My first eviction....any advice?

[thefed]

My tenant who has paid well til this point (6-7 months) just sent me a TEXT MESSAGE after I called her family references from her rental application. She's 4 days late and no contact. She claims in this msg that she lost her job, got a new one, child support is late, and will have rent to me friday.

WELL, that's 7 days late. So tomorrow, the 5th day, I'm sending USPS cert. letter titled Notice to Vacate- the Ohio revised Code dictates the verbage that must be used when you send this letter. I think its also referred to as the the 3 day letter because you must send/serve it 3 days before filing an eviction claim. You can even hand deliver it, but I'd rather have a paper trail.

My thought is that if I sent it cert tomorow, I should give it 3 BUSINESS days which takes me til Monday...at which point I'll go forward (and NO, I havent a clue what 'forward' is at this point. Im calling the courthouse for some info tomorrow...I assume I go down, fill out some papers, pay a fee, and wait). IF she pays Friday, including all late fees, I wont goto the courthouse. She actually loses a $50 rent discount by not paying by the 1st...then on the 6th there's a $20 fee, and $10 each day thereafter.



Any advice opinions? Told ya so's?

 

[clifp]

Reason #42, I why I am not a landlord.

I am sure you are doing everything right, but as a sucker for a sob story, I'd probably cut her slack. (Which 8 times out of 10 would cost me $)

 

[RunningBum]

Sounds severe to me for what sounds like a first time issue. My opinion is to cut her some slack during a difficult time.

 

[Martha]

In these sorts of situations Greg would generally cut people a fair amount of slack provided that the tenant communicates with him and lets him know what is going on. Call your tenant and find out what is going on and when she can expect to pay. Tell her that she needs to keep you up to date and that she must not make promises she can't keep. If what she says seems reasonable, cut her some slack. Late payments happen often in the biz.

 

[calmloki]

Kinda looks to me like you are jumping the gun - if so and you end up in court you just lost and have to start all over. Our Stevens-Ness 72 hour notice of non-payment of rent form says " your rent $---- ......... was not paid within 7 days of it's due date. .... if the rent is not paid within 72 hours the landlord intends to terminate yada3". Wait till midnight Friday before doing anything, then do your 72 hour notice in the proper way. And yes, I don't go all hard core on a tenant at the first hint of a problem. It usually takes a while. Give yourself somewhere to escalate from.

 

[tryan]

In MA the tenant needs to be 30 days late before the courts will look at you. The 15 day late notice gives 10 days to pay then it goes from there.

Life is about second chances ... hold your horses, tiger.

 

[calmloki]

In MA the tenant needs to be 30 days late before the courts will look at you. The 15 day late notice gives 10 days to pay then it goes from there.

Life is about second chances ... hold your horses, tiger.

'Course in Texas 1/2 hour late and it's the chair, right? Kidding, though I think Texas DOES have some of the harshest real estate repossession laws. But no one wants the property back. badabump!

 

[CourtneyC]

I did a little research for you and found a link that might be helpful (provided by the Ohio State Bar). I think the third question and answer would be most relevant to you in this situation.

heres the link: OSBA - Law You Can Use

 

[thefed]

thanks 4 all the input so far!

I have given her some slack to date, as I made it MORE than clear we do not tolerate late payments. 4 of 8 times she paid on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the month. Each time I said "You know, we shouldnt be giving you the $50 discount, but I'm going to let it slide this time". Ive actually said that 2 times, and the other 2 I didnt even call her to see what was up.

I think its pretty sh!tty she wont even call and speak with me. I was in collections for years, and know all the excuses "Oh, i didnt call because i was embarrassed" " ... I didnt want to call you just to tell u I am broke...I wanted to have some $$ when we spoke" etc.


IF she had called AHEAD of time WHEN she lost her job...I'd actually respect her! COMMUNICATE. We discussed this when she got her key. But to ignore my phone messages til her mom called her...then send text msgs? She's 30 yrs old! come on. To this hour, she still hasnt even called. I replied to her text "please call to discuss"


So say I let her slide til Friday...and maybe she pays some of it and begs for another payday to pay the rest...thats another 14 days taking it to 21 past due. then if she doesnt pay, ive got a good 40-45 days to get her out (ideally...no court holdups, quick schedulign etC)...now im down 60-75 days of rent....it can get up there quick. of course, a month or 2 vacancy while finding tenants doesnt help either....


I dont WANT to evict her, but it can't hurt to send the letter now to get the ball rolling. It will CLEARLY explain how to stop the process (ummm. PAY UP!!). It will also clearly exlpain what communication is!!! I dealt with enough deadbeat payers to know how to work most of them. The problem is the ones who dont fit one of the many faces I'm familiar with!! usually setting a stern tone does help...otherwise they WILL walk all over you, which I think is already happening.


One thing I do with my tenants is IMPLY that I am not the one making the decisions. They think (rightfully so) that a company owns the property, I am the property manager etc. I say things like "you know, i personally wouldnt mind doing xxxx, but i have to follow company procedure or im in deep sh!t" (just an example). Its true, but can be interpreted in a way that gives me a person-to-person communication advantage ( a term i just coined!). It allows me to get on a more personal level, and keep them not-so-angry at me when i have to be the bad guy "hey, it isnt my fault...im just following orders"


anyhow, im rambling. keep em comin!

 

[kjpliny]

What does she look like? Would she pay in trade?

j/k

 

[Fireup2020]

Wow - I have faith I have paid rent late once or twice (not regularly, but been a renter since I was 19!) Actually, I think I owe my housemate/landlord this month's rent!....is her due date the 1st or 5th? I'd cave and just charge her the late fee. Evict if REALLY not paying rent. Could not pay me enough to be a single mother dependent on child support. Is she a good tenant? - meaning she keeps the place decent? Pays regularly? (maybe late periodically, but does pay?) I thank Betty & Jerry in VA for putting up with my issues once upon a time...they kept me around for over 5 years in 3 of their properties, but I also did some home improvement over the years...but did have some payment issues at times. In retrospect, they were a godsend.

 

[thefed]

THE PLOT THICKENS!

While delivering the 3 day notice (I also sent a cert. letter thru USPS), I discovered she has a dog. I saw the leash, and heard it....sounds small....but who knows what the little bugger has done to my house! She promised me no pets except a hamster, as defined in her lease. So that's breach number two. And she still hasn't called me.

It ain't lookin good for her. I'm filing the action against her on Monday if no $$$ or contact by then. The bailiff said 21 days laster will be my court date, and 6-10 days after that will be the designated move-out date. So I'd be looking at....what....Oct 10th or so? then maybe liveable before nov 1st.

I think Im serving notice to her now that I want to see he inside of the home due to the dog. She hasnt paid a deposit for a pet nor cleared it with me.

 

[Nords]

She hasnt paid a deposit for a pet nor cleared it with me.

I think "no pet" clauses are very difficult to enforce.

But debiting the deposit to pay for cleaning pet hair & droppings-- perfectly legal.

We've always used this lease boilerplate: "ANIMALS. Tenant shall be entitled to keep domestic dogs, cats, birds, or other pets, however at such time as Tenant shall actually keep any such animal on the premises, a portion of Tenant's security deposit shall be non-refundable and used upon the termination or expiration of this Agreement for the purposes of cleaning the carpets. In addition, since pet food is a major cause of rodent infestations, Tenant shall be responsible for the cost of repairs caused by rodent damage."

 

[FinanceGeek]

Methinks you're going to get her deposit, and some cleanup & repair work after she's gone...

 

[thefed]

she paid today, including a 50 dollar late fee


still no call. and i did cal and leave a message about the dog...asking if we could set up a time for me to come in and make sure the house is in the shape she got it in. if so, dog can stay. no call

 

[Darryl]

From your outline I was betting against that.

For me maintaining occupancy was job #1, #2 was keeping the neighbors happy no loud parties or disrespectful behavior that would have neighbors calling me to complain. Everything else was a #9.

We used to stress timely payment and when folks communicated problems openly and honestly we would work very hard to accomodate, even taking it out in trade (uh err not like was previously mentioned in this thread) we had a tenant paint the house (of course we supplied paint and brushes) and had other tenants do smaller projects for rent credit. It used to drive me nuts when a nonpayer went underground like yours did and I cannot remember a single example with a non-communicator that ended up working out well. Keep collecting the late fee it sounds like she is giong to make you earn it.

 

[thefed]

From your outline I was betting against that.

For me maintaining occupancy was job #1, #2 was keeping the neighbors happy no loud parties or disrespectful behavior that would have neighbors calling me to complain. Everything else was a #9.

We used to stress timely payment and when folks communicated problems openly and honestly we would work very hard to accomodate, even taking it out in trade (uh err not like was previously mentioned in this thread) we had a tenant paint the house (of course we supplied paint and brushes) and had other tenants do smaller projects for rent credit. It used to drive me nuts when a nonpayer went underground like yours did and I cannot remember a single example with a non-communicator that ended up working out well. Keep collecting the late fee it sounds like she is giong to make you earn it.

i feel the same about her as she is being really wierd not talking to me. an open explanation wouldve likely served her well...im a very nice guy if you show some respect/courtesy

re: your painting situation ... i was told to be careful about letting tenants perform task which can be construed as sweat-equity...in some states it can come back and bite you if the tenant decides they wanna play games