Tenant Unable To Pay Rent
BP Community,
I've been a landlord for almost a year now and so far things have been relatively smooth thanks to all of the forum posts and information here on BP. I've run into a situation that I could definitely use some advice/guidance on.
I have a unit that is rented by two people and their rent has been late (5 business days after the 1st) EVERY month since moving in in March 2022, this has been documented and acknowledged by the tenants. Rent has always been paid before the end of that month. We haven't charged a late fee or interest although we have the ability to via the lease agreement which is Month to Month.
I received a phone call today from tenant A that tenant B had a medical emergency and is currently unconcious in the hospital, tenant B has submitted half of their rent payment for the month and tenant A said theirs would be submitted in full before the end of the week (this will leave me short $575 for this month but will still give me enough to cover the mortgage). Tenant A has already told me that they frankly can't afford the rent by themself. This is obviously a horrible situation for the tenant and it feels wrong for me to move for eviction if rent is not paid before the end of the month, nor do I know if I legally can - being that the tenant is unresponsive in the hosptial. I thought of using the security deposit to cover the rent but part of NJ law is that the security deposit can't be used to cover rent until the tenants are out of the residence. I also made the stupid mistake of not putting the security deposit into an interest bearing account or notifying the tenants where that money was being held..
I've confided in a couple of people regarding this situation and everyone has a different answer but it seems like the best course of action would be to tell tenant A they will have to look for a new roommate and to use part of tenant B's security deposit to cover the remainder of their half of the rent.
Any advice on how to move forward on this situation would be very much appreciated.