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! 

[Warren Z.]

@Nathan Gesner - Thanks for the follow up, your comments were helpful. I didn't take it in a negative way :)

It's not a fun situation to be in but if I have to evict, it will provide a good learning experience. Luckily there are a few eviction services in my area that can handle the process once the corona situation is lifted. 

I've just sent the tenant an email documenting the late payments and invited them to jump on a quick call to see if there are some workable options moving ahead. Hopefully they will respond.