Should I evict non-paying tenants?

Question

I have tenants who have not paid anything in 8 months. We received aid for $2,000 of the $7,000 that they now owe us but they continued not to pay. They agreed to move out by the end of September but now the head of the household is hospitalized with covid and the other family member are sick with it. Should I start the eviction process?

Karl B. · Answer

See if there's a federal/state/local program that will pay their back rent. I've read posts on here about fellow BP landlords utilizing these programs and if they can pay you the money owed then at least you're whole again and either the tenant will pay (now that they no longer owe 5K) or you can evict once they fall behind again and at least that total is far less than 5K.

If there isn't such a program, evict them and then get a lien against them.

Joe Villeneuve · Answer

I have a better question.  Why did it take you 8 months of non-payments before you even considered eviction?

Everett J. · Answer

Yes. You can always stop it at a later point if things change.

Brendan Miller · Answer

@Valerie Bergmann yes, start the eviction process

Valerie Bergmann · Answer

Because there was an eviction moratorium until today actually (Oct 3)in Illinois. Also we were waiting a while for state aid application to be approved and it required no eviction until end of august (even though eviction was banned at state level anyway until today). Then they said they were going to move voluntarily at end of September..but then supposedly covid hit them.

Should I evict non-paying tenants?

Most Popular Reply