late paying tenant - Landlord Forum thread

late paying tenant by Anonymous (Nevada) on May 16, 2012 @13:40

I have a tenant who has paid late (10-15 days after due date) for 6 of the 8 months they have lived in the house. I have sent late rent notices every month as well as a pay-or-quit one month served by the constable of Henderson. He eventually pays the late rent, late fee's and promises not to be late the next month. I have made it very clear this is unacceptable and have a paper trail to prove it. They have a 1-year lease that ends on September 1st 2012. Can I evict them early? I'd prefer them to just leave, however I can not get a hold of anyone to ask if they would like to leave. I understand Henderson has a 5-day lease violation notice, however it says that the tenant is able to remedy. I don't understand how you remedy the past? They have been late almost the entire lease and more than two weeks.

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Re: late paying tenant by Jake on May 16, 2012 @14:09	[ Reply ]

Tenants are allowed to evict for chronic late payments. Serve your pay or quit and file for eviction the moment the P/Q notice expires. Do not accept partial payments after the eviction has been filed as it will cause you to have to start all over again. If you keep the tenant and continue to accept late payments he will likely not pay the last month.

Re: late paying tenant by OK-LL on May 16, 2012 @14:11	[ Reply ]

In this case, a cure or quit notice would require that the tenant not be late on any future payments. I wouldn't bother with that, but I would be certain to post the p/q on the day after the rent is due (this means on the 2nd, not on the day after the late fee kicks in) and follow through with the eviction, even if they come up with the money the day after the p/q period ends. Some states have a provision for eviction of chronic late payers. If nothing else, be sure you give them proper notice of non-renewal of lease. You may also want to drop them a note explaining that this hisory of late payments is building them an unfavorable LL reference which will make renting a place in the future more difficult. Include the language from the eviction consequences letter, just to drive the point home.