I have just filed the eviction in the court after dealing with this tenant for the last 26 days for August's rent. Have delivered a 'Notice to Quit' document in person to the tenant inside his business office. Here are my questions and would really appreciate your advice:

1. How can I prove in court that the 'Notice to Quit' was received by the tenant. I kept a copy of the notice though. There were no third person when I gave the notice to the tenant. Should I re-send the notice by certified mail?

2. The tenant threatened suing me on harassment for calling/emailing him too many times to collect rent and business office trespassing.

3. Should I hire an attorney to handle the potential harassment claim from this tenant?

Check your state law for the service requirements, but usually, the LL or manager testifies in court: "On ____ date, at ___ [a.m./p.m.], I personally handed the Notice To Pay Rent Or quit to Mr. Tenant at [his office/the apartment/_____]." That is all it takes.

Don't bother to send the Notice now by certified mail -- you said you already filed the eviction in court, so if what you did was not sufficient, you can't cure it now. You'd have to start all over.

As to the harassment claim, don't sweat it until/unless you get served with something claiming harassment.

You might want to check your state laws to see what levels of aggression you are allowed in collection efforts -- time limits, frequency limits, etc. Like: don't call after 9:00 p.m. or before 8:00 a.m., don't call more than 3 times a day, don't call at work if you are told by the debtor not to call him at work, ...

If you are sued for harassment, you should talk to an atty about it.

Most do a "tack and mail" and don't worry if the tenant comes back with the claim they weren't notified. Simply keep a record of when you presented them with this notice.

The next step would be filing for the actual dispossessory and this notice will be handled via the "tack and mail" approach (i.e., the clerk of court sending out the "mail", the Marshall's office leaving the notice on the door of the rental property).

Tenants generally attempt to claim some nonsense to try and get out of an eviction. They'll often try to sling mud in every direction in an attempt to cover up the fact they haven't paid their rent.

Georgia is a very landlord friendly state. A judge is not likely to buy the excuse that a landlord asking for rent is harassment.

Thank you two for the speedy response.

I Did call him a couple of times after 9:00PM to try to get the rent, which I regret doing that now.

Mike, I filed the eviction online without being asked to state when/where did I gave the tenant the notice.

When you go to court you are sworn to tell the truth . If you testify that you served the person the judge will take you at your word.You As the primary debtor are not bound by the same laws as a third party debt collector so your tenant probably only knows what they've seen on Judge Judy.