All Forum Posts by: Manny K.

Hi @Jhanel - thanks for the response. My gripe is - rewarding bad behavior and further empowering bad actors. Once unpaid-debt forgiveness AND additional reward is offered, bad actors sense weakness and tend to get even more greedy, spoilt and irresponsible; they expect more and more, and act as if we (LL) are at their mercy, lol.  Am I overthinking this?  Maybe so, and maybe it is just an ego thing. Need to regulate my emotions better, and get back to business-think :)   Thanks for your input, I will consider.   

Georgia rental - tenant is paying partial 60-70% rent ($400-600 short every month, bit late without late fees every month) since past 8 months, claiming Covid hardship. Refuses to communicate, and is not cooperating in completing the paperwork necessary for CARES/rent assistance programs. What would you do in these challenging Covid times: 

1) Serve a 60-day M2M lease termination notice, and HOPE they move out on their own?  Or, keep collecting partial rent for next few months till court system is fully functional and scheduling prompt hearings again?  

2) Any estimate on how long it might take in GA during these Covid days, to get thru the whole eviction process if tenant becomes "holdover"? 

3) Is it highly probable that the tenant will stop paying altogether upon receiving 60-day termination notice?  If so, am I looking at a potential 6-9 month long (w/ Covid court + sheriff delays)  zero cashflow battle if I go that route?   

I hate the idea of Cash-for-keys, and don't even know if this tenant will opt for that. Is staying put, and collecting partial rent the best course for now?  What would you do?   Thanks in advance! 

Dear BP community - I need some guidance on how to properly issue a lease termination notice for multiple/repeated lease and HOA violations - BUT, the rent is paid and HOA has not imposed any fines YET.

Tenant has managed to pay rent every month (always right before late fee deadline and with late fee twice), however - he keeps breaking other rules every 2nd month (some minor, some major - pets/noise/parking etc), which HOA keeps objecting and sending notices. I have already issued cure-or-quit notices before. Tenant either denies or sometimes complies.

This time, the HOA's letter and threat to start issuing daily fines sounds severe enough. So, I am thinking of taking action before it escalates.

This is in GA and lease term has another 9 months to go! I was thinking of serving an unconditional notice to vacate with HOA letters & prior violations attached - but, since Aug rent is paid, allow till Sept end to move out, provided he pays Sept rent and vacates on time, in move-in condition? Is there anything else that is needed to be done to be able to terminate lease early in such situation?

If he doesnt pay Sept rent, I file eviction in early Sept for non-payment.  If he does not vacate on Sept 30, I refuse to accept Oct rent and file for eviction.  Will this work - or am i missing something here?    

What would you recommend? 

Thank you.  

Thanks @John Underwood  for your response.  Based on my experience with this habitual problem tenant though, it seems like they can and WILL exploit that approach soon enough.  Once we start getting behind, it seems hard to manage the risk... especially with the typical one-month deposit buffer. Ideally, I do not want to carry any baggage of partial payments or missed late fees into the next cycle.      

Apart from eRentPayment (tenant refuses to set it up!), are there ANY other simple ways to collect rent but block partial payments??   Do not like the drama associated with meeting in person or mailing rent to a PO box.  Any other ways to allow tenant to conveniently make a guaranteed funds money transfer for a FIXED amount that the LL sets and NO LESS, AND before a certain date and NO LATER?? 

Good morning, and thank you for the detailed response @Deanna McCormick .

As of now, October's $200 "violation fine" (pet/HOA fines, not "late fee") is unpaid. If lease says all payments go towards oldest outstanding balance first, I assume this now becomes $200 unpaid "rent" for November?

Is this sufficient ground to serve a 3-day "pay-or-quit" and proceed with eviction? That is what I planned to do, until the GA handbook's language about partial payments got my head spinning again :) 

@Pablo Mendez  -  I am a noob myself (so, no legal advice here) and in the same situation you described.  Tenant sent in $1000 in certified funds. Based on previous replies, and the fact that the lease says any money paid is first applied to oldest outstanding balance first,  I am thinking it is OK to cash in the $1000,  and then send another pay-or-quit notice for the remaining $150.  On one hand, the Georgia Landlord/Tenant handbook indicates if LL accepts partial payment for a month, he cannot file for eviction (or might not get eviction judgment) for THAT MONTH  - but can sue in small claims court for remaining rent.  On the other hand, several posts indicate that as long as any partial payment is accepted BEFORE (and not after) serving the pay-or-quit notice for remaining rent, it is OK to file for eviction - even for $1 outstanding rent for that matter (assuming tenant does not pay up the remaining $1 rent by pay-or-quit due date).  Is that correct??    Any seasoned GA LLs out there who might be able to shed light?   Could also use a referral to a good local ATL based attorney if anyone can recommend. 

Another confusion is -  if a 7-day cure-or-quit / $150 fine notice was sent on Oct-30th, does it mean that the "due date" for the fine is actually Nov-6th,  so that rent recd on Nov 1 cannot technically be applied to that fine YET... since it was not "due/outstanding" or not "older" than the Nov1 rent due date?   Arrgh... maybe I overthink and worry too much :)       

Btw, this is the snippet from the GA Landlord/Tenant Handbook: 

"If the landlord accepts partial rent he cannot then seek to dispossess or evict the tenant for failure to pay the monthly rent. If the tenant fails to pay the remaining amount of rent due, the landlord would have to sue the tenant for payment but could not dispossess or evict the tenant for nonpayment. " 

Good afternoon fellow LLs. Just wanted to give an update on this situation. So, I took @Deanna McCormick 's suggestion above and served a 7-day cure-or-quit notice detailing the 2 fines due ($150 pet violation and $50 HOA letter) on Oct 30th. Tenant gave another story/excuse claiming a "guest's" dog was just visiting for 3 days and is gone-gone this time. Of course I didn't see any traces of the dog when I visited to serve notice/do inspection either... coz he cleaned up the "crime scene" well :) Tenant also tried to resist the HOA letter claims. Anyway... he ended up paying just the regular Nov rent on Nov 4th. He is avoiding any talk about when he will pay the $200 fine. Soo.... if my lease says any payment is first applied to outstanding fees etc... what is the best way to approach this?

1)  Serve a 3-day pay-or-quit for remaining $200 now, and file eviction on 4th day for the mere $200 unpaid?

2)  Wait for Dec rent, and refuse any "partial" rent payment (i.e. pay the full monthly rent + $200 fine; else I refuse).. and then do the pay-or-quit thing? 

3)  Do not confront any more and notify/plan that the $200 fine will be deducted from security deposit?  

Also, lease says "if rent is not paid in full within three (3) days of date due, late fee of $75 applies" .  Due date is 1st, and he ended up paying on 4th.  Is still considered timely...  or would u generally interpret that lease language as meaning late fee applies starting 4th itself (which is what I have communicated to him in the past)?  

Thanks!  

Thank you all for the support and sharing your wisdom... I appreciate it.  Can you please help me with a couple of other basic Qs -- 

1) What kind of "system" do you follow for delivering time sensitive notices with hard to reach tenants?  

    A) I guess delivering "in person" is the best, but is it acceptable to knock on door at 8PM "un-announced"  to deliver if I see the car outside? (he usually gets back home around 7.30-8pm I think)  

    B) Posting on the door --  is that legally considered "delivered" ? And is that still unsafe/considered trespassing if I go at door-step unannounced?  

    C)  Certified/Registered Mail --  how does this even work if no one is available or keeps refusing to "sign" at delivery?  And how do you alter the time deadline and give a hard date in the letter -- if you have no clue when the mail will actually be considered legally delivered?   

     D)  Email  --  I have tried this before, and never got any acknowledgement or email reply back after that :)   When confronted, I got the same BS --  "internet issues / phone issues / never saw it"  blah blah. 

2)  What is a typical/reasonable reason for a LL to get routine access to the unit (with 24-48 hour notice)... without it being considered excessive or deliberate etc?    My lease allows for QUARTERLY inspections with notice, and then emergency visits are always allowed. But, when I highly "suspect" violations, I would like a way to go and inspect it myself right away (and not wait another 2-3 months).  I don't think giving the "possible violation" as a reason -- or fabricating new "emergencies" is the best approach... or is it?    Any other tips here?  

Thanks again! 

@Jon Holdman  -- yes, lease has monetary penalties. I will notify him on the cure-or-quit notice. 

@Nathan Gesner -- how can I get rid of tenant and at the same time ensure he does not turn into a hostile non-paying one during these harder-to-rent winter months? The way I see it is -- Option1: I enforce a fine and wait and see if he cures the violation and rent keeps coming in on time and there are no other HOA notices in coming weeks/months. -- OR -- Option2: I start eviction notices and process immediately, turning him into a non-paying tenant and risk losing up to 4 months of rent in weakest winter/holiday months.

Or am I getting this wrong...?    Thank  you for your insights.