Once you file for eviction for non-payment of rent and the constable has served the papers, and then your tenant decides to pay rent right after the constable leaves, does acceptance of that rent make the eviction 'null and void' ? What complicates this question even more is 'direct deposit' in your bank account can be a legal form of 'acceptance',...according to my attorney.

If they pay their past due rent then the eviction, if based on not being current, does invalidate an eviction. In our area and noted in our lease acceptance of partial payment does not prevent us from continuing with the eviction.

It is a matter of do you want to keep the tenant. If you think it's time to send them packing then do not accept the rent if that is allowed in your area.

Direct deposit does complicate it but my attorney has always advised that when the tenant pays you can immediately return the funds by check or ACH. Take a copy of the check and send it by registered mail as proof for the court hearing. If you use ACH you simply need the bank receipt to prove return of funds mailing it by registered mail not required.

Since you already have a relationship with your attorney, I'd ask him/her these questions. He/she will know the judge and the law. Laws + judge = what happens in Roy's town.

I have accepted payment from ex tenant who had been evicted, and had moved out. At the time payment was made,They were paying a debt.

I asked this question to find out how this issue is handled in your county,...not mine. Here rent received after filing can be accepted and does not void the eviction, however, it does give the tenant a reason to ask for a court date.

On February 1st, I accepted past due rent for January, plus late fees, plus court cost AND February rent from a tenant AFTER I was given the Writ of Possession. I spoke to the Constable about this and he said, 'if your tenant pays you what he owes and you choose to keep him,...I will not serve the Writ of Possession and put him on the street.

Roy,

I love ya buddy, but I don't understand your line of questions. How does us giving you information that may not apply to your area help you?

Wanted to clarify something....I was asked how I can still evict in Missouri even if I accept the rent/fees/costs. The way our statutes are written, as long as I do not get a money judgment, I can evict regardless.

How/why would this happen?

Let's say I have a tenant whom I suspect allowed her ex-convict boyfriend to move in, but I can't prove it. Or

she's dealing drugs, but again, very hard to prove. I can file for eviction the day her rent is late (that I CAN prove...it wasn't in the bank!) and ask for possession only...no money. If she deposits the rent/fees between the date I filed and the court date, I can accept the money but continue to evict for possession only.

MO Statute: 535.160. Tender of rent and costs on judgment date, effect — not bar to landlord's appeal — no stay of execution if no money judgment, exceptions. (stuff, stuff, stuff)...."If for any reason no money judgment is entered against the defendant and judgment for the plaintiff is limited only to possession of the subject premises, no stay of execution shall be had, except as provided by the provisions of section 535.110 or the rules of civil procedure or by agreement of the parties."

Now if the tenant is smart they can appeal per section 535.110 and possibly stay if they prove everything was paid up, but if they don't I can still get possession & keep the money I received, because I wasn't "asking" for money: I was asking for possession.

I wouldn't do this except at a "nuclear" option again a tenant who had other serious lease violation issues that were hard to prove but who still paid the rent...but maybe was just a few days late. RARE, that I would do this. VERY rare.

If I have asked for a money judgment and they pay the law requires me to dismiss.

Sid said,

'How does us giving you information that may not apply to your area help you'?

I ask these questions out of curiosity. Just like me asking what does it cost to file papers in your county? I am curious as to 'why' eviction filing cost are so high in my county and dirt cheap in other states?

I ask these questions to compare what goes on here in relation to what goes on in other states and counties. There are many questions that I post here in which I already know the answer to, however, I post them to find out how other LL's deal with the same situation.

Jeff (CO)

Jeff (CO)

Was payment the only reason you filed or was there another reason that has not been cured yet?