Non payment and when to evict
Investor · Windham, ME · Member since 2016 · 180 posts · 37 votes
What is your tolerance when it comes to tenants being late, before evicting? Im currently owed most of May and all of June and I think if I give them more time its just going to cost me in the end. Especially when shes blaming employer, severance and every other excuse you can think of. If I dont evict now, Im guessing Ill be out multiple months which is several thousand dollars. How do you handle these non paying tenants, who with their initial rental application show sufficient proof of income and who also seem to have their **** together?
@Matthew Wright May and June is longer than most would like. You should have a very low tolerance for late or missed payments. The fact is that this is your investment, you have money and time wrapped up into it and it is unfair to you to expect that you support another grown adult which you're providing housing for under the initial understanding that they would compensate you every month for your services and your risk.
You should have a very low tolerance but, that doesn't mean you have to be heartless in your approach either. One the best methods that works for us is to be stern but fair when dealing with late or missed payments. If a tenant is late on rent:
You'll have people on either side, some will say let them go for as long as you can afford it without paying rent because everyone runs into financial trouble and others will say evict the moment they are 1 day late and don't look back. Doing it this way 1) is extremely fair; 2) sets you up to run your rental like a business (because it is one) and; 3) allows good tenants to remain good tenants while conveying to bad tenants that late or missed payments will not be tolerated.
When you screen tenants you should be ensuring that their combined household income is at least 2-3x's your rent amount. You should always pick up the phone and verify employers, pay stubs and previous landlords. When accepting payments, you should look to receive them online however, if your tenant insists that they mail it, you should write it in our lease that if payment are mailed the tenants need to ensure they choose a traceable mailing option - which will alleviate you of the burden of having to listen to tenants tell you they mailed payment when they didn't.
If you let this tenant go on delaying payment, you are most likely not going to get your rent payments. It is both unfair to you and the tenant. Unfair to the tenant because it is unlikely that they will be able to make up the late/missed payments especially if they are having trouble with them now. Unfair to you because you have money and time invested in this investment and should not be a scape goat for everyone's troubles in life - you offered your property under the impression that they would pay for your service every month, if they are no longer willing to pay for that service, regardless of the reason, it's unfair to you and you should move to replace them as soon as possible. I hope this helps.
I'm down in Florida and the way we have done it at the companies I've worked at looks like this. We post a 3 day notice usually around the 6th. Then when the notice expires let's just say the 11th, because you cannot count the day of posting or weekends you can then file the eviction as early as the 12th. However, just about all the companies I've worked at we file evictions on or around the 20th.
@Ronald Starusnak Tell your tenant either pay the rent on time or you will start the eviction process. There is no tolerance for late payment for such a long time.
It depends on the tenant. Back on May 9th I served a tenant of mine a 7 day notice to quit. Had she not kicked in the door recently, smoked in the unit, and bring bad people over, I most certainly would have worked with her.
Turns out she didn't end up paying which is what I was hoping for. I handled the eviction myself and it's a pain.
Not sure where your units are, but there is a deputy sheriff out of Windham that I used. Unfortunately, there aren't many of them so you have to work at their pace. The law requires a Deputy Sheriff to serve the forcible entry and detainer.
Luckily, it's an easy lay up in court if you have a tenant that hasn't paid. She decided to show up for the hearing. Not sure why because she really didn't have a defense. No pay is no pay.
Good luck and reach out if you have any questions.