tenant doesn’t have difficulties but just taking advantage of th

[Eran R.]

I am landlord at Philadelphia house that has a tenant that although the virus, she is still working normally and have her income. What are my options if she is late always and now stops paying?

1. Can I sue her so I will be able to put lien on her bank account / salary to collect what she owes? If not, what still can I do?
2. If she is also not paying utilities (she should as the contract says) do I have different options to collect those?
3. I understand most difficult now to landlords because of rules protecting tenants because of Covid-19, but can I overcome for tenant doesn’t have difficulties but just taking advantage of the circumstances?

[Yuriy Skripnichenko]

@Eran R.

We have a tenant that is being evicted for a breach of the lease (not a non-payment). We filed in March 2020 and still waiting for the lock out date.

Before you can even go to landlord-tenant court you have to have to go through Philadelphia Eviction Diversion Program https://www.phila.gov/2020-08-31-philadelphia-launches-eviction-diversion-program/

It takes over a month to have the conciliation meeting where you have to make an agreement according to EPHA. Or an agreement for tenant to move out. Which will take at least one more month to see if the tenant complies with the agreement. If tenant broke the agreement, then you can file for landlord-tenant court and get your hearing date. Which will be a few months out.

Bottom line, if you start the process now you are looking at 5-6 month before you can go to court. And then you’ll have couple more before you can have a lock out.

As @Irfan Raza mentioned you cannot lock out anyone now even if you have a writ. Your best option is to negotiate with the tenant and start the process if the tenant is non-responsive.