Non-renewal of a lease for late rent

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Non-renewal of a lease for late rent

Bob Cameron
Member since 2019 · 2 posts · 2 votes

Currently I have a tenant who was 18 days late with rent this month and was wondering what other's opinions are on renewing a lease with such a tenant. The tenant had been late on two other occasions, but both were in the range of 4-6 days. This month I served her with a 14-day notice to pay or quit after the 6th day and she paid 2 days prior to the 14th day deadline. 

The tenancy is up in September and I gave a notice that the lease will not be renewed because of late rent. In addition to late rent, the tenant is not very punctual about meeting to collect rent, has always paid in cash which is not preferred, and has someone living in the unit who is not on the lease, despite having gone over this as a violation of the lease agreement. Would others recommend continuing to rent to such a tenant or cutting ties to avoid things getting worse? 

I am a first time investor living in a multifamily property where I am an owner-occupant of one of the units.

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Greg M.
Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
7y

Ah, the hellhole of Massachusetts for being a landlord...

Yes, it is going to be your word against hers, but the fact that you live there is going to add to ton of weight to your side if she says the other person doesn't live there. For proof, take notes/pictures of his car being there at night and in the morning every day. Make notes of when you see him entering and when you see him leaving. Check with the postman to see if he gets mail delivered there. There are ways to find out where his drivers license address is. It's not going to take much to tip the scale in your favor of likelihood of him living there. 

And since you are in an anti-landlord state, I would consider hiring an attorney if you need to do an eviction. 

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  • Greg ScottPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · SE Michigan · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 6k+ votes
    7y

    Bob:

    The issue regarding paying late is probably the least worrisome issue in your posting. 

    Never accept cash.   There are a lot of reasons for this.  But the the most important are, if you try to evict, she could go to court and say she paid cash and you didn't give a receipt.  Also, you don't want to be a target for a robbery. It would cost her less than $5 to get a money order so there is no reason to accept cash.  Ever.

    Who is the person living in your unit that is not on the lease?  For all you know, he could be a criminal on the run.  I would want to get my arms around that pretty quickly.  You can evict her for a lease violation unless that person is added to the lease.

    Finally, regarding late payment, do you have a late payment penalty? I don't get too worried about late payments as long as they pay the rent plus the late fees before I start eviction proceedings.   BTW, 14 days seems a long time.  Is that a legal requirement in your area?

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  • Greg M.
    Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    7y

    Sorry, but it sounds like you're not a good landlord and you let the tenant walk all over you. No mention of late fees for each time they are late paying. No mention of eviction when she failed to remove the person living in the unit that was not approved by you. No mention of dictating the terms of payment. Giving 14 days to pay (since you didn't give your location, I can't say if it is legally required to be days, but that is extremely long. Usually it is 3 days). You need to start treating this like a business.

    I would not renew. Since you gave notice of non-renewal, do you know if it met all the proper legal requirements for your locality? If not, better do everything by the book. If it did, I would still prepare to have to evict both the tenant and her unauthorized guest (now also legally considered a tenant).

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  • Bob Cameron
    OP
    Member since 2019 · 2 posts · 2 votes
    7y

    I am in Massachusetts where 14 days is required by law for a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent. Late fees also are not allowed until after 30 days of non-payment and then I believe you are only allowed to assess for a $50 fee which I believe is one-time and not daily. 

    Going forward I will not be accepting cash. But if we were to go to court and she said that she had paid wouldn't it be my word against hers and go nowhere? 

    The unauthorized tenant I believe is a significant other. How do you guys go about getting proof that another person is living in the unit? I am sure they are living there because I live there as well but would that be enough in court? 

    Thank you both for your responses! 

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  • Greg M.
    Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    7y

    Ah, the hellhole of Massachusetts for being a landlord...

    Yes, it is going to be your word against hers, but the fact that you live there is going to add to ton of weight to your side if she says the other person doesn't live there. For proof, take notes/pictures of his car being there at night and in the morning every day. Make notes of when you see him entering and when you see him leaving. Check with the postman to see if he gets mail delivered there. There are ways to find out where his drivers license address is. It's not going to take much to tip the scale in your favor of likelihood of him living there. 

    And since you are in an anti-landlord state, I would consider hiring an attorney if you need to do an eviction. 

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