Getting Back Rent Arrears from Unemployeed Tenant

[Jinyu Shao]

Hi all!

I'm going through an eviction with a tenant who has been living in my property for a few years. She stopped paying rent when the pandemic started. She now owes 30k in rent and is currently unemployed. Although I'm working with a lawyer to recover both my place and the rent, I'm not sure if, when, and how long it would take to get the rent arrears back. (That is assuming I will get my place back soon. Fingers crossed!)

Some more context, this tenant seemed to have been under a lot of financial and psychological stress. She has not been able to find a job for over a year. I'm worried that if she stays unemployed, and possibly homeless, it would be near impossible to collect any rent arrears.

If that's the case, I don't think simply evicting her is the best strategy. I would get my place back, but I would probably never get the 30k back.

Has anyone dealt with similar situations in the past? What did you do? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance!

Jinyu

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Jinyu Shao:

Keep working with the attorney to evict. You can then send her to collections, but don't expect to collect a dime.

Consider hiring a professional Property Manager. I don't know a single professional that allowed a Tenant to go six months without paying rent, let alone three years. On top of that, the Fed gave billions of dollars for rental assistance that your tenant could have easily qualify for and you should have been able to collect every dime owed. I have Tenants that applied for ERAP and they haven't had to pay their own rent for over a year even though they work full time and have no loss of income!

On a $1,000 rental, the PM fee would be $100. If you applied that to the $30,000 you lost, you could have paid for 25 years of management.