Extension of Eviction Moratorium through September?!

[Kate Williams]

I learned today that Kate Brown extended the eviction Moratorium in Pdx for another 3 months. My tenants haven't paid rent since March and say they will not pay rent again until October... What  options do we have as landlords to recoup lost rent?  I know that the ordinance says that tenants are required to repay past rent, but I'm thinking they're going to bail on the 17K that they are going to owe me.... I support many tenant rights laws, but this is ridiculous.  No requirement for evidence of lost income?  No repayment plan required? No partial payments?  6 mo of no income and I still have a mortgage to pay!

[Kyle J.]

California just did the same thing (extended the eviction moratorium through the end of September), and I foresee more places doing the same as this drags on.

Thankfully, all of my tenants are still paying, but I feel for you and others who have tenants that are not. 

I do have to comment on one of the above posts that recommends "If the tenants have been good tenants this whole time it may be worthwhile to just grin and bear it".  Sorry, but that's ridiculous.  No "good tenants" would tell you that they're not paying rent for half a year.  Period.  In fact, the fact that they haven't paid rent for several months AND are telling you in advance that they're not going to pay you rent in the future too, tells me it's not even about an inability to pay, but more about a choice and unwillingness to pay.  That is inexcusable. 

If it were me, I'd file for eviction on someone like that the moment I could, take them to small claims court to try to recover every dollar that they owed me, and send them to collections and make sure whatever the past due amount ended up being was reported on their credit report (you don't even need a court judgment to do that by the way) so that other responsible landlords who bother to check credit could be forewarned about these deadbeat tenants.  Plus, if they ever wanted that negative entry off their credit, they'd have to pay what they owed me.  

This is just crazy and sad what some of these tenants are putting some landlords through (and getting away with for the most part).