help in CT

[Warren Garceau]

Hey BP friends, I am currently in the process of my first formal eviction of a property we purchased back in September. This process is newer to me and I was hoping to find out if there are any tips or suggestions to consider as I am proceeding? Additionally I though my situation and questions may help others. Thanks for any help.

A little background on the situation: We inherited this tenant with the building at purchase. The tenant had been living at the property for the past 4 years. When her lease was up in November she renewed and we were happy to have the unit rented. From the beginning the rent has always been paid on time and with the exception of a few small things here and there I really did not see this person as one of the tenants I was most concerned about.

Well back in February I reach out to this renter and was concerned because I had not received her rent payment which was odd. It took a day or so but she got back to me and said that she was going to be late with the rent and needed a few more day. A small piece to this story that I have not shared is that her father had been paying her rent (by check) to us since we purchase of the property. Again, we did not think about this "shame on me" but rent was being paid and the tenant did not seem to be a concern. 

It made it to mid-February and we had still not been paid rent. The story from the tenant was that her father was in Florida and will be returning in a week he just purchased a home down there with his girlfriend... Now I knew there is something going on. 

During this time we had been converting over all our tenants to pay us electronically via Cozy and so to make sure I covered my basis I offered several solutions for her to communicate with her father and have him pay us via the app. The tenant said they would contact father and have it all taken care of. 

Of course didn't happen and this gets us to March 1st. And then the story became it was the dads new girlfriends fault. After a bunch of conversations with the tenant and story after story rent has still not been paid and we have now moved into the eviction process. 

We served the Notice to Quit on the 11th and gave the tenant the three days notices per CT law. They have still not moved out however have started that they plan to. I received a text last night at 2AM stating " I went to the housing court about the notice to quit stating to vacate in 3 days. Housing court said now I have to get eviction notice because because there was no possible way to move out in 3 days. I am packing up and looking for a new place to live."

This is where my question lies. I have done cash for keys before and it worked very well to get a tenant to move out. This tenant is not being nasty but she does not seem to have the means to pay rent $1250/month).  I still plan proceeding with the eviction process but  does anyone have a good alternatives in the meantime to help encourage /assist this tenant to vacate my unit faster?  

I don't know if she capable of getting all the stuff she has out of this apartment in a timely manner and the time she takes to figure this out at the end of the day is costing us.

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated thanks!