Non paying Tenant avoiding contact

[Oleksandr Ivanovskiy]

So CoVid showed up at the door. I have this tenant who lost a job and not paying. I offer her reduced rent for few months. The issue is she went into hiding and not responding to my letters or calls.

The truth to be told she was always late on rent even before.

My understanding I can’t evict her for now. What options do I have?

I was thinking to offer her deposit back if she moves out now, but doubt she agrees.

[Nathan Gesner]

Originally posted by @Oleksandr Ivanovskiy:

So CoVid showed up at the door. I have this tenant who lost a job and not paying. I offer her reduced rent for few months. The issue is she went into hiding and not responding to my letters or calls.

The truth to be told she was always late on rent even before.

My understanding I can’t evict her for now. What options do I have?

I was thinking to offer her deposit back if she moves out now, but doubt she agrees.

She was already a problem tenant. She's not avoiding you because of COVID; she's avoiding you because she's a bad renter.

Some states/cities are not allowing Landlords to evict or even give notice. Find out what yours allows. If you are allowed to give notice or evict, start that process immediately. There's no point in trying to call, email, or knock on the door because the tenant doesn't respect you or care about you. Just start the eviction process and get rid of her. Don't give up the deposit because you'll need that to compensate for unpaid rent, cleaning, damages, or legal expenses.

This is true at all times. Landlords spend way too much time chasing their tenants, trying to convince them to pay rent. Your tenant is not stupid. They didn't magically forget rent was due or how they should pay or how much they should pay. They are ignoring you on purpose and harassing them with reminders won't make the situation better. IF anything, send one reminder. After that, follow your eviction process. The tenant will either magically find the money, move out, or dig in and go through the eviction process. Once you've done this a time or two, you'll realize the benefits of having a fairly strict policy with procedures for enforcing it. Your life will be much, much easier!