Tenant Says He's Leaving

[Daniel H.]

I have a tenant who says that he is moving out at the end of this month. He did not pay rent for this month and does not plan on paying. It is not worth it for me to take him to court for the rent since I would not get anything out of him.

I am okay with the situation, I just want to make sure he is out by the end of the month. What is my best way to make sure this happens? Give him a summons and start the eviction process just in case? He has received a 14 day notice in the past 12 mo so I do not need to serve another one(MA).

Also it is a month-to-month rental agreement.

Thanks.

[Kyle J.]

I would start the eviction process and serve the tenant with a "pay or quit" notice. (I think it's a 14-day pay or quit notice in your state.) But you can always check here for more info:

http://www.mass.gov/courts/courtsandjudges/courts/housingcourt/housingquestions.html

Just because he says he's going to move out on a given date, doesn't mean he actually will. He may just be trying to delay and stay there as long as he can rent-free. (Hopefully you collected a security deposit to help offset some of your losses.)

Also, just because he was served with a notice in the past year doesn't mean it's still valid and that you don't have to serve him with another one. Generally speaking, if you serve a tenant with a pay or quit notice, and then they pay you, that cancels the notice and you would have to serve them again if they failed to pay again.