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Updated over 11 years ago,
Should I evict this tenant
I have a tenant in one of my $500/month 1 bedroom apartments that I recently gave a 3 day notice to. Normally she would have gotten it much earlier in the month but she told me at the beginning of the month that she just got a new job after being laid off last month and there would be delay in getting her first paycheck. She showed me some paperwork from her new job. She said her paycheck for the first two weeks would be on Friday April 19th and she'd be able to pay the rent and late fee at that point. So I don't hear from her point so I posted a 3 day notice on Monday. Today was the deadline on the notice she she finally texts me and says:
"Patrick, I understand you haven't received rent yet but the money still hasn't been deposited into my account. I've left msg after msg for my supervisor and no response yet. If you can no longer work with me then can you not go through with the eviction I will just go to a shelter." "I will vacate asap or give me a date and I will leave but please can you write up a contract saying I will pay you by a certain date and I will continue working and living at a shelter until I'm able to pay you off but please don't go through with the eviction"
Now this is exactly the situation that makes me hate self managing my properties. She's a single mother with 2 young boys (3 and 4 years old) so that situation always makes me want to help more than I should. Even if I ask her to leave I've had plenty of tenants that told me they'd be out in a week when I gave them the 3 day notice only see that they used that as a stall tactic to delay my eviction by a week. Her rent accounts for less than 2% of my gross monthly rent so it's not a major financial hardship on me but at the same time I'm don't let tenants take advantage of me.
So what's your vote, should I evict her (I can file as soon as tomorrow), ask her to leave (and see if she does) or continue to try to work with her and she if she actually pays (probably a low percentage that she catches back up at this point)? My initial response is to give her until Sunday night to vacate and if she's still there to file the eviction on Monday.