State Specific Question About: NEW JERSEY (NJ)

Hmmm...."death of a tenant" has showed up twice today. Is that like when the tenant claims dear old Aunt Tilly died this month (and also died six months ago) so they can't pay rent? ;-)

Nancy,

Time to be firm and fair, with businesslike compassion.

First check to obits. Dad might have passed a month ago.

I don't mean to sound mean, but this is life. It happens to ALL of us. It happens to EVERY resident. It happened to me. His lack of preparation to set money aside for emergencies is not MY fault.

And too many LLs let residents off the hook with any excuse.

When I stopped playing god, deciding which sad story was worthy of special treatment, my life got easier. Too often this type of excuse was the beginning of the end - a handy excuse for their current lack of funds. Funerals are a great Landlord Sympathy Button to push, esp parents' funerals.

He needs to pay the rent as always and borrow money for the funeral.

Local aide agencies, his church, and his family can help out in these situations.

"Joe, Sorry for your loss. The rent is still due. Please borrow from friends or family for funeral expenses."

If you want to ease your conscious, give him an extra week, but longer is dangerous.

Nancy,

Time to be firm and fair, with businesslike compassion.

First check to obits. Dad might have passed a month ago.

I don't mean to sound mean, but this is life. It happens to ALL of us. It happens to EVERY resident. It happened to me. His lack of preparation to set money aside for emergencies is not MY fault.

And too many LLs let residents off the hook with any excuse.

When I stopped playing god, deciding which sad story was worthy of special treatment, my life got easier. Too often this type of excuse was the beginning of the end - a handy excuse for their current lack of funds. Funerals are a great Landlord Sympathy Button to push, esp parents' funerals.

He needs to pay the rent as always and borrow money for the funeral.

Local aide agencies, his church, and his family can help out in these situations.

"Joe, Sorry for your loss. The rent is still due. Please borrow from friends or family for funeral expenses."

If you want to ease your conscious, give him an extra week, but longer is dangerous.

Back to the FAIR part...

Other families scrimp, save, do without, and get second jobs so they can pay their rent on time. I realized I was kicking these hard workers in the teeth every time I gave someone else slack just because they came up with a serious sounding excuse.

The FAIREST thing I can do is treat EVERYONE the same. I leave the drama of their real lie up to them. I trust they can manage their own lives. This simplest version of that is sticking to the deadlines.

Back when we did accept excuses we lost THOUSANDS$$$ (now they've found your Sympathy Button and will press it again and again) and often discovered later that the excuse was a total lie.

Side note: the airlines will often offer a reduced "bereavement rate" for last minute funeral flights.

Where you want to be humane, you are operating a business. So go up to your banker and ask them what would happen if your father would pass. Would they allow you to pay late without any fees or just not make the house payment at all?

I have never had a banker say it is okay not to pay. So if that is the standard you have to live by, you need to ask yourself - am I okay loaning this tenant the rent money with the knowledge that I might not ever get paid back.