Tenant 2 Months Late & sent 1 Months Rent after 3 Day Notice

[Steven Scott]

Hello, I have an apartment in Los Angels Ca. (Landlord Hell) LOL. I have a tenant 2 months late with their rent and I just gave them a 3 day notice. after the notice they sent me last months rent.This would be a partial payment as they still owe for this month. Should I cash the check? Would that void the notice? Would I have to have another 3 day notice?

[Marc Winter]

Don't know CA laws, but here we would definitely cash the check, issue another 3-day notice with corrected amounts, and either they bring current, or they get evicted.  Don't quite understand why they were allowed to get to 2 months behind, but that's the past--now you must work on going forward and not allowing that to happen again.

In PA, we can get a tenant evicted for non-payment in 45--60 days.  If we waited till they were 2 months behind, that would end up being 4 months lost rent PLUS court, constable, lock change and other costs.