@Judy Parker how you choose to operate your business is up to you. This isn't emotional. It's business. The tenant passed my screening process and then decided to not pay in spite of gainful employment, refused a cash for keys option to leave, and stayed until the day before the sheriff was scheduled to come out. This isn't my first rodeo, and I don't need the learning experience, or to "let go" of a $3,000 debt. At minimum, it's getting attached to the tenant's credit so that the next landlord who screens them has some indication of their willingness to pay. If I'd had the luxury of seeing this person was a deadbeat tenant before screening them, this would have been avoided.
Call what I'm doing a public service for future landlords. Or call it "emotions". I am glad that you have the luxury of allowing tenants to steal $3,000 from you and calling it "a lousy $3,000", but not all of us look at it that way. If someone mugged you on the street for $3,000, I am sure you wouldn't feel the same way, and I don't look at it any differently. It's landlords like you who "let it go" that cause future landlords to get jammed up when bad tenants pass the screening process due to lazy landlording.
As for your tip -- we already have a 5 day grace period, and file shortly after if the tenant has made it clear they will not pay. Assuming you are a New Jersey landlord, you know that the eviction process is quite time consuming, between getting everything filed and then waiting on a court date, finding out your court date is a month away, then showing up and hoping you win the judgement on day 1 without the tenant causing any further issues (like another court day). The reason this debt is high is because the eviction process, followed by the warrant of removal, took a long time.
