Tenant Filed For Cares Act Once Finding out Eviction was Filed??

Question

Hey there! My brother and I purchased a property in Akron recently on March 18th, through a portfolio sale. For this single-family home, we found out right before closing that this tenant was a section 8 tenant, so just had to keep the property in the deal as is.

After the deal closed, all went well! HUD paid their portion of rent on time, (all of the other tenants on time no hassle!) but, this particular section 8 tenant has been nothing but problems for us right out of the gate.

The first issue is: Of course, in the very first month of April, the tenant does not pay their portion of the rent, or return phone calls... To the point that we posted a 3-day notice to quit that very first month.

Second: HUD did an inspection in April and it failed... (All of the problems, appear to be damaged by the tenant ((Broken cabinets, toilet seats, missing smoke detectors, etc.))

Third: So the tenant ended up paying their portion of the rent for April, which was received on April 29th... We haven't cashed it, and they have yet to pay their portion of May's rent.

So, we go through the process again of posting a 3 day notice to quit, this time going to evict for real, for real. Not funny anymore and no room given due to the damage seen on the property and that this tenant has been nothing but problematic over the phone, on top of not paying rent. So we get all of the documents together to file the eviction and send it to the attorney to file, and a few days later after filing (I think?), get a call and email from the Summit County Cares act, stating that the tenant has filed for emergency Covid rent assistance.

Does anyone know what this entails and how best to approach this??? (If you've read this far, thank you!)

Any questions, just let me know! Now we're in this weird predicament... Not sure really where to go with this. I think the tenant filed when they received the court date for the eviction/lawful detainment.

Patrick Drury · Answer

@William LemmonI am not sure about Akron, but in Columbus, the Eviction process is moving like a well-oiled machine now. There were a lot of delays during the height of covid, but now it has absolutely no effect. I had to evict a tenant Aug of last year and it was fairly quick.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Talk to their case worker.  Do you have photos taken during the inspection when you bought it that you can compare to the ones from the HUD inspection to show that the damage is recent?  Get the repairs done and take photos.  If more damage is done, tell them they are in violation of the lease and need to move.  Notifying their case worker means they are at risk of losing their housing.

Chris Seveney · Answer

Get an attorney, but as a lender who has dealt with this you are stuck, meaning you cannot proceed with eviction until a response is received. For mortgage assistance it has been taking 3-6 months to even get a response, during that time we were not allowed to proceed with FC.

Steven Foster Wilson · Answer

It kind of sounds like IMPACT (https://www.impactca.org) we have that here in Columbus which is great but the tenant has to show up for court or it does not work. All in all William, it sounds like you are dealing with this well and getting your systems in place for the future even.

Ed Brooks · Answer

Hello William, I am in Akron... I'm sure you have figured it out but just in case, did you send a message to the CARE's person who sent you the paperwork to fill out with the eviction case # showing it is a current eviction with case number and date?  This will expedite the process, they will not know this automatically, I usually get paid within a couple of weeks once I send the CARES person the court information vs 1-2 months with no eviction filed.  Make sure you go to the link they provide that says to request payment, if you don't the check will just sit in the system until you have sent it, here's the link in the email they send you, (To expedite the payment process, please complete the following online Payment Request Form at https://vitaintake.formstack.com/forms/paymentrequest)If you have someone who gets behind, you can have them apply right away, however, you still want to file the eviction, as soon as you have your case # send that to CARES and it will expedite the payment and you will be paid prior to the first court date. If you don't file, and no a 3-day notice does not help only if you file, if not it will take at least 3 months before you finally get your payment.

As far as fees, if it's on your lease they will pay up to $50 max, if fees are not noted on the lease they won't pay any fees. I also add an additional month to the back rent owed and applied this one to ALL balances owed. They will also pay one month ahead of what you are looking for, so right now they are letting you add August if you feel they will still need the assistance.

Hope this helps if you didn't have the information already.

William Lemmon · Answer

So, an update on this one and some answers to the above questions! (Also want to say thank you for the responses.)

So, the court made a continuation due to Cares Act (Apparently you can't discriminate on how rent is paid) and we're required to accept, so we just filed with the CARES act for all of the back rent, fee's, attorney fee's, etc... Which Cares is claiming to reimburse everything (hopefully.)

Now, we're canceling the month-to-month tenancy at the end of July, already have the 30-day notice of cancellation of MTM, and if they remain, it's the same process over (3-day notice, court, etc) but, can't be held up by CARES this time. Hoping the tenant just leaves amicably... The lawyer recommended this is the route with the least amount of friction.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Are you allowed to refuse payment from CARES? That's a question for your attorney. If you can refuse the funds, I recommend you do that and continue pursuing the eviction. I would also contact HUD and report that the tenant is not paying their share and has caused damage. Those are both grounds for termination and the Tenant will lose their voucher.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Why is Covid an excuse to not pay rent at this point in time? Ridiculous. And is this because you're in California, or is this the same in all states?

Henry T. · Answer

I think you need to evict for damage to property. What other lease violations are there? Document everything. If Cares pays the balance owed, you're still stuck with the tenant aren't you?

Connor Kerr · Answer

@William Lemmon I have a property in Akron as well. I kept the existing tenant and they had been using the cares act to pay their rent prior to me buying the place. What happened was, since the landlord changed, they had to reapply for the rent assistance. The process took about 3 months and there was really nothing I could do but wait until the filing was complete. I was left paying the full amount for my property for the first 3 months. Once the file was complete, Akron United Way sent me a check of what I was owed plus late fees. Now my tenant pays me through a money order and United Way reimburses them.

Idk if that helps but that has been my experience with the cares act.

Tenant Filed For Cares Act Once Finding out Eviction was Filed??

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