Property Manager · Allen, TX · Member since 2015 · 190 posts · 160 votes
I own properties in the west Houston areas of Katy and Cypress. I've already been notified by one tenant that they may have trouble making the September rent payment due to not working this week at all. None of my properties flooded, but schools are closed and a lot of employers are keeping their employees home all week. What would you recommend I do?
Does anyone in the Carolinas, Florida or New York/ New Jersey area have experience with a similar issue after Matthew or Sandy?
I am inclined to be pretty lenient, the last thing I want to do is initiate an eviction immediately following a natural disaster.
When deserving folks let me know they will be late due to not being able to work temporarily I give them a social services list. Community Action, churches, Salvation Army is good for $250 every 12 months, etc. HUD also has emergency one-time programs to help folks keep their housing. My guess is there will be far more avenues of help available because of Harvey.
These services usually need the tenant to receive a 3-day notice to pay or vacate to help. I let the tenant know I will be giving them one, then purge it from their file when they catch up.
Kudos to you for offering leniency in this situation @David Hines!
I can't believe anyone would recommend to not accept a late payment? No sense of humanity.
With that being said, offer them a chance to pay half now and the other half within the next two payments. Inform them that this is a one time exception. I believe this is the best way to handle this situation.
I don't have any renters in Houston, but my mortgage lender (SWBC) contacted me giving automatic approval for up to 90 days of forbearance on loans on the property. I would definitely give them a reasonable amount of time to get things sorted. Watch the news--you should be able to see when things have returned to business as usual.
@Mike W., you are so right. If you could find housing after Katrina, it was extremely overpriced. The red cross and FEMA offer assistance. There are Churches and volunteers that come in to help people .gut properties. Houston mayor said school will open September 11th . That's to make a plan and some normalcy. Banks and businesses should not even be taking payments! It's hard enough to find a loaf of bread after a flood.
I put together an amendment to their lease, "deferring" September and then increasing their rent through the rest of the term. For example, this tenant just renewed and has 11 months left on their lease. Rent was $1200. They pay nothing until October 1st. They then pay $1309 through the remainder of the lease.
I added some terms such as the ability to get back to $1200 if they pay the deferred balance (they pay online and can monitor their account balance). Also, they will be obligated to pay the deferred balance if they terminate the lease early. Etc etc.
I could have pushed them to pay 1 or 2 weeks late. But figured it would eventually just snowball on them as they live paycheck to paycheck. This way they can get some breathing room and time to get back on their feet.
If I didn't know when or where my next dollar was coming from, I'd keep the money I have in hand to feed my kids. No question. Sometimes one must choose between priorities and guaranteeing food for as long as possible would take precedence.
As for the business side of this, I don't think you have a hope in hell of getting any kind of timely eviction and you will end up having a sworn enemy as a tenant. Others have said that emergency money is available - I'd save your legal fees and look into actually getting paid.