Tenant Has Stopped Paying Rent

[Enyi Ajoku]

Hello everyone and hope you're doing well. I would like some insight to my present situation, i know we are not lawyers but i would like to listen to different opinions with the hope of gaining some knowledge.

I have a tenant who moved-in in September, we went through the process of vetting, called his work place, his background check came back clean. One thing i did notice was that he didn't have a rental history (red flag i guess) but when i asked he said he leaved in another city with family and has never had the need to rent.

September and October rents were paid on time but after that from October to February his rent payment was a hassle to get as we had to call till they were finally paid.

Then came the Covid-19, we tried to worked something out. We stopped collecting late fee and reduced the rent as we were all facing difficult times and agreed in writing once the states opens up we would return to regular rent payment as stipulated on the lease.I required some documents from him to confirm he was out of work and his document showed he's been out of work since November.

We've not received any rent since March, i reached out to him and he complained he was holding back rent because there are things in the property that needs to be fixed threatening to call an inspection officer to the house. I sent out my contractor to get everything he stated and much more fixed.

Reached out to him again after his grievances had been met, now he's saying he would pay me weekly based on what he has and that he would pay the rest of the rent with this girlfriend's tax returns .

So bear in mind that his lease expires in September, here are my thought: do i start eviction now, i dont think the courts are accepting eviction cases but i may be wrong, also there's also an eviction freeze in New York till July.

Or wait till September to terminate the contract and go after him with the court.

Thank You for your response

[Nathan Gesner]

This has clearly gone beyond your skill level. Hire an attorney, do it right, do it as quickly as possible, seek a judgment for anything unpaid, and then mentally write it off because you're unlikely to see a dime.

In the future, you should consider hiring a professional property manager. Assuming rent is $1,000 a month, you've already lost a minimum of $5,000 which would pay for 2-3 years of professional management and save you a lot of time, effort, and stress. There's no reason why this tenant couldn't pay rent with the stimulus income and unemployment boost of $600 per week. The average unemployed person could earn $3,600 in just one month of unemployment and stimulus, on top of their regular unemployment. There's almost no excuse for not paying.