Nonpaying Tenant Joined Army

[Aaron Mazzrillo]

I have a tenant who decided since he signed up for the Army and is leaving for boot camp in a few months, he doesn't have to pay rent any longer. I filed eviction, but have been tossing around the idea of calling the local recruiters to find out which one signed him up. When I was in the Navy, a shipmate was booted out for bouncing checks. The military doesn't like people with personal debt as it has the potential to corrupt their security. Now, that was many years ago and I'm sure they have only gotten stricter on their recruiting policies. Since I have his SSN, my second thought was to just get the judgement on him, then wait till after he ships off to boot camp and notify the people in charge once he's gone. I am sure it will be easy to doc his pay once he is in. Any thoughts?

[Greg Fend]

If you read into the SCRA, it provides some protections for debts incurred *prior* to entering military service. If your tenant has in fact already signed his contract, any debts incurred after should not be covered by SCRA.

This is not legal advice, nor am I a lawyer...just my experience from over 15 years of active military service (and still going!)

Greg