I am in CA. I served my tenant a 3-day notice and am quite sure he will not have the $$$ to pay in 3 days. My next step would be to get a lawyer and start the eviction process? Being in CA, I know this will take quite a while/months. In the mean time, if he comes up with the $$$, am I obligated to keep him in the house? If so, should I legally expect all late fees associated at the time he pays up? Thank you in advance.
Unless you have officially evicted and received possession of the property by the Marshall, or if the tenant turned over the key, I would stay away from changing locks or taking over the property.
Personally, I've had to deal with a good number of evictions and I would be happy (well, not exactly happy) with a tenant that's voluntarily moving out, instead of making me go through the eviction.
I would call the tenant and ask if you can show it. I would probably not make a big deal out of the extra day in terms of extra rent. But then I have low-income tenants and when they become deadbeat, there's no money to collect anyway ;-)
If you accept the money, you are de facto agreeing to continue the tenancy.
I would determine what is causing the delinquency. Is this standard operating procedure for the tenant or a one time thing.
If you think you can get a better tenant, stick to your guns & continue the UD process until the full amount is paid. If this is a one time thing, David T. gives good advice, just be careful, human nature is to repeat habits. Tenants will know they can pay other bills before the rent unless you nip this in the bud.
I agree with Ellis. First and foremost, you need to assess your current tenant, his or her history with you and whether you want to continue the business relationship. If you are "on the fence" on that consideration I'd probably lean toward allowing your tenant the opportunity to make things right and continue on.
I'm always curious about the differences in the notification and eviction process differ between jurisdictions.
Here, on the first failure to pay, we can file a "Notice to Vacate" the day after rent is due {in-practice we normally wait until the 5th}. This notice gives the tenant 7-days to pay the rent or 15-days to vacate the premises. If they pay within 7-days, the tenancy continues.
On any subsequent failure to pay, the landlord can serve a "Final Notice to Vacate" the day after rent is due. In this instance, there is no 7-day grace and the landlord can still require the tenant to vacate after 15-days even if they pay their arrears.
In either case, if the Notice is not rescinded and the tenant has not vacated by the 15th day, the landlord can call the sheriff to escort the tenant from the property.
Within Canada, we have one of the more "neutral" eviction processes, there are other provinces where - either due to regulations or backlog - it is a long arduous process to rid oneself of a bad tenant ... the perfect breeding ground for professional tenants.
Jon,
I hope you served the 3-Day Notice correctly. If not, you will have to serve it again. Basically, you may not include late fees and utilities, if any, on the notice. If you served it correctly, the eviction attorney can pick it up on the 3rd day and file for an unlawful detainer.
If your county is like Santa Clara County, the process should be about 3 weeks and the tenant is out the there. If the tenant contested, it will drag out for another 3-4 weeks, which is about 6-7 weeks total. As much as CA is tenant friendly, it varies county by county.
If the tenant paid up, take the money as someone suggested above. If you don't take it and continue with the UD within the 3 days, you might lose in court and wasted your money on the attorney. Also, it will leave a bad mark on your relationship with your tenant.
Good luck.
Ha here in CT we are probably one notch below CA evictions. Typically we have to wait till the 10th day that the rent is due to file a "Notice to Quit" which basically tells the tenant within 5 days they have to volunteer or surrender the apartment if they don't then you have to file with the court to begin the eviction process by them setting up a response/return date. The Tenant has to respond to the eviction within the return date. If not then you can file for a default judgement and the tenant will be evicted. The return date usually is a week after you initially file.
By this time a month has already passed. Typically the professional tenant usually puts some excuse response regarding heat, repairs, trash build up or something. A court date will be filed for anywhere from 3 weeks to a month depending on case load. Whatever the excuse is I get it well documented so when we go to court for non payment of rent it becomes quickly apparent they are not paying the rent. The fastest eviction ever in my experience when everything was in sync and the tenant does not respond is about a month or so.
Typically its 3 months from beginning to end by the time the tenant finally leaves. Of course the tenant can extend the eviction by 3 more months if they pay all back rent and current. We had one occurrence where they promised to pay only to have them basically not pay anything and having to go back to court to get a judgement. Oh btw by that time the apartment is trashed and will have to be fully renovated. I haven't gone to small claims because these tenants don't have any assets and I am more than satisfied with having an eviction on their record.
Welcome to the wonderful world of landlording in CT.
I'll post back on the latest saga. I have another tenant that hasn't paid October yet. Will be working on my Notice to Quit this Friday. Wish I was able to do it earlier this week but my 9 to 5 J-O-B is in the way of visiting the local housing court. Funny talked to them in the weekend and they were only willing to give me $100. LOL... Of course we didn't accept any partial payment. Something tells me this one will be a PITA as I see some signs of professional tenant. So need to make sure the i's are dotted and t's crossed. ;)
The tenant contacted me today and said they are going to move out by the end of the month. And he also asked for a letter of recommendation for his next place!
1. He still hasn't paid this month's rent. I don't think he is planning on it either. Being in CA, what are my options to get $$$, if any. Or do I just eat it?
2. He seems to be cooperating by moving out on his own. I am assuming that is because, he thinks I will write him a letter of rec. I am struggling with this one morally bc I definitely believe in karma, so I don't want that to come back to haunt me. But I am afraid that if I don't write the letter, he will not cooperate in moving out in a timely manner, or even trash the house on his way out.
Anyone have any advice on this? Thank you in advance.
Jon
Jon:
You might remark to him the oddness of requesting a "letter of recommendation" when rent is in arrears or simply tell him you would have to be honest about all aspects of his tenancy.
I have had difficult tenants ask me for a reference in the past ... just as I have had poor employees use me as a reference (sometimes without asking). It's almost a reflex request. I never refuse to be a reference, but I always remind them I'll be frank & honest.
what about agreeing to his request and writing the following:
John Doe is a tenant of mine at {address} and has lived there for x months. I would be happy to provide a reference for the tenant for his residency at this address. Please call me at XXX-XXX-XXXX with any questions.
It doesn't contain any derogatory language, but guarantees that the landlord will call you to inquire about the tenant to ensure that you don't pass the buck to an unsuspecting landlord. It's in line with providing a reference, but still allowing you to be frank and honest. It still might not accomplish the goal in finding a new place for your tenant to move out, since you should be warning any landlords that call about this problem tenant, but alleviate any fears that he might trash the place. some food for thought.
I would try to firm up the move-out date to show you are serious about this deadline. Maybe agree to provide this (non-reference) reference if he agrees to move out on X date in broom clean condition and you also won't go after him for outstanding rent in court. Ideally a date as soon as possible. Assume you'll just have to eat the missed rent and just try to get it move-in ready as quick as possible after he leaves. The goal right now is to get him out as quickly as possible with as little damage as possible.
Jon,
In addition to what Roy said, who cares what he said. Don't trust a deadbeat tenant. I would engage an attorney and start the eviction service immediately. Who cares about the rent at this point, and don't try to save money on the attorney. I hate to see you come back here next month and say your tenant hasn't moved out. Of course he's not getting his deposit back.
Put an eviction on his record and he will be paying for years to come. I know of a tenant who got an eviction on her record, and no one would rent to her for over 4 years. If you want other landlords to look out for you in the future, look out for them.
Be very careful with the "I will by out by X date" tenant answers. Often they are just stalling and when that date comes they'll tell you they found another place but just need to get someone to help them move and they need another week or some other excuse to continue to buy time. A deadbeat tenant will try to stay as long as they can for free. You have to weight the cost of the eviction vs the potential of the tenant actually telling the truth (which is rare).
I'll chime in with the rest - don't believe anything a tenant tells you about when or how much rent they'll pay if they're already on the eviction track. They'll say anything to buy time. And in my experience, they don't voluntarily move out when they say they will, because they have nowhere to go and no money. You can bet they're getting free legal aid and have been advised to stay put until the sheriff's lockout. File all necessary paperwork and don't stop the process until you have the keys in your hand.
I just had a call today about our newest rental property, from someone who asked about the credit check. I replied that I'm not concerned with anyone's credit score, only if they have judgments, evictions, or criminal history. The woman said she had an eviction 5 years ago. I thanked her for calling, and that's that. I don't rent to anyone who went through the whole court process to be evicted. An eviction *filing* may have another side to it, and I actually rented to someone who's previous landlord explained the situation to me. So far so good with the tenant. And I had a tenant who needed an eviction filing from me to get social service assistance to pay her rent. As long as they weren't actually evicted, I'll listen to a story or two.
And Jeff's response about the reference letter is right on!
I agree with what others said: Tenants that are behind in rent will say anything to prolong. I tried to work with people but a lot of times I end up filing for eviction anyway, kicking myself for losing another week by being gullible
It keeps getting better! The tenant has moved the majority of their belongings out of the house, but now it is the 1st and there is still misc stuff throughout the house. Tenant said he "over extended" himself this week moving and cannot get everything out until the 2nd. They have vacated the property.
Can I legally change the locks and move out their stuff so I can clean and show to potential tenants?
Can I legally charge a full month’s rent or prorated day-to-day for “stay over”?Will I be able to collect?
Unless you have officially evicted and received possession of the property by the Marshall, or if the tenant turned over the key, I would stay away from changing locks or taking over the property.
Personally, I've had to deal with a good number of evictions and I would be happy (well, not exactly happy) with a tenant that's voluntarily moving out, instead of making me go through the eviction.
I would call the tenant and ask if you can show it. I would probably not make a big deal out of the extra day in terms of extra rent. But then I have low-income tenants and when they become deadbeat, there's no money to collect anyway ;-)
In California if a tenant has small children, they can prolong the eviction, and the judge will go along with it.
I'm new to BP and this is the first post on the forum I'd opened. I have to admit I had a laugh over it! Boy if there's one thing I've learned in 12 years as a landlord, it's don't believe what the tenants tell you!
I've only had to effect one eviction and they left in the middle of the night the day before the sheriff would have shown up. left the place trashy but not trashed.
I also once "self-evicted" a tenant before I knew the legality of what I was doing but since I found the drug paraphernalia while moving his stuff, I don't think he was going to complain. I told him where the storage unit was with his stuff once he paid me...
Looks to me like you've gotten good advice in this thread and I like Jeff Bridges take on how to give an open-ended referral letter.
Good luck!
I don't know, especially in CA but I was told by a lawyer buddy that it would definitely be against the tenants rights and that it would make any court case I'd have much weaker. Of course it might work for you if the tenant caves and pays the rent to get whatever stuff s/he might have left back but the ramifications of them filing a complaint/suit would scare me away from that tactic.
Got a lawyer buddy?
Don't change the locks unless they have surrendered the unit to you (given you the keys). There is really no good that will come of that. In many places this is illegal and can cost you big time if it gets before a judge. The tenant has only asked for one more day and they have for the most part held up their end of the bargain. It has saved you lots of money vs an eviction.
Follow local law regarding a walk through if required. Have him sign a termination agreement. Let him know that you will return the SD in accordance with the lease. I'm sure your lease and local law allows you to deduct unpaid rent from the SD but they might not think of that. Be sure to send them an accounting of the SD within the required time frame.
Finally you have two options. You can try and get him to sign a promissory note for money owed and work out a payment plan. Make it for the lost rent amount and you can add your early termination fee in there as well if you have that in your lease. If he signs and fails to pay then that makes it easier to collect. The other route is to file a small claims court case to collect what he owes after all is said an done. They can contest this and judges sometimes have sympathy and reduce damages so it's not as good as the promissory note. The best route is the promissory note.
Saw your post on the frig. Leave the door closed. It'll say cool for a day or so. The food may not be good to eat but it won't start stinking until it's been sitting for a couple of days.
Not a good idea to be in the unit handling tenants stuff unless they have given you the keys. They could wind up missing grandma's expensive necklace and who would they look to?