2 years ago, I rented a house to single woman and her rent was $500.00/month. She had a steady job and just barely made my 2.5X minimum requirement. For the 1st year (2015) she paid her rent on the due date and I hardly ever heard from her.

In early 2016, she started having problems paying all of her rent by the due date and at that time I created a bi-monthly rent payment plan for her,...which she loved. Her new payment plan was to pay $250.00 on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. This worked out great for almost all of 2016.

Now it is 2017 and this tenant is having trouble paying the $250.00 twice a month. She is now is calling on her rent due date whining about why she can't pay all of the $250.00..

Yesterday, she suggested I reduce her rent to amount that she can afford. This is also the tenant that makes $11.00/hour and makes payments on 2013 Hummer H3. This vehicle cost more than the house she rents.

What does she think she can afford?

$500 for a house is pretty inexpensive.

I use Clearnow for auto rent drafts. I was told by them that once payments start being missed or late it's normally the beginning of the end. I've found that they know what they're talking about.

Even if I reduced her rent to $400.00 ($100/week), it would work for awhile,...then there would come a time when she starts whining about not being able to pay $100.00/week. There is a pattern here to her rent paying habits.

I thought putting her on a bi-monthly plan would help her manage her finances better but it seems to have back-fired here.

Roy - I would say she needs to go. I dealt with a guy for the past (embarrassed to say) 3 years that has been on and mostly off paying rent (on-time) for that time. I did pretty much everything (weekly payments, bi-weekly, etc).

Last year he paid about 6 months in advance when he received his taxes back so I had a "pretty easy" summer not having to "wonder" where his payments were. I gave him a monthly statement (which I don't normally do) but I wanted to ensure that he AND I both knew where he was with his "balance" and when the next rent would be due for him to actually pay.

He then paid a few months ON TIME (surprisingly). Then December came. He's out of work and "promising me" that he's going to pay "this week and here's the plan going forward". I said "so-n-so, if you are ONE PENNY short and the money is not paid on THE DAY that you state your best thing to do is to move immediately because I'm not dealing with it".

He missed his payment and said "I couldn't come up with the full amount - I'll be out". He took a few extra days (which was fine with me at the time since I wasn't home anyway to do anything about it - he didn't know). I used his SD to pay the month he didn't pay and am currently fixing the place up (repaint and a few other things that are just "needed" after 3 years of a tenant living in a place) and will be ready to rent it 2/1.

I'm going to (hopefully) make more money (about $50) per month on this one apartment and maybe even MORE (maybe another $25-$50) if the tenants in another apartment move to this one and then I can repaint that apartment and fill it. So with the one tenant leaving - I'm hoping to bring in an additional $100 per month - $1,200 per year.

She's already decided. The vehicle is more important than your rental. You've already done more than most would. She doesn't appreciate it and thinks YOU should do more.

She sounds like one I had, and it probably won't end pretty. You need to go ahead and look out for you. The sooner the better.

When I first met her 2 years ago, she told me she was trying to sell this Hummer. Later on I would learn that her Hummer car Note is upside down and she owes more on the vehicle than it is worth. This is the reason she still has it. Yesterday she told me she can't afford to put gas it and the tank was near empty now.

Pat (VA)

When an applicant has a low-paying full-time 'stable job' AND has no dependent spouse, children, pets and does not drink or smoke,...then I can reduce the min. req. down to 2.5. When the opposite is the case, I raise the 3x to 4x

Again, this tenant paid $500.00/month, on-time, for 12 months straight. She paid $250.00 twice a month for another 10-12 months. Does this account for anything?

Yes, it shows you something. It shows you that every 10-12 months she will be unable to manage her money well enough to pay the amount due and because you keep accommodating her, it will continue.

LisaFL,

Two important considerations....

1. How difficult would it be to find a replacement tenant this time of the year?

2. How expensive are filings for evictions?

If this time of the year is slow to replace for the next couple of months, reduce the rent to where she can pay, put her on a month to month tenancy and when the tenant pool improves, give her notice to terminate the lease.

Roy,

My policy on non payment is they get three days and then I give them a notice that starts the eviction process. Ontario being a tenant's paradise this notice gives them a full 14 days before I can apply for an eviction order. After that it takes at least a month to get a hearing. In reality, significantly more. By the end of it I would likely be out 3-4 months of rent, and that is with a tough approach of only allowing three days before setting the ball rolling.

Be thankful your jurisdiction allows you to take timely action to mitigate your losses. I think Pat said it right, this tenant has made her choice, the car is ahead of the roof over her head in her priorities, and she has decided that you have to do more.

As Margaret Thatcher once said, no is a very useful word. The time has come for you to say no more. There are better tenants; you should cut your losses with her and go and find someone who will make your life easier.

I look at things in a different light. With over 100 rentals to "low income tenants", I have to give everyone a change to "make it right and pay their rent". Why? Otherwise I'd have 20 or 30 vacancies at the same time.

It's not that I'm lousy at picking my tenants, half of my tenants came with my property's during the purchase. Also, we have "rent control" that give the "power" to tenants, not the landlords.

But I do have a few rules to follow. Rule one, half of the rent must be paid by the 10th of the month. Rule two, most of the balance of the rent must to paid by the 20th of the month. Rule three, tenants must call me or send a text message explaining why they can't pay their rent in full and on time. Each tenant get the chance to play make up during one or two months during each calendar year.

People,

I need to apologize for making this post. I wish I could hit the delete button and make it all disappear, but it already out there.

What was I thinking when I made this post? Duh! The truth is I begin radiation/chemo treatments in 24 hours! I have alerted my support team. I do have one vacancy already and I have given the keys to that house to another LL who is on my support team. She has evicted her share of tenants and is well versed in the eviction process but I can't ask her to handle my dirty work.

Again, I want to apologize for wasting your time here. I do not have time to evict anyone and this tenant does needs to evicted. I will deal with this tenant on another day.

I need to quit thinking like a LL and start thinking about what is going to happen to me in the next 6 weeks, starting Monday afternoon at 2:30p.m. I get the first dose of radiation at that time. It is what it is.

Prayers for you and your health! You are never wasting time here, even if it is to vent.

Please put your attention on yourself right now. You have a battle ahead of you with your health.

If you have support to help you which you mentioned earlier, please turn this over to them to get her out. I would not reduce her rent. Once you do that, she will want more and more concessions. You don't need this stress and drama. YOU are more important that your business.

Roy,

You know I am praying for you and so is my church. We have many cancer survivors who make fantastic prayer warriors.

Their slogan: "We fight on our knees!"

I was going to repsond something about not answering the phone to avoid discussions about being late, so maybe if you are harder to reach she might just pay her rent.

Ask you helper to just tell her to pay or face the judge.

Or give me her number and *I* will cal your res! I'm good at it! Polite with no acceptance of "but, but, but..."

Thanks for letting us know about the treatments. I'll join the others in prayer for you as you go through this.

Praying for you Roy!!!

This lady needs evicted. You already know that. Start the process as soon as you can. That's all you can do. Unfortunately people will take advantage of you if they think they can. Stinks but it's the way people are.