My tenant is in a coma. What do i do?

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My tenant is in a coma. What do i do?

Samantha P.
Real Estate Investor · Glenwood, IL · Member since 2015 · 84 posts · 22 votes

I had texted my tenant a week or so ago asking when she was going to be able to pay her April and May rent since shed told me that she would be paying it weeks ago. I got a text from her son on her phone today saying that my tenant had a stroke on May 18th and has been in a coma ever since and that he would pay the rent for her. I told him how much it was and he said he would Zelle it to me. I have yet to receive it. Neither her son nor her girlfriend are on the lease. However, they are both at her house. This tenant has never paid her rent on time...even before the quarantine. Since she has a daycare, she qualified for unemployment due to covid and the loan from the paycheck protection program. Both of which she said she applied for. What can/should I do at this point?

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Nathan GesnerBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Cody, WY · Member since 2010 · 28k+ posts · 41k+ votes
6y

The first thing I would do is verify she's actually in a coma. There's a 92.6% chance they're playing you like a fiddle. Maybe it's true, but I would do some research to try and verify.

Whether she's in a coma or not, the son and girlfriend are illegal occupants. I would find a good attorney and start action to get them out. If they want to stay, they need to apply, be approved, be added to the lease, and accept full responsibility for the lease and payment of rent.

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  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    6y

    I hope this whole thing works out for you ultimately - BUT, this is why you need to have strong expectations and follow through with them all the time. In one of your posts you wrote that the person is never on time with the rent, and that you inherited them, and that they have a lease until September 2021 (don't know when you bought the building but a multiple year lease? Not that common). Somewhere in there I would bet she was in violation of the lease, and it probably would have been better to start getting her gone before she was in a coma - if that's not complete BS as @Nathan Gesner mentions, which is what I believe is most likely the case. 

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  • Curt Bixel
    Rental Property Investor · Columbus OH (columbus, oh) · Member since 2020 · 143 posts · 71 votes
    6y

    @Samantha P.

    I am glad to hear that the son brought the rent current. This is at least some indication that his heart may be in the right place. That does not, however, mean that he won’t get himself in enough financial trouble that he won’t stop paying rent at some point in the future.

    I think the best way to balance your instincts to be empathetic is to get a much better understanding of the situation. Verify that they are being completely honest and straight forward with you. One thing I have done in situations like this is to be empathetic with them but tell them I have a business partner who is a stickler for all the details and your business partner has made any forbearance in rent dependent upon full and detailed information about the status of the mother, her prospects of moving back home, and their lack of any funds to pay.

    If this stuff does not all check out, you should get a lawyer and evict immediately.

    If it does all check out, then you are left with a tough decision on if you are willing to lose money in order to support someone through a difficult time. In that case, you need to be prepared to lose rent, and you may end up evicting in the end.

    I recently did this and was surprised when I did finally get them to move out that they left the apartment in terrible condition necessitating extensive rehab.

    This was an expensive lesson for me. I’m pretty sure I would not do it again.

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  • Mary M.
    Rental Property Investor · Portland OR · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    @Samantha P. did you get a copy of her application? They usually have Emergency contact info  

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  • Samantha P.
    OP
    Real Estate Investor · Glenwood, IL · Member since 2015 · 84 posts · 22 votes
    6y

    @Mary Mitchell

    No I didn't. I dont think an application exits for her. She barely even has a decent lease. She was the previous owner's daughter's friend. She was so horrible of a tent that he decided to sell the building and forget being a landlord. He told me at the closing table that she never paid her rent on time and she was very messy and manipulative.

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