Tenant is late and has cancer

Tenant is late and has cancer

Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2017 · 7 posts · 1 vote

One of my tenants has just been diagnosed with cancer. She's been dealing with various health issues that have made paying rent on time a problem. Has anyone dealt with a situation like this? I'm trying to be accommodating, but also have bills to pay.

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Rental Property Investor · Everywhere, USA · Member since 2012 · 689 posts · 525 votes
8y

@Account Closed - I have dealt with a lot of stories, some real, and some not from tenants. If you want to keep things strictly business, issue a notice, then file for eviction if she doesn't pay.

What might be more amenable, for both your soul, wallet and her, is to sit down and have a conversation with her. Have a face to face conversation explaining you can't afford to have her not pay, and see if she can get help with rent, or talk through a timelines where she can move in with family, and you let her out of the lease with no penalties. Giver her 30 days or something like that to transition to a different living situation. Offer to pay for a moving truck out of her deposit. I think there are some ways where you can help her transition and not kill your wallet, and then get the unit filled with a paying tenant.

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  • Karen MargraveBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    8y

    @Thomas S.  Have you ever heard the saying, What goes around comes around? Many of us try to show compassion and help those that are in need if we can, because we know the day may come when the tables may be turned. I know you need to make your payments, but compassion doesn't cost a dime, and making an effort to find an equitable solution is good for everyone involved.

  • Houston, TX · Member since 2017 · 13 posts · 3 votes
    8y
    Originally posted by @Jim K.:

    You're being forced to pay a compassion tax that the people who don't want to change heath care in this country are never in a position to be forced to pay -- they're not hands-on landlords. The compassion tax is levied rather unfairly and haphazardly on people like us, as you can obviously see.

    Here's my solution: find her a nicer apartment/house than the one you're renting her. The place should be closer to her care centers than your apartment or house. It should cost more to rent than what she pays you. Go to her and offer to let her out of her lease. Offer to subsidize the difference between your rent and the new rent for the next year. Offer to reimburse her for a moving truck.  She hires it, sends you the bill, and you'll pay it. If she asks why you can't just pay for that moving truck, well, explain that the truck and mover's rental has to be in her name "for tax purposes." Trust me, she'll never ask what that means. Offer her the world, just put nothing in writing.


    Go with her to sign the lease for the new place. Give her the money for the security deposit, cash up front. Subsidize the first month's rent as promised, cash up front, if you need to. That's your minimal tax.

    The moving truck will come, you'll say your cordial goodbyes, and voila, she'll be living elsewhere. As she left, she probably told the whole neighborhood what a fine fellow you are. Your problem is solved.

    Change the locks on the rental. Change your phone number. Throw the mover's bill away when it comes. If she comes out to your house, call the cops. If she vilifies you in the old neighborhood, you should sadly shake your head. "It's really sad, but she couldn't hear what she didn't want to hear. It doesn't matter that I paid (insert inflated number here) to help her. People in pain get that way..." Get your alternative narrative out there.

    What, does the taxman always get nothing but God's honest truth from you at tax-time? Or do you work to avoid paying the highest tax rate if there's any possible way to do so without running afoul of the law?

    In closing, I'd like to point out that this sort of promising and alternative truth-telling is obviously the royal road to success in real estate investing. Just look at our President.

    And if she gets too mouthy, you can send a guy to talk to her in a parking lot.

    I hope that this is some sort of round about, elaborate dig rather than a serious suggestion.

  • Handyman · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 13k+ votes
    8y

    @Markus C.


    All you would need would be the tenant going to the media with that story and even the hint of a shred of proof, and your name would be mud as a landlord where you live. If your cancer-patient tenant can set up a website and host it on a free server...small businesses do not survive long by abusing their customers.

  • Real Estate Agent · Richardson, TX · Member since 2014 · 511 posts · 161 votes
    8y

    @Account Closed Just file notice. I ran into the same problem, the tenant's daughter had cancer. I felt terrible about it, but this is not charity, it's a business. Eviction took 4 months because cook county has terrible tenant laws. If you let them stay, it will just become  a bigger issue.

  • Bjorn AhlbladPro Member
    Investor · Shelton, WA · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    8y

    I went to the "Tenant's Rights" website to see if there was a discussion on "landlord has cancer" do you think one was there? ;<)

  • Member since 2016 · 13k+ posts · 12k+ votes
    8y

    "Thomas thats a little harsh don't you think ???"

    You would have to know the situation. He was one of those arrogant self entitled inherited tenants, A true POS....I pay my rent therefor I can do as I please type personaity. Needless to say we had a bad relationship. The reason I was pissed off was because when he found out he was dying he decided he was going to use our pro tennat system to live rent free. In the end he won that battle but fortunately for me because I had filed to collect and he died before I could evict I was able to leverage the estate into paying the back rent. I would not allow them access to his belongings until they paid. 

    There is no guarantee that because someone has cancer that they are going to be a responsible and upstanding individual. Everything goes out the window when you think you are dying. This places everyone around them in a very tenuous position. For this reason I always do business first, compassion second..

  • Axton, VA · Member since 2013 · 31 posts · 3 votes
    8y

    @Account Closed this is a personal choice for you. We all understand that business is business and your providing a service and you expect to get paid that’s only fair. A cancer diagnosis if one of the worst things a person can receive because the very first though is death/family and doing whatever its going to take to survive,the last thought paying a bill wether its a light,phone,water,cable bill. You stated she has various health issues so you already know she has problems and has been struggling personally. Communication is the key here you’ve stated your trying to be accommodating which shows your compassion and that’s admirable because that’s one of the you’ll be judge on when your days are up. Offer her a solution that you both can walk away from with your dignity in place. She knows she owes you but her meds might cost just as much as her rent and which do you think she’s going to buy. With that being say you shouldn’t make her burdens yours and she shouldn’t make yours hers. You have the right to evict and whenever you choose to use that right is at your discretion.

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