HELP! Advice needed: Delinquent Month to Month Tenant

[Warren Z.]

Hello fellow BP members,

I hope to get some advice on a tenant situation I've been struggling with for the past year.

Tenant moved in a little over a year ago and signed a year lease. Since moving in, they've always paid their rent late (typically 25 days +) but I've kept them on since they made the case that their financial situation was temporary. I had never sent them an eviction letter to date as they would eventually pay rent including the associated late fees. 

I've also had to stay on them every month to maintain the yard work (kept getting HOA letters with heavy fines accruing every month. Luckily I was able to get multiple exceptions from the HOA and get it cleared). Basically, these tenants have been a real pain to deal with and have been slow to respond to communication.

I put them on a month to month lease this past December after having a chat with them. They said that their financial situation was coming to a resolution and  they promised to keep me in the loop and more responsive. Lo and behold, their payments continued to come in 25+ days late and while I was able to collect March rent, they failed to pay any of the late fees this time. 

I've reached out to them multiple times but they've since gone silent and I can't get a hold of them. I don't plan on pushing them out on the streets during this Corona crisis but need to get their attention and take some action. 

Technically speaking, since our contract is month to month, can I just ask them to move at the end of the month? 

If they stayed after I provided the move out notice will I then need to evict?

What action would you take next? 

Thank you in advance for checking out my post. Your advice would be greatly appreciated! 

[Karen F.]

If you are in an area where the courts are closed, and evictions are suspended, you are out of luck.  These people will sit in the unit, not paying you a penny, and when this is all over, they will up and move and you'll be out 6 months' rent.  Or worse, you'll have to evict them, and you'll lose legal fees and even more months of rent.

In future, this is how you deal with late payers.  You express sympathy for their problem.  You wish them the best.  You tell them, "I'm sure you understand that I just have to start the paperwork moving.  I am sure you will clear all this up when your ship comes in.  And I hope you understand that I just have to start the paperwork moving along.  It will only add X dollars for the marshal service fee, (and the lawyer, if you use one).  And if you're able to clear it all up by such and such a date, I won't even have to file the summons and complaint (after which your name would appear in court records), at an added cost of Y dollars.  And even after that, it would still take two weeks to get into court.  So really, it's no problem, just adds some costs to you.

After you do this a few times and it winds up costing them money to get back into good standing, they'll either stop, or you'll wind up evicting them.

With the problem with the courts being closed, you're probably gonna need a really good eviction lawyer.