Hi! My husband and I own a single-family in Shoreline, WA. Last year, we accepted a job opportunity in CA, so we decided to rent out our primary home for the foreseeable future. I didn't have a great time finding tenants but decided to rent to a family (one couple with 2 kids, and her sister) with sub-par credit scores as their income was more than sufficient, and they said they could pay a 3x rent deposit, and I spoke with their previous landlord who gave them a recommendation. Here is what has happened:

July 2022 - Select tenants, set up on Avail, tenant seemingly paid the security deposit and first month's rent so I gave them the keys

I didn't realize Avail doesn't take the money right away and 75% of the security payment fails (they paid it in 10 transactions), now they already have the keys to the house. Also, in WA you have to offer monthly payments for the security deposit, so I didn't want to freak out too much.

August 2022 - Rent payment is late, and fails several times...no rent for August

September 2022 - Tenant gets a big check for a past car accident, pays August rent and September Rent

October - December 2022 - Tenant pays rent late every month, but always pays rent and a $190 late fee 

January 2023 - Rent Fails, no rent collected 

February 2023 - Rent fails, tenant finally responds to text messages, and tells me that her sister (who is on the lease) has been in the hospital since December for mental health reasons. They are working with lawyers to get access to her finances and they should get money to pay January and February by the 15th of Feb. The 15th comes and goes no rent. On Feb 28th, we received $1,700 of the $3,800 rent for January, but nothing else (water bill, late fees).

It is now March 3rd - Received a message today that they are scheduling the payments to pull on March 6 with Avail it takes around 3-5 days for it to deposit in our account which at the soonest we may get it is March 10th and then sometimes it fails on the day it is supposed to deposit which is frustrating. If the payments fail again, I feel like we are going to have to take action another way.

So, technically they are 3 months behind, and we do not have the full security deposit to cover us. What they are going through is extremely hard and I have a lot of empathy for them, but they are also putting my family in a very hard situation. The couple still works and still earns income, so they should still be able to pay at least a portion of the rent. 

We accepted this job in CA, with a crash course in renting homes, we didn't have enough in our savings to cover 3 months' rent which is recommended (learned this after the fact) and put a security deposit on the home we are renting in CA. Due to this, we have incurred more credit card debt than we are comfortable with. They only have 3 months left on the lease, and I don't think we can afford to go through the eviction process, but I am afraid we may have to. 

We plan to move back into the house once they move out to help get our expenses right side up. We have learned so much through this experience, and now have a list of things not to do when we are able to buy another rental (which is the goal!). 

Thank you for any insight or advice you are able to offer!