preparing for a post-CDC eviction moratorium

[Nathan Williams]

So I have a tenant who is totally taking advantage of this moratorium in Indiana... went from paying rent to serving me the CDC affidavit and havent got a penny since.  I am now preparing to evict asap after the moratorium expires.  I've been talking with attorneys and actually getting mixed answers on if I can still serve an eviction notice during the moratorium but just schedule the eviction court hearing after the year is over.  One said yes but another said no.  Does anyone have any insight on this regard?  Thanks 

[Kay Martin]

Hi Nathan,

I have a 'Professional Tenant' that was not paying rent even before COVID. The moratorium just made it worse. 

The truth is, if the tenants are not making any attempts to pay now (not even making a partial payment), the Landlord will likely not get paid when the moratorium ends. My tenant only made 4 payments in 14 months. I finally evicted her 7 days ago. But Landlords CANNOT evict for non-payment of rent. I waited until the lease expired, then filed eviction based on the fact the Tenant is a holdover/ trespassing without a lease. She lived in the property 60 days after the lease expired and paid no rent.

The moratorium states Tenants cannot be evicted for none payment of rent. But, tenants can be evicted on other grounds (like rowdy behavior where police are called numerous times, and any other lease violation... Landlords can evict as long as you don't request the back rent/ none payment of rent.   

I decided to just cut my losses, and just get her out because this tenant will likely never pay months and months of back rent.  She's getting the Stimulus checks, but still not making any offer to pay any rent. The moratorium is totally unfair to landlords. Let's face it, the government will not force these tenants to pay landlords back rent when all this is over. Landlords are 'on our own'. Landlords do not get a Stimulus check.

 The government should have only released checks to tenants that prove they are making some type of attempts to pay the rent/ mortgage. Even if the tenant only pays $50 or $100 that shows the tenant is trying. There is no enforcement to help landlords.      

If  a tenant walks into Walmart and marches out with a grocery cart full of UNPAID groceries, the tenant would face jail time for robbery. Yet some opportunistic tenants rob landlords under protection of the moratorium. 

 Fortunately, all tenants are not opportunists. I have one tenant who missed 1 month of rent, but he makes it up by paying $100 extra per month on his lease, now that he's working again. 

Yes, landlords can ruin a tenants credit, but that still does not compensate the hundreds of millions of dollars, loss to landlords, collectively. I'm sure some landlords may even lose their properties by the time all of this is over. 

Some landlords is Texas are no longer giving new leases. I've lost even more money taking this tenant to court. But if I can get her out, that at least stopes the wear and tear on the house. The tenant can go and stay somewhere else for free.

I don't have a group of investors helping me. My properties are funded from my retirement 401K.  I plan to retire in 5 years. I cannot afford a freeloader.