I have a tenant going on the third month not paying the rent. She wants me to make a 3 hour round trip to meet her so she can pay cash. She has a job. I sent 14 day notice to pay or quit as certified mail in which she signed and I have a receipt that she received the notice. Also sent her a 30 day notice to vacate property which was sent certified and she signed for that as well. She has a job but refuses to leave. There is no written lease so it is a verbal month to month as I bought the property without a written lease. Will the tenants stupidity fall under the moratorium extended to July 31st? On July 1st I will be filing court papers for eviction as June 30th is the deadline for her to get out
Do you know someone there who will pick up the cheque (tell her it has to be a money order or bank draft) and mail it to you? I'd go there and check on the place and tell her she needs to mail the rent or figure out how to pay it online. If she won't sign the form, hand over the 30 days' notice and have a witness with you.
At this point she has 3 months' rent sitting there. Is it worth 3 hours of your time and gas money to pick up it-probably. I get not wanting to put cash in the mail, but ....
Well she has my rented mailbox address and phone number. She received all the notices. What I am wondering is if the judge will evict her due to her having a job but refusing mail the rent during this extended July 31st moratorium
Pomona, NY · Member since 2016 · 375 posts · 217 votes
5y
@Anthony G Mannino so basicly she's willing to pay if you meet her, I'm not in the rental business but I could assume the judge will rule against you. I'd drive the 3 hrs with a witness and see if she's bsing you with having the cash to pay you. If she is then theirs more proof for an eviction. If she does hand over the cash, then work out other arrangements with her, if not then depending she's gotta go.
Asking you to drive is a scam. She will not be there and will have a handy reason why. Evict.
I was about to ask OP the question . …….how did he know that the renter had the rent. I have my doubts the renter has the money willing and ready to handover.
I have a tenant going on the third month not paying the rent. She wants me to make a 3 hour round trip to meet her so she can pay cash. She has a job. I sent 14 day notice to pay or quit as certified mail in which she signed and I have a receipt that she received the notice. Also sent her a 30 day notice to vacate property which was sent certified and she signed for that as well. She has a job but refuses to leave. There is no written lease so it is a verbal month to month as I bought the property without a written lease. Will the tenants stupidity fall under the moratorium extended to July 31st? On July 1st I will be filing court papers for eviction as June 30th is the deadline for her to get out
If she owes you three months rent, I would get paid what you are owed. Even if you have to pick up the money. When you meet her there, just explain that today is her last day per notice. If she is not moving out, act surprised. Give her a receipt that states specifically what months she paid for. Use a receipt book that gives carbon copies for your records. If she is not moving out, proceed with eviction, but do not reference payment at the reason. The eviction moratorium technically only applies to people with hardship, but the burden of proof is on you. I don't trust the courts, so make sure you have proof and document everything.
Investor · Cranston, RI · Member since 2019 · 9 posts · 8 votes
5y
You own the property and are running a business. You are required to provide a safe and functional place to live. In exchange for this service she is to pay to you a pre-determined amount of money. While you should provide ease of access for payments, it's the tenants job to ensure you get the money. Your lender, auto-loan holder, credit card companies all send you invoices and give you an place to pay them. If you don't, they come take your $h!t. They don't say, " Sure Anthony, we will just pick it up." It is her PRIVILEGE to live there that is earned monthly by paying rent and following the rules to live there.
Solutions. Use this verbiage when you speak with her/email her - "Privilege you earn to live here... Service being provided... Awarded the opportunity to continue residencey...". Make it clear that you are running a business and it is a luxury for her to use your services. Apartments.com and RentRedi have super easy platforms that they can transfer the money directly to your bank accounts. You can have her wire you the cash. Mail you a check. Mail you post-dated checks for the months that you simply have to cash on the 1st of the month. Do this and persent the options. Document it. If she tells you to kick rocks then when you go to court you have ground to stand on and show you are doing your diligence.
Immediately contact your attorney and go over the possible courses of action you may have, Get ahead of the game so you can plan worst case scenario.
Lastly, just make sure your you get paid and get rid of that tenant. If you are going to battle over these petty things, you for certain will go to war over something bigger should they occur. Best of luck.
Many thanks to all of you responding to my post. I will take each of your advices in consideration. The 30 day notice was to let her know that I am ending her month to month lease which since The previous landlord didn’t have any paperwork so pretty much it is a verbal month to month agreement. Also after closing, the previous landlord did confide that her husband had to meet the tenant in various places including her place of work to collect cash rent money and was late every month.
Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
5y
Three months rent in cash....and YOU have to drive to her to collect...welcome to 1952...(Fred Mertz).
Hopefully she has the money and it's not one of those "I can make the grey sky blue, I can make it rain whenever I want it to" type of stories to buy time.
Hopefully she doe not try to give you a partial payment, (having never had the full amount, or having spent some of the cash on lottery tickets and cigarettes the night before).
Understand what rights to evict you might screw up if you take a partial payment.
Real Estate Broker · Hyde Park Tampa, FL · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
5y
Do NOT accept any rent at this time. Bottom line: she is attempting to control you. I recommend that you file a Small Claims Lawsuit against her; it's inexpensive and most municipalities do the filings online. There's nothing quite like a judgement to get delusional tenants to understand that "it's not their ball, not their court." It will ensure that you get paid before she gets that next apartment, car, credit card, or phone. And, if there is a security deposit, check your state law. If you can offset it for unpaid rent, do it - but do not accept any rent unless it is delivered to you in the full amount due. To do otherwise, jeopardizes your eviction.
File the lawsuit, save your place in line by having the eviction papers prepared, and get all that is owed your business.
She isn't going to pay you if you drive there. She will have a good excuse at the last minute and ghost you. Save your self 6 hours of driving and proceed with the eviction.
Gainesville, FL · Member since 2013 · 127 posts · 21 votes
5y
About accepting partial rent, check your state law. At least in Florida "landlords can accept partial rent payments and still move to evict in the same month — provided that the landlords give tenants a receipt for the partial payment, place the partial payments in the court registry if the evictions are filed or post notices informing tenants that they must pay the amount due or vacate within three days."
Rental Property Investor · Centreville, VA · Member since 2019 · 1k+ posts · 799 votes
5y
The moratorium just got extended till july 31st so you will have to wait but I would still get the process started. Even with a verbal lease, the tenant still has to pay rent otherwise you can hire a eviction lawyer who can assist you with it. Good luck and keep us posted.
Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
5y
It doesn't sound like you have a lawyer handing your eviction, nor a property manager handling your rental. If that is true, here is some food for thought.
You will have to drive there to go to court to evict her - if she requests a continuance on the court date, you'll have to drive there more than once to attend the court hearing(s). You will have to drive there again on the day she actually leaves and change the locks. You will have to drive there again to oversee the turnover cleaning. You will have to drive there to show the unit to applicants who wish to rent your property ... maybe more than once. If you don't have an electronic lease available (which I assume is the case if you don't allow tenants to pay electronically) you will have to drive there for the new tenant to sign the lease.
I guess you have the right to demand payment via one method only, and you can choose that method to be a mailed check. However, it might make your life as a landlord easier if you create more ways for the tenant to pay you. You can use PayPal or CashApp or Venmo or any one of several electronic services. You can arrange for her to pay someone you know and trust in the area, who can then deposit or send the money to you. Or figure out another solution.
If the tenant actually has the money and the only hurdle is finding a way to get it in your hands, as a landlord, I'd much rather keep a happy and paying tenant than evict her and start the turnover process.
Rental Property Investor · Topeka, KS · Member since 2017 · 56 posts · 137 votes
5y
Nobody has mentioned this, I don’t believe...if you have a bank branch where the house is, can’t you have her drop it there and deposit it into your account using your name and address?
Unfortunately the bank I have an account is is not located in Lynchburg therefore she can’t deposit money there. I have thought about changing banks. One blessing did happen today considering the last time she answered my phone call and text is that she was going to move out today since the 30 day notice was for June 30th but she had the nerve to ask for a few more days as a family emergency came up. First off I was elated considering I won’t have to evict her and wait for a judge to say yes or no. But no mention of paying me until o mentioned it and then said she wants me to wait until July 23rd to pay the May rent after she moves out and for me to take the security deposit for the June rent. To make a long story short I told her that i am still going to file a small claims lawsuit. Should I have the court set the date or should I ask the court to set the date after July 23rd?
Another issue was that at closing the previous landlord couldn’t find the original rental application for that tenant. I had asked the tenant to send me a snapshot of her drivers license and she had refused saying she doesn’t feel comfortable. Since she texted to say she was moving out and asking to stay until July 5th. I have her a notice saying that on July 5th at noon I will be there with a witness to inspect the unit and she has by 5pm to vacate the property and hand over the keys so I can change the lock.would the sheriff Dept help if the tenant is moving out on her own but decides she is going to take some extra days even though I am giving her from now till 5pm to vacate the premises?
Real Estate Broker · Hyde Park Tampa, FL · Member since 2019 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
5y
Two things real quick:
1. Don't open a bank account for a tenant to make rent payment deposits into. That is no longer permitted at financial institutions due to money laundering concerns. Zelle or other electronic payment methods are the only vehicles. She can go to Walmart and wire it - she just doesn't want to. Know this: it is NOT your problem to solve this for the tenant. This is on her. Leave it there or it will always be the monkey on your back.
2. EVICT HER NOW. The moratorium does not apply to those who have not been affected by the pandemic. She has told you that she has the money and she's employed. She just wants you to be her delivery boy. File for eviction and note boldly that failure to pay is not pandemic related.
You don't need an attorney as much as you need to run your business and act today. The longer you wait, the greater the chance you will never get paid (if the cash exists in the first place).
Thanks Patricia! She contacted me last night through text saying she is moving out and now doesn’t have the money to pay back rent until July 23rd. She asked for a few more days due to a family emergency but I had to bring up the money. I am still going to file a small claims so if she doesn’t pay she will have to go to court and face a judgement on her record
Same tenant sent me a text last week saying she is moving out and asked that I give her until today to move due to a family emergency. I had sent her a 30 day notice to vacate the property due to ending her month to month lease as she had not paid me rent for 2 months. I had sent her a text back since she will not answer her phone to say that she needs to move out by 5pm today and that I need to pick up the keys. Since she has not responded back should I drive there today and knock on door to see if she answers or use my key to see if she left?