All Forum Posts by: Rick M.

 Thank you, I did screen all aspects and everything looked good in the beginning but the biggest problems seems to be the renter big off more than they can chew. Why do renters do that when there is cheaper around? He had no evictions, good credit, rental history and now he is facing an eviction. I can't imagine someone with this history so fiscally irresponsible!

If a tenant is constantly paying late and there seems to be a clear sign of struggle in finances, wouldn't I be doing a dis-service by offering the tenant to renew their lease and continue the vicious cycle?

A few questions below:

Are renters in general bad at managing finances? My unit cost 3k/month to rent but you can get cheaper units for much less. My tenant is constantly late, which is a clear sign of financial issues. He is too prideful to admit he doesn't have the cash and even had a family member send part of his rent for one month. Now he has a baby on the way, so I know there will be more expenses. His lease is expiring soon. Is it wrong for me to end his lease considering he has a infant?

Lastly, if he ends up failing to pay rent and is one month behind on rent, do I make him pay both months together as one payment or accept 2 different payments (one for each month)?

I just spoke to a friend as he is also a landlord but he seems to very loose in his management of properties. Am I being too strict or is he being too relaxed?

My question here is when do landlords file for eviction after non-payment? How many days is the standard?

According to my friend, he is saying give them 2 months, but my realtor is pushing us to send eviction letters after 5 days passed the due date stating we could file for an eviction after the 15th of non-payment.

My landlord/tenant contract states pay rent by the 5th of the month by 5 p.m. During the first year, my tenant failed to pay rent on time and sometimes we had to threaten him with eviction letters. We reluctantly signed a 2nd year with him because we did get all of his late payments and the property was taken care of.

During the 2nd year, I let one late payment slide as a courtesy due to tenant family circumstances. But I have been keeping up with all other late payments. But during the month of July, he was completely unable to pay in a timely manner. So I had to file for a dispossessory proceeding, but it was short lived because I received rent from him on the 15th of the July. So I cancelled it.

Then in the month of August, he failed to pay on time so I have now filed a dispossessory proceeding and it is now the 15th and still no payment. I am being advised by my realtor to evict him due to the fact that we are having to chase him every month with late notices and the recent delays in payment.

1. Do I need to get a lawyer involved for our court date? Or try to represent myself?
2. Am I being too extreme or is this normal for a land lord to evict a tenant solely based on excessively late rent
3. Does the tenant have any advantage he could use against me? i.e. could he say I didn't enforce my contract by charging him late fees, hence, I rendered the contract invalid and can't evict him? Or some reason like that.