Hi, I am a landlord in CT. My husband and I rent out a 3 family home. We have a tenant who has never paid us on time. She gives us a lot of grief and we just want her out. She has a month to month lease. This month she wrote us a check dated the 10th. We received it on the 13th and it was no good. We called her sever times but we never got a response. So we started the eviction for non-payment of rent. After getting served, she called my husband and left him a voicemail on his cell saying that she could get the money and to call her. We had planned on just accepting the money as use and occupancy but when my husband called her back she said she was tied up and would call him back in an hour-she never did. We are done with her games we just want her out. Here is my question, she mentioned in her voicemail messages that "you guy do what you have to do but I am legally disabled" Now she is on social security because she claims she has sleep apnia (sp.) she is a single mom and is about 45 years old. What kind of defense does she have if any by her claims of legally disabled. She still has to pay her rent correct? We filed the Notice to Quit and the Writ Summons and Complaint and she has filed her appearance, answer and special defense. I have not gotten them yet in the mail as she just filed yesterday but could anyone give me any advice on what I might be up against. Also, our friends who own the adjacent house and parking lot allows us to rent spaces for our tenants as the street has a parking ban. She pays her rent and adds the $30 for parking. However, we got nothing this month so how should we handle paying this. Do we keep paying it, should a note go on her car, does anyone know the correct way we should handle it. The owners of the lot don't want to deal with our tenant so we are kind of in a spot. Please help with both or one of these questions if you know about these types of issues. Thanks. Sharon --99.7.xxx.xx

The longer you let/allow it to drag out...the more money you lose...act Now.. --70.106.xx.xx

If she's disabled that's unfortunate but not a defense against paying rent or being evicted at least not in Kansas . Also in your state it may be against the law to write a bad check . Ask your DA and the civil penalties for writing bad checks might cost her a pretty penny too. Evict her for nonpayment of rent and hold her feet to the fire on bad check , criminally and civily. --70.250.xxx.xxx

I appreciate your responses. I did not think she could get away with staying with out paying but I guess I just needed someone else to clarify. We are proceeding with the eviction. We started it on the 17th and it is moving quite quickly. I am not exactly green to evictions as I did work for an eviction attorney 10 years ago for quite a few years but things have changed some and I know other peoples experiences you can learn from. As for the bad check. I did contact the police department and they said in an tenant/landlord situation it is best to go through an eviction process. They do not like getting involved in those types of issues. I am keeping copies of all expenses, sheriff fees, gas, transportation, copies, parking costs at courthouse as well as parking costs that I may need to pay for this tenant parking at the adjacent lot. I am hoping to do that in small claims court later on. --99.7.xxx.xx

Sleep napnea is a serious disabiltiy and you are probably the culprit. I'd back off on any eviction procedings unless you want your tenant to own your property. Tread lightly on this one. Don't listen to the above bozos. They don't have a dog in this race. --70.35.xx.x

Sharon..you have to read and discern the responses... --70.106.xx.xx

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--75.137.xxx.xxx

Rudy you're joking , right ? Disability has no bearing on evicting for nonpayment of rent, at least not in the Free State of Kansas. We can evict a deadbeat on their death bed if we are so inclined . However in some of the Socialist Peoples Republics in The NE US it may have come to the point where people have lost their property rights . I hope for your sake that is not the case. --70.250.xxx.xxx

Best of luck and come back, the folks here are supportive and you get tough love. --82.113.xxx.xxx

Having just finished a tough eviction, my advice is to follow all procedures properly as you have done. If you truly want her out don't take any money and when you get to court only accept all the money she owes or possession. Because she is claiming a disability it may take you longer to get her out but just keep proceeding. My tenants brought up all kinds of issue that were unrelated to rent owed. The court will only deal with the issue of rent owed --96.237.xxx.xx

It is frustrating that tenants are receiving a government cheque for welfare or disability every month yet can not pay rent. In the apartment buildings some tenants have the money they should have been using to pay rent for illegal drugs or beer. One tenant who was evicted there constantly there were cases of two fours going into the apartment. Wonder if the the government will forgive taxes or the bank will forgive the mortgage. Once the tenant was removed the apartment there was drug paraphermalia in the apartment which is a modified plastic bottle. A garbage bad filled with whisky bottles. No wonder they were not be able to pay the rent. --74.220.xxx.xxx

My attorney told me I can evict someone terminally ill or on life support if I wanted to for non payment of rent.I will look like trash for doing it,but why should I give someone a free ride?It is a business,not a charity. --76.98.xxx.xxx

I love all the respones and welcome more. So far, we have filed all appropriate paperwork. As I remember working for an attorney, papers were not even filed as quickly. I spoke with the court clerk about this disability thing and she said sometimes if a person is 65 years and older and being asked to leave in 30 days there can be an issue but never for non-payment. That is no excuse. She is not elderly and I have to be honest with you, she has more energy than anyone I know. She must have had a great attorney to get her the SSI. Anyway, I can call my friend attorney (who is excellant) to come in at any time, however right now money is a little tight and I think it might not be necessary. She may move. Also, my husband noticed her looking as if she is moving things around and throwing a lot of stuff out. I am not worried because of what Rudy said. It sounds like he has a personal experience with this disease and I am not heartless but I lost my job in January as was laid off, my husband is a diabetic and believe me when our mortgage is due our mortgage company can care less about our situation they just want the money. She lives there she used the apartment, she should pay. As for the parking, I don't even want to rock the boat or leave her any loop holes so I will continue to pay it. However, I am going to need to work out a better plan in the future in case this happens again. --99.7.xxx.xx

we start eviction on the 5th if no rent and think u should too.if your state lets u. --208.58.x.xx

Disability of any kind is no defense against failure to pay rent. Sleep apnea is not a "disability" according to federal law, but merely a health condition, by the way. --65.55.xx.xxx

Any disability is something the tenant has to work out with social services, the judge will or should tell them the same thing - the issue in housing court is unpaid rent not where the system has funds to support someone who may not be able to meet the obligations. --76.241.xxx.xxx

--216.175.xx.xxx

Just to answer an earlier question, in CT you can not start an eviction until the 10th of the month. I started the process on the 17th. I received her answer today her defense is that when we called her about her check not being good. She tried to call us back but got a fax machine. It is true that sometimes we fax things and the machine is on but she has been told on numerous occasions to call my husband's cell not our house which she did. We actually got that in writing. When she finally did call the cell she left a message around the 16th of the month. My husband called her back and she said it was not a good time to talk as earlier stated said she would call back in an hour and never did. We also tried to call her back but no answer. Of course she fails to say that in her special defense. Today my husband had to do some roof work and it was easier to enter from her daughter's room but she would not let him in as she said her daughter was sleeping. My husband came back 3 hours later and no one answered. The roofer who was able to get up on the roof with the ladder saw her and she mentioned to him that she was not going to let my husband in because he was taking her to court. The roofer who talks more than we would like responded "really" and she said well I am trying to get the money together I am only one month behind and he responded "well you got to pay the roof over your head first". He told my husband her face turned white to red. Oh the woes of landlordhood. --99.7.xxx.xx

Mike45 thanks for making me feel like I am handling things accordingly. Your response sounds really good and reasonable to me. --99.7.xxx.xx

You are doing everything right. Let the process take it's course. Don't stop paying the parking rent, just add that into the suit. Don't try to go into her unit until she is to be evicted. Especially with just your hubby. Good luck! --64.252.xx.xx

Thanks Nightaura, nice to see another Connecticadian on here :) --99.7.xxx.xx

hi I have sleep apera (sp) and I use a machine at nite. I don't know if it's a disbilly are not. check on this site with your states laws but keeping on w =eviction. --67.242.xxx.xxx

Does anyone have an idea of how I might serve a "reluctant" deadbeat like this? --69.207.xx.xxx

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Just a suggestion. --99.12.xx.xxx

Good luck --66.184.xxx.xx