Tenant Recently Found Out They Have Cancer

[Jonathan Satizabal]

I have a tenant that recently found out they have cancer and cannot work for at least 6 months because they will be going through chemo. They missed two rent payments because they were waiting on their disability insurance to come in. They have been a tenant for less than a year but have not missed a payment and have otherwise been good tenants. I helped them apply for a rental assistance program and I will probably forgive one months rent to help them out. Her disability insurance did kick in and they did make a rent payment at that time. Just wondering what a good strategy for this would be or if anyone has gone through a similar situation.

[John Warren]

@Jonathan Satizabal you are in for a tough ride here for sure as most tenants won't have a ton of resources beyond their jobs. I would try to get their families information so you can work together with the family as much as possible. I would also start preparing for the worst and you will need their emergency contacts. I had a tenant that passed in one of my buildings a little over a year ago. It was very sad and he was a great tenant/guy. I had the daughter's info as he had been failing and she paid rent for a few months while they cleaned everything out. It could have been much worse if I hadn't had her information!