Hi, welcome to another tips for landlords and property managers video sponsored by Fast Evict Law group.com. On today’s episode, we’ll go over some tips on what to do if your tenant stops paying rent. Please remember, the contents of this video shouldn’t be considered legal advice.
A landlord’s business heavily relies on the ability to collect rent on time month after month. When tenants start falling behind on rent, it could hinder the landlord’s day to day operations like paying the mortgage, paying the rental’s bills and paying the personnel needed to properly maintain the property.
What can the landlord do if a tenant stops paying rent? Before going directly to the last resort, we’ll go over a few techniques you can try before evicting your tenant.
Talk to your tenant
The first thing you should do is ask your tenant for a moment of their time to discuss the situation. This is especially true if your tenant had been punctual in months past.
It’s important to remind them that failing to pay rent on time can cause late rent fees, affects your business and most importantly, the tenant has a legal obligation to do so.
Speaking with your tenant may help you learn about any employment or health issues they may be going through. This is where your negotiation skills can come in handy and you can offer them some sort of payment plan, leniency, etc. If you don’t find their reasoning too convincing, you can move on to the next step.
Send a Pay or Quit notice.
The first step in the eviction process is to serve the tenant a notice, usually in the form of a Pay or Quit notice. This notice usually states how much rent is owed, how many days the tenant has to pay the overdue balance and to whom and where they should pay it.
Most of the time, this will fix the situation and the tenant will pay the overdue balance. If the tenant hesitates and all of a sudden has maintenance requests, you should take care of them (if reasonable and they affect habitable conditions of the property) and then serve the tenant again once they have been fixed.
This notice should always be served to the tenant directly, in hand. If they are not available, it can be served to an adult living on the property or posted in an easily visible area such as the front door.
If you are still not getting through to your tenant and they refuse to give up possession or pay rent, you can consider trying the next option.
Cash for keys
Before taking your tenant to court, you could consider cash for keys to get your tenant to move out. This business decision shouldn’t be used without considering some factors such as the tenant’s motives, current eviction process costs and legal hurdles.
The basic gist of a cash for keys deal is to motivate your tenant to move out within a certain time period by paying them cash. This could help you avoid an expensive eviction and get the ball rolling on finding another tenant.
This is an extremely simplified explanation of Cash for Key and they tend to be complicated. Before considering cash for keys, make sure you read up on all of the rules and regulations in the state of California and your local municipality.
Hiring a property manager
A good property manager should have some experience in getting a feel for non paying tenants. In other words, knowing if they are trying to pull your leg or if they really are struggling. This could also set the tone to your tenant that you are serious about the situation.
Eviction
The last resort: Eviction. Evictions can take time and can be expensive but sometimes necessary to regain possession of your property. It’s always best to talk to an experienced eviction lawyer such as Fast Eviction Service to figure out the best way to proceed.
How do you deal with tenants who have stopped paying rent? Let us know about it in the comments. Please like, share and subscribe if you have found this video useful. Thanks for watching, we’ll see you on the next one.
