Quote from @J. Wang:
Hi fellow landlords,
Today I had a situation with one of my tenants in NC. This tenant has been paying rent always on the 5th, although the lease agreement says the rent should be paid on the 1st of every month. She pays on the 5th because on the 6th there will be a late fee. I would not have a problem with it, if she would have explained to me any difficulties she has in advance. But no, it looks like to me that she pays late on purpose and with no good reason. What disturbs me is her attitude. She was yelling at me over the phone and insisted that paying on the 5th is not considered paying late. She literally told me that I will get my rent on the 5th, that's it. What is even more disturbing and ridiculous is when she needed AC maintenance, I had it fixed on the same freaking day as she submitted the request. But madam was angry at me for not having done it faster. That's why yesterday, I sent her a PAY OR QUIT NOTICE after she was late again. Since she has such a high expectation on the maintenance, I would also demand on-time payments. Has anybody had similar issues with their tenants? Can I evict her if she continues doing this? I mean is 4/5 days late a good enough reason to evict her? Thank you in advance for any feedbacks!
P.S. she has eviction history and a bad credit score. But I still took her because she appeared so nice during application, and was so desperate looking for a place to rent, and promised that the eviction was due to her pregnancy which was six years ago and she had paid off everything. Now I regret being too emotional and naïve.
In isolation, I’d say this, simply:
If you want the rent paid before the 5th, charge a late fee earlier in the month. I kind of agree with your tenant on this one. If the money comes in before the 5th, life is good. She’s happy, you should be happy.
But there’s more to this story and that’s not how you chose to handle the situation.
Clearly you have a bad relationship here. And, this person should never have been allowed to rent from you in the first place if you’d been following best practices and had reasonable screening practices (no bad credit scores, and no evictions!). everyone has a sob story for their eviction and bad credit. But we don’t hear bad tenant stories about people with good credit.
Here are some thoughts for consideration:
I’d contact her and apologize (yes, seriously) for sending a pay or quit notice before the grace period was even over. That was reactionary and unprofessional from you.
Then, I’d assess how much longer her lease is. If less than 6 months, I’d consider trying to ride it out and pray she pays. If longer, I’d consider a very polite very professional cash for keys offer. Perhaps explain that you wonder if this is a good fit and if she leaves in a two weeks, you will give her last months rent back in cash, and her security deposit back. But, no pressure and she can stay if she chooses to, but the lease will not renew when it expires.
Then, you can place a tenant who passes your credit criminal and eviction check…
Hi Scott, thank you so much of your insights. Yes, I would definitely be more strict with screening next time, and don't let my emotion take lead. :-D I don't think I can bring myself to apologize to her though. I will just terminate the lease as soon as the initial term ends.
