{"id":53222,"date":"2014-01-20T12:37:01","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T19:37:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/renewsblog\/?p=53222"},"modified":"2021-03-16T10:15:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T16:15:20","slug":"2014-01-20-tenant-lost-job-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/2014-01-20-tenant-lost-job-now","title":{"rendered":"My Tenant Lost Their Job \u2013 Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"

People lose their jobs.\u00a0 They can get laid off or fired.\u00a0 Companies can go bankrupt.\u00a0 There are a host of other reasons why someone might loose their job but a sudden job loss obviously means a loss of income.\u00a0 If the person has no or very few cash reserves things can get dicey for them pretty quick.\u00a0 They may be making decisions between food, utilities, gas and rent.<\/p>\n

If you are a landlord for any length of time, eventually one of your tenants will loose their job.\u00a0 What happens then?\u00a0 Some tenants will be up front with you and tell you early on and work with you.\u00a0 Others will put their heads in the sand and hope things quietly blow over.<\/p>\n

So what should you as a landlord do then you get the call saying \u201cI\u2019ve lost my job and can\u2019t pay my rent.\u201d from one of your tenants?\u00a0 Should you move to evict right away?<\/p>\n

Perhaps there is a better way<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Be kind and understanding<\/strong> \u2013 This is especially true if they have been a good paying tenant.\u00a0 They are probably embarrassed about being in this situation.\u00a0 Don\u2019t pile more on top of them.\u00a0 However\u2026.<\/li>\n
  2. Counsel Them<\/strong> \u2013 Ask if they think they will be getting a new job soon.\u00a0 Ask if they can get help from family and friends.\u00a0 Be gentle but direct.\u00a0 Ask them how they think they will be able to pay the rent.<\/li>\n
  3. Be Firm But Fair<\/strong> \u2013 Help them understand that you have bills to pay as well and that they cannot stay if the cannot pay.\u00a0 You can certainly work with them by giving them some time or perhaps a discount.\u00a0 How much and how long is up to you and your tenant\/landlord relationship<\/a>.\u00a0 But you also should\u2026..<\/li>\n
  4. Encourage Definitive Action<\/strong> \u2013 Ask them to set a specific date for getting a new job or acquiring the money to pay you.\u00a0 How far out this date should be or how much time you want to allow is again up to you.\u00a0 If that date comes with out any payment, then\u2026..<\/li>\n
  5. Encourage Them To Move<\/strong> \u2013 Do this as quickly as possible.\u00a0 Your goal now is to get possession of your rental unit back asap so you can get income flowing again.\u00a0 Encourage your tenant to move in with parents, friends, whatever.\u00a0 Again be firm.\u00a0 Make the point again that they cannot stay.<\/li>\n
  6. Set A Date For Them To Move Out<\/strong> \u2013 If after a reasonable amount of time (that you have decided upon) there does not appear to be any prospect of getting paid set a firm date with your tenant for them to be out of the premises without any legal action. Yes, you might have to use the stick of legal action to get someone motivated.\u00a0 Explain that you do not want to pile an eviction on top of their already large load of problems.\u00a0 But you will.\u00a0\u00a0 You can also use a carrot.\u00a0 Tell them they can get their security deposit back if the unit is clean and undamaged and that you will let them out of their lease.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. If All Else Fails, Evict<\/a> \u2013<\/strong> Rarely have we had to go this far, but we have had to use the threat.\u00a0 Most people realize that they can\u2019t stay and will move on.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Losing a job sucks.\u00a0 While we landlords can and perhaps should be understanding and even sympathetic, we are also running a business.\u00a0 That however does not mean that we cannot work with our tenants to find the best possible solution for everyone.
      \nPhoto Credit:       philcampbell<\/a><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      People lose their jobs.\u00a0 They can get laid off or fired.\u00a0 Companies can go bankrupt.\u00a0 There are a host of other reasons why someone might loose their job but a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5183],"tags":[4980,190,4979,59,569],"class_list":["post-53222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landlording","tag-job-loss","tag-landlord","tag-landlordtenant","tag-real-estate-investing","tag-tenant"],"acf":[],"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}