Hello, I have a young couple as tenants here in Indiana that have been giving me the run-a-round on rent the last 3 months. They keep saying that they are buying a house and I have had mortgage companies call me for rent verifications....Frankly, I'm getting pretty sick of this story every month...it has been going on now for about 3 months but I have always gotten my full rent but never by the 5th..they usually take till the 10th to pay but this month they are still $175 behind as of yesterday. The wife is now pregnant and this will only get worse with the coming months until they will stop paying altogether.

I am going to tell them to move within 30 days as I know they can't afford the rent any longer ($700). I hate to evict a pregnant couple but it is the husband's responsibility to take care of his wife, not mine.

Has any body else gotten the "We're buying a house so we can't sign a new lease" routine?

That routine sure sounds a lot like the "money's tight so we can't pay rent" routine, doesn't it?

Be strong, this is a business arrangement. Enforce your rental agreement, which includes ... payment of rent.

Maybe they are looking to buy a house and don’t understand they can’t really afford one.

I did have a tenant ask if she could pay her last month's rent on the 10th instead of the first because she needed money for a down payment. She actually paid me including the late fee on the 10th and bought a trailer.

She left me with a few things to repair and clean, but I gave a lot of her deposit back.

Joe-We all get run-around stories. The difference is those that put up with it and those that act to collect or evict. My concern would not be that they would not sign a new lease, it would be the timely collection of your rent $. Your observation is correct: The need to take care of themselves, pregnant or not. Stick to your guns and run it like the business it is.

Check your state laws and follow the procedure for getting them out for non-payment. The longer you wait, the more it will cost you.

When they call to say they are going to be late with the rent JUST SAY NO!

This is the only way that I have found works to get your rent ..... JUST SAY NO! Tell them that they need to find the rent somehow. I tell them to borrow it from someone else .... not me.

Trust me on this one .... I have learned the hard way. The more I give in the the more they ask for. Pretty soon they are 1 full month behind then someone looses a job and you are out 2 months or 3 months going through eviction.

The world would be much better if more people would take responsibility for their actions and not try to put the burden on others.

Maybe it should be really simple: if you owe the LL(me) any money, it is a problem that will not be tolerated. I think we sometimes forget to be really firm about this. As always, billy button gives good advice above. In 2008, I will be tightening down my late policy, not allowing any extra time before serving pay/quit, as the evictions take too long anyway so no point in making the problem worse.