Evicting a Tenant that paid extra the month before

[Dennis Alzoubi]

I have a tenant that was late on rent for the month of Sept, so we ended up filing for eviction, on Sept 15th they paid with late fees and and extra $300 on top of all late fees so we dropped the case.

October came along and they are late again and we are filing for eviction in court again.

Will the extra $300 payment be considered as payment for the month of October and hence effect the eviction suit? Should I refund them? The lease does not allow partial payments.

[Paul De Luca]

@Dennis Alzoubi

I think this is a question best answered by your attorney. My opinion is if you're following through with the eviction this time, I would not refund them thee $300 out of principle because you're going to be incurring a bunch of legal fees and losing rent for the month of October. But, sometimes what's fair does not align with the best legal course of action.