So we have a tenant that owes COVIT back rent of 7,500. She is older and now has sect 8 . She claims that her church said they would pay this back rent but the pastor that would have to handle this is overseas and not coming back until the first of the year. Believable? Has anyone actually been paid ( and this much) by a church.? She claims that she can't pay this back rent.

It doesn't make any difference if the story is legitimate or not. She's 9 months behind: unless the funds are deposited in your account by noon tomorrow, it's time to file for eviction. NY is already a tough state to get tenants out from what I hear, so any delay at this point is just prolonging the inevitable and cost you more money.

One of the 10 Commandments is "Thou shalt not steal." Any church-goer should know that and have moved out by now and refused to participate in any further stealing of your rent money that is owed on a legitimate providing of services to her. From now on, she can rely on the generosity of her family, friends, and others. You are not her personal charity event, unless you choose to be. So far, it sounds like the default assumption has been, "Mike is rich, so therefore he can afford it."

Kinda arrogant to assume that without your permission she can stay without paying until "sometime" next year... if ever.

Wait--- she now has section 8? you are taking rent? you ain't kicking her out--- WHY you ask-- Because your taking rent. What's going to be your claim? She's not paying rent? BUT she is through sec 8.

You would need to file a civil suite for breach of the contract rent amount. You can kiss this money good bye.

Funny -- you say "she claims pastor will pay" yea and what does pastor say-- WHO is Jane Doe" and what is she to me?

This is one of the best and funniest one paragraph story's I've read in years.

So if I read this correctly, she got $7500 behind. NOW her rent is being paid by section 8, and she's promising by some means or another to get caught up.

I wouldn't hold my breath. Assume that you'll never see the $7500. Based on that, do you want to keep her as a tenant and get paid by section 8?

You may have trouble evicting her NOW for that back rent since she is now on Sec-8. In most states, you sign a new agreement with the Housing Authority and it tends to be pretty specific about eviction at this point.

In NY you can't discriminate against S8, so to evict her now that she has S8 (existing tenant) can prompt a "visit" from AG Tish James' staff.

And the government said it was ok to steal during the moratoriums, particularly BLUE states and cities who, in some cases are STILL trying to keep this legalized theft going.

from VEE (OH)

"Recover the property, asess damages just like any other, you should have fired your property manager when covid officially ended this spring?"

This spring? COVID "protection" was extended until Aug 1.At that time she was approved by sect 8,.and frankly they pay pretty well, its a very small apt and in this area

I would say most would call it a B unit.

In NY aits not easy to evict someone, and in 20 years

I have only tried to do another one.A similar older lady. Very costly with lawyer fees and the judge took sympathy of an old lady being put out by a "rich, money hungry" landlord that didn't care about people,.

So she stayed for 8 more month w/o paying. Wonder why I didn't move to immediately evict her?

Anyway, I know of another LL that said that a church group paid almost as much.

So now I will try contacting the church myself and see if I can get a firmer promise from them, (yea,I know I shoulda done this before)

Dealing with an old infirm old lady with no place to go is not easy,...yeah its true I'm not a charity, but I have to live with myself.

Mark, I saw this and it concerns me.

"Dealing with an old infirm old lady with no place to go is not easy,...yeah its true I'm not a charity, but I have to live with myself."

This raises some questions:

1) Are you doing this land lording thing as a business or just for fun/as a hobby?

2) When you got into this, was your plan to provide endless free rent for infirm old ladies? If not, then what was your plan?

In this day of entitlement, it's easy to be pressured by society and others to think that you have to solve the world's problems. Maybe you have a desire to do good beyond just running your business. I applaud that! Good for you. But let the charity cases be YOUR DECISION, made on PURPOSE, and with deliberate THOUGHTFULLNESS.

Too often we tolerate unacceptable situations out of guilt, fear, or inertia. That isn't good, regardless of the results achieved.

So if you sat down and had a come to Jesus moment and said to yourself, "This old lady is struggling, and I'm in a position to help her out. I will forego collecting the back rent, and if anything comes of it, great. Otherwise, I'm not going to worry about it." Then that's excellent.

But if you're just not sure what to do and find yourself in a situation you never would have set out to do on purpose, and so you're just going to let it ride... that's not good.

There are millions of people who could use your help. Why this one? Just because she's already there? That's allowing inertia to make your decisions for you. I would strongly encourage you not to allow life to just happen.

You're a property owner: a land lord. Take charge of your land and property. You are the lord of the manor. This property is yours to manage for good or bad. The best decisions we make are thoughtfully considered and implemented on purpose.

So it's time for you to make a decision. Ask yourself: Would you have signed up for this had someone come to me and said, "Hey we need you to house this lady for 9 months for no rent. Will you do it?"

If you would've said, "Yes", then by all means, continue.

If you would've said, "No", then it's time to get back on track.

Best wishes as you move forward.

I am with NE on this one. If education is expensive, what is the cost of mistakes like this?

You have a contract and you are electing not to enforce it. John also brings up a good point with housing involved, getting rid of her might be harder than you think.

My advise- Stop falling on your own sword. You are in the right place for advise. You might want to reach out to the housing office about this matter and schedule a trip to land lord boot camp so you learn the standards that you have blown off.

Thank you all for the inputs on this subject.

Especially the post from Sid, yes I'm in business, but many years ago I invested in real estate and have done quite well. I have a very good yearly income and millions in equity.

So once in a while can I show compassion to a infirm elderly person? I would ask some here to think about maybe their mother if you are not around or able to help. Or maybe when you're gone,.. your wife. You might say that you've taken very good care of their futures, but I'm reminded of the

real story at a meeting of eight of the wealthiest men in United States at a meeting, and how they all died broke from strange things that can happen in one's life.

Yes I know I can't solve every body's problems but once in a while I can try to help.I'm just religious enough to not to sell my soul over this amount of money.

Will I tried to recover these funds? Sure, but if I don't it's not going to hurt me. If the church doesn't pay, I note that she has a son and a daughter that's gainfully employed. She also has some other relatives. I don't have any contract for them to pay, but perhaps they will to avoid having the mother having to move.

So will we have to remove her? Maybe, but if we do I will try to find a place for her. Again I know some here feel we shouldn't get involved in tenants problems, and I very,very rarely do, but I will in this case. It's not even all that hard as I have office help that I can assign the problem mostly to

I understand that some here might not be as well off as in my situation.and they have to be more aggressive in collections, and I have been very lucky in my past.

To answer some of the other questions why I didn't immediately jump on this problem. The last time, many years ago when I did my last eviction.( All these years and many tenants I've only had to do a few evictions) that time It was also to an older person. She was not so disabled or nice and it cost me nearly $5000 in lawyers fees, and she knew sooner or later she would have to leave and so she paid no more rent for quite a few months. Then I also had to pay to move her out, which caused about $2000. Then there were months lost to get the unit ready again. So it was around a $10,000 loss and that was years ago. Ever heard of the saying cheaper to keep her?

Anyway, that you all esp to Sid,..

I KNOW that cheaper to keep her was in reference to a wife Sheesh,..a joke,..

I think I'm doing pretty well with my business thank you.You usually can tell you are doing well when several bankers ask if they can lend you money,..and to call them personally if /when you do. and I have asked by one if they personally be a partner and another one asked if I could mentor their son in RE investing.

So far this year my wife and I have donated 23 K to charities. Perhaps you have donated more.

The one that this old woman lives in was one of the first one I acquired over 40 years ago.Just a 4 plex, but nostalgic as I grew up there. Since then I have acquired quite a bit more. Also have buildings in 3 different states and in Italy and Spain. The Italian one is our residence on the beautiful Amalfi coast

which my wife and I spend half our year.

I have 17 full time employees.

I don't say this to brag,and wouldn't have ever have mentioned it but since a couple people here suggest that I can't run a business but to point out that I do pretty

well. So no, I don't plan to sell everything.

OK, I'll leave now. Good luck to you.

I applaud your success. Your success was built on not making mistakes.

If you think it is a good business practice to make a mistake, not implement corresponding process improvement - that is your choice. It is my hope that your REPEATED based decisions and your justification for continuing to make these mistakes allows you to continue to pay your hefty staff.

If you indeed have a staff of 17, you would have about 850-1,000 units. Your statements don't sound like they come from someone who is wise enough to grow to that size without implementing process improvement. Why do I say that? Someone with a portfolio that size, would reach out to an attorney instead of group that targets independent landlords.

I don't have 850 units. I do have real estate invested in four different states. If someone ask a question and doesn't like the answer, I would think they should be asking their staff of 17 instead. Then again, they are probably the reason why this issue has grown to the size that it is - coupled by lack of oversight.

I recommend not paying your mortgages for same amount of time you let your tenant slide and see how the bank reacts

Ok my last post here, because I'm staying up late and on vacation.Found this site and Thought it might be interesting, but I think I should spend time elsewhere, or read one of the books I brought..

For one, I don't have any more mortgages these days. #2 those employees are mostly service people,, only 8 are office workers. I have lawyers. I use different ones as they are licensed to practice in different areas. I was curious to what people might say about this issue here, because again, I have not had to do much removing of tenants personally.To me this is a bit unique,.

I'm impressed how some here can't read well.and assume a lot.

Just a "heads up" for all posters who have RE in RED areas... this BLUE state legislation where tenants have all the rights and you have little to none is marching ever closer to your area. The next generation of renters Gen Z, have been indoctrinated that housing is a human right and should be provided for free.

Maple leaf, that’s why you have to screen their politics. The housing is a right crowd won’t be able to help but fly their banners all over their person, vehicle and social media accounts. What legislation little creep in the areas, but it will take a long time before it’s to the point where red area will be negatively affected by it.

Whenever I see banners plastered "all over their person, vehicle, and social media accounts", it is always a T fan, not a Blue one... lol

Of course you'd rent to them. That wasn't the point. There are a certain type of people who like to plaster their beliefs all over themselves, their pickups, and their social media. And it tends to be T fanatics, not the Blues that you think would do so.