Problem voucher tenant threatens to squat

[Heather Canoles]

My cursed rental continues. 

Balto County voucher tenant stopped paying rent in sept. Gave til end of sept to pay or be evicted. Went to courthouse on Oct1 to file, but law had just changed saying I needed to use their form to give notice to tenant. So wouldn't have been able to file until mid-october now with lease up at 10/31. 

Decided to just have the tenant move out when the lease was up and not file yet, probably a mistake in hindsight. 

Tenant texts me today saying bring security deposit to final walkthrough or he can't move out. I say, 'you didn't pay rent for 2 months so the deposit will be kept'. He then says bring it or i won't leave and spend 4 months evicting me. 

I have a lot of choice words for the type of person this is. 

I am just going to refund the deposit so he gets the heck out, but do I have any other recourse with the housing agency maybe? I want to file a complaint. This guy should not be able to prey on other landlords with the support of the state/county. 

[Teresa F.]

You mentioned this was a voucher tenant.  You may want to send a copy of his text to his caseworker along with mentioning that he hasn't paid for two months and now he is making threats.  You are notifying the caseworker because you would not want a further landlord to be saddled with this type of burden and you are hoping that the caseworker can discuss the tenant obligations with him.  Of course, you should notify your tenant that you are notifying his caseworker.