Tenants taking advantage of the Eviction Moratorium
Hello BP Community,
Now that the Congress has passed the stimulus package which extends the eviction until end of Jan 2021. I have a question for landlords out there. Any of your tenants are taking advantage of the existing Eviction Moratorium that was imposed during the pandemic? And how are you dealing with mortgage and other bills? I have two tenants who are working full time and yet refuses to pay their rent. I am wondering what actions I can take to help these tenants (pay up or move out of the property). Thank you in advance.
Tell them the moratorium does not forgive rent and it will still be owed when over.
Let them know you plan to hand over their case to a collection agency who will report to the credit agencies and destroy their credit.
Cash for keys.
If the courts are open, file for eviction. If the courts are not open, then it is the cost of doing business.
@YiBing T. I have a tenant who is behaving the same way even with me making improvements to the house over the last several months (new water heater,etc). Tenant only texts me if they have a small (not even 25% payment) or if they want something fixed (at this point I've stopped making all repairs). With the courts being closed till January, there is nothing I can do in CA. I will be consulting an eviction attorney to explore all possible means.
100% agree with @Steve Archer. The tenant must be confused about the legal agreement they signed to rent the property. Unfortunately for them it could be a judge that teaches them. I don't feel remorse for anyone pulling this stunt in 2020/.
@Steve Archer:
Thank you for your feedback, in Baltimore MD the city has implemented tighter policies than what the CDC has laid out. Not only no eviction allowed but the court has been piling up the cases.This tenant has now reached out to the pro bo no attorney in the area who advocates for tenants to sue us for money. We are working with a legal shield attorney to see if we can come to an agreement. These cases make me feel like moving to Texas sometimes. I see news poping up saying tenants being abused, but very rarely I see landlords are being taken advantage of.
Thanks for your feedback. So do you invest in Maryland? Which law firm are you using? Do you recommend them? @Ravi Shankar
Sorry to hear about the problems you are facing YiBing and I hope you do have some resolution. I've heard good things about Todd Rothbard in the bay area.
I am not sure about your state's landlord/tenant laws but in New Jersey you are still able to file evictions for lease violations other than non-payment. For example, destruction of property, smoking, hoarding, unauthorized tenants, subleasing etc.
However, it is a different process. You have to file a "notice to cease" then a "notice to quit" first.
#3 Investor Mindset Contributor
- Handyman
- Pittsburgh, PA
Welcome back to the sideshow. We discuss this and how unfair it is every three days here at Bigger Pockets. Once again, here's my position. If all that's keeping your tenants paying rent is the threat of an eviction, you're a terrible landlord and you've put your trust in the wrong people and your financial security in the wrong hands.
If you own three or four hundred units, is this going to affect you? Sure. But if you're experiencing +30. 40, 50% non-payment across that many units, no, sorry, it's not because of the eviction moratorium. It's because you dropped the ball as a landlord or the people you hired dropped the ball as property managers.
Is the moratorium unfair to landlords? Sure. The government should not be asking LLs to shoulder a greater part of the burden of dealing with the pandemic than everyone else. Nor should they be asking restauranteurs and bar owners. Yet they are, and compensating none of the three groups for their efforts. The focus seems to be on paying as much unemployment as possible to those who get to sit at home.
So let me ask something here. What about the heroes? Well, the heroes of the pandemic...well, heroes are suckers in America.
My wife is a nursing assistant working in geriatric care here in our area. From November to January, her 200-person nursing home experienced 38 COVID-19 deaths. About 70% of the staff got sick. My wife was among them. I got sick as well. Did my hero wife get anything for fighting the good fight? No. Because only the REMFs, the rear-echelon mother****ers of America, get to apply for unemployment and stay at home safe in front of the big-screen TVs their last stimulus checks bought them.
Yes, it's unfair. But in this world, the strong do whatever they want and the weak suffer whatever they must. So get strong.
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#1 Personal Finance Contributor
- Rental Property Investor
- East Wenatchee, WA
Originally posted by @Jim K.:Welcome back to the sideshow. We discuss this and how unfair it is every three days here at Bigger Pockets. Once again, here's my position. If all that's keeping your tenants paying rent is the threat of an eviction, you're a terrible landlord and you've put your trust in the wrong people and your financial security in the wrong hands.
If you own three or four hundred units, is this going to affect you? Sure. But if you're experiencing +30. 40, 50% non-payment across that many units, no, sorry, it's not because of the eviction moratorium. It's because you dropped the ball as a landlord or the people you hired dropped the ball as property managers.
Is the moratorium unfair to landlords? Sure. The government should not be asking LLs to shoulder a greater part of the burden of dealing with the pandemic than everyone else. Nor should they be asking restauranteurs and bar owners. Yet they are, and compensating none of the three groups for their efforts. The focus seems to be on paying as much unemployment as possible to those who get to sit at home.
So let me ask something here. What about the heroes? Well, the heroes of the pandemic...well, heroes are suckers in America.
My wife is a nursing assistant working in geriatric care here in our area. From November to January, her 200-person nursing home experienced 38 COVID-19 deaths. About 70% of the staff got sick. My wife was among them. I got sick as well. Did my hero wife get anything for fighting the good fight? No. Because only the REMFs, the rear-echelon mother****ers of America, get to apply for unemployment and stay at home safe in front of the big-screen TVs their last stimulus checks bought them.Yes, it's unfair. But in this world, the strong do whatever they want and the weak suffer whatever they must. So get strong.
Truth, Jim. Get strong or get steamrolled.
YiBing, this sucks. I had someone taking advantage as well when there was just the state moratorium. It wasn't extended until the 11th hour in July and thankfully she got nervous and left after I made it as uncomfortable for her (inspections, power bill, what's up with that car, etc) as legally possible.
She is now in Seattle undoubtedly taking advantage of the even stricter tenant protections. Some people.
I now only offer m2m to new tenants and don't call it rent. It is an occupancy toll, broken down into the categories it goes to. But I may have a fool as a leasing consultant. One of the many hats some wear.
In the meantime, it's a sellers market. I'd consider selling and exchanging or moving up to a different class of asset altogether where tenants can't qualify for free legal aid. The indigestion isn't worth it.
@YiBing T. A tenant that is not paying rent is like a tooth that has to come out. It will not help you, only hurt you to delay the process. You have to get the tooth out, no matter what the expense. You must hire an eviction attorney who will do the deed. immediately. If the moratorium is still in effect, you must insist that the attorney file the eviction the day the moratorium comes off. You must explain your resolve to execute this legal action continually to your tenant while you wait. You must reason with the tenant and explain how they will never be able to rent again, nor ever buy a house, once your legal proceeding is complete. You plan to make this record of eviction stick to them like glue. As their landlord you must explain how you will sell their debt to a collection agency. The collection agency that purchased the debt will report it to Experian and the other credit bureau's, the account will then appear on their credit report as a collection account for the next seven years. They will also be hounded by the collection agency with unrelenting legal, phone efforts to recover the debt, it could effect their possibilities of future job opportunities, when they check the credit. In light of all this, you should ask them, "If I would be able to give you some money to find another place to live, would you be interested in receiving my cashiers check in exchange for X amount delivered to you outside the truck after you have packed up all all your possessions? Explain that they are like a tooth that now has to come out. It is coming out ASAP one way or another.
@Anthony Aiello
Anthony, I thought that the NJ courts were disallowing any evictions that were related to the period of the pandemic. I have a tenant that hasn’t been able to pay since before the pandemic due to sales tax issues and I’ve been told that we could file because he didn’t stopped paying before March2020 but since then, the courts wouldn’t hear it.
If I’m wrong here, please let me know.
John,
It is true you can not currently evict in NJ for Non-payment. You can however evict for other lease violations. For ex. Unauthorized tenants, hoarding, destruction of property etc.
Originally posted by @John Yarenis:@Anthony Aiello
Anthony, I thought that the NJ courts were disallowing any evictions that were related to the period of the pandemic. I have a tenant that hasn’t been able to pay since before the pandemic due to sales tax issues and I’ve been told that we could file because he didn’t stopped paying before March2020 but since then, the courts wouldn’t hear it.
If I’m wrong here, please let me know.
@YiBing T. Sorry to hear that your tenants are taking advantage of it. Luckily, I'm fortunate enough to have all my tenants paying today, and I know it is tough right now.
If I were in your shoes, I would negotiate a cash for keys move out as soon as possible. Extra money can be a huge motivator for people. Also, sometimes tenants don't know that you are just a mom-and-pop landlord, you aren't a big corporation with 1000s of units, and that's what I would communicate to them. Obviously, they can afford to pay rent with full-time jobs, but they feel like they don't have to pay and that's wrong since you are still on the hook for the mortgage, property taxes, insurance, repairs, etc.
Whether you self-manage or have a property manager, good communication is key.
I haven't read through all of the responses so apologies if this has already been suggested. One option I have been able to use to move a tenant out if they are not paying rent is, assuming they are on a month to month lease, I give them 30 days notice that we won't be renewing the lease. I don't mention anything about rent. Just that we are not renewing the lease.
I am in the process of evicting a tenant right now based on 30 days notice. Their court date is tomorrow. We'll see what happens.