Should I Evict??
I let a company do my tenant screening...and let's just say I won't be using them again!
There one and only "gift" to me was a teant that has been late every month since he started renting from me in June. He paid June & July in July and promised to be a good boy. Aug & Sept have passed with no rent. I don't put up with a lot of excuses. Aug. 5 I posted 10 day notice. Then I filed small claims, then went to court, then filed writ of possession. Of course all this takes TIME...waiting...waiting.
IN the meantime, he keeps promising by next Friday, By Tues, be WEds. Not a dollar has materialized yet. He did try to give me a check, but before accepting I called his bank and there were not funds.
I am scheduled to meet Sheriff on Tues to say "Goodbye".
Now I have a call from him saying he is coming this evening to pay up. I am thinking I should just get the past due monies, and tell him he still needs to move on. However, I dread Tues, and envision his wife crying (she probably doesn't even know - she wasn't on the lease), etc
Someone told me I ought to give him another chance, after all he is promising to mend his ways. Is a late tenant that eventually pays better than an empty home?
If it were me he would have been gone in August. I would not wait any longer to evict. Keep in mind this is a business and not a charity.
That's what I thought. Beleive it or not, I started eviction in August...it has just taken this long to go through the whole process. (Wait 5 days for late period, post 10 day notice, file small claims and wiat for it to be served and court scheduled, attend court and get judgement, wait 10 days to see if he appeals, file writ of possession, wait for sherriff to schedule eviction) That is why I jump on things. I will file papers even if he says he will be paying me the next day. I can always retractif he does actually pay. My goodness, if I had waited every time he said just a few more days, this could have dragged out until Christmas!
64ford
I dislike my tenants paying late as well. I will not let them get a month behind on their rent. If the money is not in my hands by the 5th of the month I am giving them notice of over due rent. At the end of seven days, I am at the county clerks office filing paper work for eviction. The next week we go to court, the week afterward, they are out. That is still 26 days of free rent for them.
However, I ask for the first and last months rent plus deposit. It cost a lot of money doing all of this. I tell you there is nothing like screening to prevent having to go through this process.
Now, should they come to me and pay the rent in full, I tact on $100 plus late fees for have to go through the eviction process.
Another investor friend told me, " you have to train your tenants, once you have them trained they will not try to pull one over you".
64ford this may sound a little cold but, how would your mortgage company view you if you started paying your note in this manner. It is a business and there is no room for being soft or you will soon find yourself out of business.
It's your call. If you have just this one property, exercise your legal remedies to evict.
If you have many positive cash flow properties, and you believe this tenant will mend his ways then you might want to give him a chance. Talk to him and his wife in the unit and give them the facts of life. Maybe, if his wife takes over the bill paying your problem will resolve itself.
I once had a tenant who was perpetually late, but always paid the rent plus the late fee plus the sheriff's service fee -- every month. This went on for about three years, until this tenant decided not to renew her lease.
This did not cost me any time or effort because I was using a professional property management company. While the rent was always late, it did always come in.
64 Ford,
I used to teach school and I noticed a funny thing there. You take a group of kids and put them in one class, they are out of control. You take the same group of kids and but them with a different teacher, they are like angels. So what's the difference? Training.
The first month you let your tenet give you money late without hefty fines, you trained him that giving the money late was ok. Your continued extensions only served to bear out your tenets belief that he can pay you on his schedule.
Unfortunately, you will probably never be able to make right be this tenet, but for the next one, let me give you some advice.
Rules for Tenet Training:
#1: Never go to collect the rent. If you show up to collect, you are saying that it is only their obligation to pay, not to deliver on time. I don't let my tenets mail it either. They are instructed to take the rent to the bank so I can check for the deposit online.
#2: When the money is late. Firstly, you should have a due date and a late date and make very clear in the lease that the eviction process starts automatically on the day after the late date. My rents are due on the first, they are late by the 5th. The tenets know that they have to have the rent by the first or contact me. If I haven't heard by the fifth, I automatically start the eviction process. When the sheriff shows up, I usually get a call and they apologise for being late and promise to pay with back fees. I tell them that if they have the money today, I'll stop the eviction process. At this point, most tenets know I'm serious. When they pay I let them no that this was their only chance to have an eviction stopped, and that trust is very important in the landlord tenet relationship. Usually that's it.
#3: Asking for more time. The First time they ask, you have to make a huge deal out of it. Remind them that your mortgage is due when their rent is due. You'll be borrowing money from family to cover them this month but you'll never do it again. Then when they call next month (they will) your answer is that you are empathetic with their situation but that since they cannot afford your rental, it's time for them to move on. Then let them know that if they don't have the money in full by the fifth, you will evict as the law requires. As remind them that if they are evicted they forfeit their rights to the deposit. That usually gets your money on the fifth.
#4 After all else. Evict. Bite the bullet. They have to know you're serious. Someone is always in control of the situation, and if it isn't you....it's them.
Hope this Helps
Quote:Then let them know that if they don't have the money in full by the fifth, you will evict as the law requires. Savvy,
Good post.
Just to clarify, the law does not require an eviction. It just specifies the circumstances under which a landlord is entitled to use this remedy.
I agree with you. Possibly, this tenant may have already trained the landlord, and the odds are against turning the situation around.
64Ford,
Waiting only adds to your frustration, and as has already been said screening is important. I use my Gut to evaluate perspective tenant’s along with a service here in the LA area called the “Apartment Owners Association”. For $11 they provide a credit check and an Unlawful Detainer (previous record of evection) finding and I get the tenant to pauy for it. Additionally I look at their car call two previous landlords and how they pay their little bills (pone electric ect.). I also require renters insurance. We all get a charity case from time to time. I like to help people out. I was once was in bad straits and someone people helped. It can only go so far though.
I vote evict. In CA our process is a little different, and I use leases to insure I can rid myself of nasty problems, however some people disagree because of the leasehold interest in the property.
Remember if you accept ANY MONEY less than all that is due you constructively acknowledge acceptance of payment and you lost with the evection.
All my rental agreements require a security deposit of 1.5 months, NO last month. If they damage your property and they live out the last month you have to go to court to hope to get some of it back.
I also write in a substantial late fee after three days.
As for training the tenants…good advice!!!
Just my thoughts…
JBW
This may sound crazy, but I have paid late tenants $100 just to move out. It costs me upwards of $300 in court costs to evict and the whole process can take up to two months. A security deposit negates one month, but the other month and the legal costs are gone. It is easy to get a judgment but collecting on a judgment is difficult.
I offer them a hundred bucks to hand in the keys by a certain date and they leave. It saves me court costs and fees and I'm only out $100 as opposed to Court costs plus lost revenue on the unit while the legal process slowly grinds.
Just a thought
Quote:
On 2003-09-26 17:16, DaveT wrote:
Quote:Then let them know that if they don't have the money in full by the fifth, you will evict as the law requires. Savvy,
Good post.
Just to clarify, the law does not require an eviction. It just specifies the circumstances under which a landlord is entitled to use this remedy.
Of course it doesn't. I sometimes resort to this kind of language when things are getting serious. "Allows" is probably the correct term.