Move to evict or wait for rental assistance
HI all,
I have a tenant that received MERA (Montana emergency Rental Assistance) Covid funds to pay rent January-June of this year. After getting verification from the state that they would pay the rent difference, she moved into a larger house with a significant rent increase in April. However, the state required her to reapply for the assistance as it was a new address. The tenant thought she had submitted the application after the move, but turns out she hadn't. She finally (after I had to tell her it wasn't in the system) successfully submitted mid-June only for it to be rejected the end of August as she didn't include the required documents AND she didn't respond to their request for the docs within the allowed time. Here we are in September with the state saying she needs to start a new application with the same 6+ week wait and the tenant hasn't even gotten her paperwork together. Tenant takes great care of the property, but seems to have NO sense of urgency 5 months later. I sent a 3-day notice last week and can file for eviction starting Monday. Collecting on a judgement for the now $6700 in back rent may take a while, but I think it could be done OR I can risk the tenant messing up her application (or no longer being eligible) a 3rd time and waiting another 6+ weeks (and another month or two of missed rent) for nothing. I have a list of qualified potential tenants eager to move into this property so filling any resulting vacancy would not be an issue.
Thoughts on waiting a 3rd time or getting the eviction started next week?
I made a similar mistake when I moved out of my first home in Las Vegas and put a "friend" in as a tenant - so this is literally just the advice I wish someone had given me.
You need a property manager immediately - because you are headed for a world of trouble. Your tenant is NOT going to pay you. The state is not going to write a check to someone who significantly upgraded their home in the middle of a crisis - and your tenant knows that. They didn't just accidentally mess up their forms AND forget to fix the issue. They like living in your home without paying.
You WILL have to evict the tenant. They WILL be angry with you, even though you will have essentially given them $10,000 out of your own pocket to subsidize their lifestyle. Just get them out, and let someone with less emotional involvement deal with the property moving forward.
Congratulations on learning such a painful and expensive lesson in Real Estate Investing! Don't let it sour you on future projects, and things will be better in the future!
Quote from @Jonathan Hankins:
I made a similar mistake when I moved out of my first home in Las Vegas and put a "friend" in as a tenant - so this is literally just the advice I wish someone had given me.
You need a property manager immediately - because you are headed for a world of trouble. Your tenant is NOT going to pay you. The state is not going to write a check to someone who significantly upgraded their home in the middle of a crisis - and your tenant knows that. They didn't just accidentally mess up their forms AND forget to fix the issue. They like living in your home without paying.
You WILL have to evict the tenant. They WILL be angry with you, even though you will have essentially given them $10,000 out of your own pocket to subsidize their lifestyle. Just get them out, and let someone with less emotional involvement deal with the property moving forward.
Congratulations on learning such a painful and expensive lesson in Real Estate Investing! Don't let it sour you on future projects, and things will be better in the future!
Weird thing is that I have quite the local reputation for being a pretty cut-throat landlord not afraid to send non-curable 30-day notices, evicting old ladies (with significant lease violations) in the middle of Covid and garnishing wages. This situation just hits weird on the risk/reward scale. I definitely value feedback on this as I am leaning towards the eviction.
Quote from @Amber G.:
Quote from @Jonathan Hankins:
I made a similar mistake when I moved out of my first home in Las Vegas and put a "friend" in as a tenant - so this is literally just the advice I wish someone had given me.
You need a property manager immediately - because you are headed for a world of trouble. Your tenant is NOT going to pay you. The state is not going to write a check to someone who significantly upgraded their home in the middle of a crisis - and your tenant knows that. They didn't just accidentally mess up their forms AND forget to fix the issue. They like living in your home without paying.
You WILL have to evict the tenant. They WILL be angry with you, even though you will have essentially given them $10,000 out of your own pocket to subsidize their lifestyle. Just get them out, and let someone with less emotional involvement deal with the property moving forward.
Congratulations on learning such a painful and expensive lesson in Real Estate Investing! Don't let it sour you on future projects, and things will be better in the future!Weird thing is that I have quite the local reputation for being a pretty cut-throat landlord not afraid to send non-curable 30-day notices, evicting old ladies (with significant lease violations) in the middle of Covid and garnishing wages. This situation just hits weird on the risk/reward scale. I definitely value feedback on this as I am leaning towards the eviction.
Oooooh. That IS out of character then :) I was thinking it was a distant family member or something. I wonder if there is any way to reach out to the state directly and see what the terms of rent aid actually are? Moving to a more expensive place sure seems like a way to disqualify for rent aid to me though. I hope you are able to get it resolved. That's what you get for trying to be nice :)
Quote from @Amber G.:
Eviction. You know it in your gut but are trying to reason your way out of it to be a nice person.
If she were serious, she would proactively communicate with you and hustle to get the paperwork done. If she were qualified for this property, she would at least make partial payments to show good faith and avoid getting too far behind.
You made a mistake allowing her to upgrade without qualifying for the rental on her own. You need to get rid of her before this really bites you hard.
