New tenant is really late

[Kevin Barnard]

What's up BP been a while. I purchased a triplex OOS in November . Two of my inherited tenants always pay on time or within a few day . Now the 3rd cost me a bunch of money by leaving with no notice and trashing the place . Got it all fixed up and leased.

New tenant moved in , paid rent in full and deposit . A month later wasn't able to pay full rent balance including late fee until the 28th. He was in communication with property manager the entire time and made partial payments . Now here we go a week later next months rent is due. We give a grace period of 5 days . On the 5th day he said he can't pay until the 12th .  3 day notices are posted on the 6th which only gives him till the 9th . My property manager asked how I want to proceed . Eviction will likely lead to more cost on my end if needed. 

I'm worried this will continue over and over and the more I let it happen the more it is likely in the event of an eviction a judge will say " you have always let him pay late "

Property is a triplex in central Florida, a small town called Sebring .  I really have no compensation for late payments as my property manger takes the late fee. 

I emailed property management and told them to let him know it's unacceptable and payment is due in 3 days or vacate the premises. Also I'm not sure she has solid standards for verifying income which I stated needs to be addressed in the future . 

My question is what would you do? Make him leave or accept rent on the 12th  ?

[Greg Scott]

Kevin:

Yeah, this is always one of the biggest challenges of landlording.  Making exceptions always seems to get you in trouble in the long run.   In my experience you only want to give exceptions to people who have earned trust over a long period of time.

I would think of your business as a machine. 3-day notices always on the 6th.  On the 9th the eviction process starts.   If the tenant wants to stop the eviction process they must pay rent, late fees, and any legal fees incurred to reset the machine.   If they don't pay in full, get them out.  

And, I speak from personal experience, that you are right.  A liberal judge will suggest that you trained them to pay late if you keep preventing your machine from doing its job.