Late paying tenants any advice ?
I have a small two unit property in a bad part of Brooklyn. I have had two tenants there for the last two and a half years. My problem is that they both keep paying late. One of them is month to month the other is on a lease. I am tempted to evict the month to month tenant , the problem is that New York is a tenant favorable state , the city will pay to defend a tenant against the landlord, which means that I could be tied up in court for months . It took me eight months to get a prior tenant out, and he only left after the marshall's notice, I didn't recover a dime and it cost me over $6K in legal fees. My question is ,should I evict this tenant knowing I will be take a huge financial hit , and if not does anyone have any tips on how to make tenants pay on time. I have tried charging a $25 late fee but this doesn't seem to phase this particular tenant , she just ignores the late fee