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My roommates (a couple sharing a bedroom) signed a year lease in mid-December for $750/mo plus 1/2 utilities. At the time, they paid a $500 deposit and the pro-rated amount for the portion of December they'd be there, with the agreement that rent would be due on the 1st from then on. On January 1, they paid $350 and promised to pay $400 that Friday when they got paid. They did give me a check for the $400, but it bounced.
In mid-January they both got laid off a week apart from each other. They asked for more time to pay and I agreed. In mid-February when they still hadn't paid me anything (not the remainder of Jan, not Feb, and no utilities), I told them that I couldn't continue lending them the money and they needed to come up with a plan for paying me. They agreed to pay $200/wk to make up what they hadn't paid yet, plus pay March on time. They did not. In March I sent an email saying that Oregon law allows me to evict them with 3 days notice after 7 days of nonpayment, and I expected money immediately. One roommate gave me $200, and the other claimed he sent $1300 via online bill pay.
I never got the $1300 and said so; he said the bank sent it certified and I wasn't home to accept delivery. When I asked him to go get a normal check, he said his grandmother was deathly ill and he was staying there for a few weeks and couldn't bring me a check in person. He was the one with the checking account, apparently; the other roommate didn't seem have money or ability to write checks. They kept asserting the money was on its way.
Finally, on Friday I told them that if they didn't pay me half of what they owed total by April 15, pay May rent on May 1, and catch up the other half of the total by May 15, I would have to kick them out and find roommates who would pay. In retrospect I don't know why I was so generous; I should have kicked them out in February. At any rate, I was away this weekend, and when I came back, their stuff was gone and their keys were on the living room table. No note, no check, no forwarding address.
What are my options at this point? They have a signed lease, and I have copies of emails requesting and agreeing to payment schedules that were never followed. Can I take them to small claims court? Do I have to evict them first, or since they moved out on their own, does that count as a starting place for the proceedings? At this point including utilities they owe about $3000.
No, you don't have to evict them now as they're already out. At this point, you'll have to take them to small claims court, but it sounds like it'll be tricky. You don't have a forwarding address, but do you have any other indication as to where to find them? That's necessary in order to have them served. Honestly, it sounds like you probably won't be getting much for them. It sucks, but lesson learned. Make sure moving forward that you follow every term of the lease to the letter. Don't make any exceptions, whatsoever. Once you do, it's so hard to backtrack and much harder when you take people to court. Good luck!
Even if you win in small claims they probably won't even pay. They don't have any money.
It was YOUR fault for not starting eviction procedures as fast as they didn't pay on time. When someone stops paying it is a huge red flag. They made every excuse in the book to buy time. You fell hook line and sinker for it.
Another good tactic when there is no payment is to pay them to leave. Better to take the 200$ loss and get it rented to a good tenant than to chase around some deadbeats.
Forget about it. Call it a lesson learned. You can spend time, money and effort going to courts, lawyers and chasing to get nothing. They didn't have the money when it was due and will not ever have. Move on. I'm a LL and have learned a long time ago: no money, get out. I do not take any excuses or promises. You know the rent is due, don't make me ask for it. I never ask, I print out an eviction notice and post it. Nuf said.
I'm sorry you went through all the frustrations and waiting for false promises. Hopefully, it's the last time you will go through that experience.
Thanks for the advice. Sadly, you're right, I'll never see that money and should not have been so lenient. I guess it's cheap as far as lessons go :-( I own the place and have been renting that room for a while without having a problem, but I counted too much on people eventually doing the right thing - I won't be doing that again! I may take them to court anyway, but I doubt I'll get anything out of it.
I would take them to court anyway (and appear at the hearing with all your documentation) so that you can get a default judgement against them. You probably will never see what's owed to you but the court decision will remain in the public record and may cause them some problems when they try to rent again. Cheers!
I would take them to court anyway (and appear at the hearing with all your documentation) so that you can get a default judgement against them. You probably will never see what's owed to you but the court decision will remain in the public record and may cause them some problems when they try to rent again. Cheers!
I agree, then they won't be able to pull the same crap again and actually man up and pay thier own way.
I know it sucks but it's worse when they don't pay the rent, trash the place and refuse to leave. I would rather a tenant just leave on their own. Going to court and getting a judgment against them will give a heads up to a landlord considering them in the future.
My roommates (a couple sharing a bedroom) signed a year lease in mid-December for $750/mo plus 1/2 utilities. At the time, they paid a $500 deposit and the pro-rated amount for the portion of December they'd be there, with the agreement that rent would be due on the 1st from then on. On January 1, they paid $350 and promised to pay $400 that Friday when they got paid. They did give me a check for the $400, but it bounced.
In mid-January they both got laid off a week apart from each other. They asked for more time to pay and I agreed. In mid-February when they still hadn't paid me anything (not the remainder of Jan, not Feb, and no utilities), I told them that I couldn't continue lending them the money and they needed to come up with a plan for paying me. They agreed to pay $200/wk to make up what they hadn't paid yet, plus pay March on time. They did not. In March I sent an email saying that Oregon law allows me to evict them with 3 days notice after 7 days of nonpayment, and I expected money immediately. One roommate gave me $200, and the other claimed he sent $1300 via online bill pay.
I never got the $1300 and said so; he said the bank sent it certified and I wasn't home to accept delivery. When I asked him to go get a normal check, he said his grandmother was deathly ill and he was staying there for a few weeks and couldn't bring me a check in person. He was the one with the checking account, apparently; the other roommate didn't seem have money or ability to write checks. They kept asserting the money was on its way.
Finally, on Friday I told them that if they didn't pay me half of what they owed total by April 15, pay May rent on May 1, and catch up the other half of the total by May 15, I would have to kick them out and find roommates who would pay. In retrospect I don't know why I was so generous; I should have kicked them out in February. At any rate, I was away this weekend, and when I came back, their stuff was gone and their keys were on the living room table. No note, no check, no forwarding address.
What are my options at this point? They have a signed lease, and I have copies of emails requesting and agreeing to payment schedules that were never followed. Can I take them to small claims court? Do I have to evict them first, or since they moved out on their own, does that count as a starting place for the proceedings? At this point including utilities they owe about $3000.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Sonia
Ugh. That's horrible! This sounds EXACTLY like the situation I'm in right now with a roommate/tenant. I'm currently trying to figure out what to do. I'm actually going to post my own story about it. What a disaster.
My roommates (a couple sharing a bedroom) signed a year lease in mid-December for $750/mo plus 1/2 utilities. At the time, they paid a $500 deposit and the pro-rated amount for the portion of December they'd be there, with the agreement that rent would be due on the 1st from then on. On January 1, they paid $350 and promised to pay $400 that Friday when they got paid. They did give me a check for the $400, but it bounced.
In mid-January they both got laid off a week apart from each other. They asked for more time to pay and I agreed. In mid-February when they still hadn't paid me anything (not the remainder of Jan, not Feb, and no utilities), I told them that I couldn't continue lending them the money and they needed to come up with a plan for paying me. They agreed to pay $200/wk to make up what they hadn't paid yet, plus pay March on time. They did not. In March I sent an email saying that Oregon law allows me to evict them with 3 days notice after 7 days of nonpayment, and I expected money immediately. One roommate gave me $200, and the other claimed he sent $1300 via online bill pay.
I never got the $1300 and said so; he said the bank sent it certified and I wasn't home to accept delivery. When I asked him to go get a normal check, he said his grandmother was deathly ill and he was staying there for a few weeks and couldn't bring me a check in person. He was the one with the checking account, apparently; the other roommate didn't seem have money or ability to write checks. They kept asserting the money was on its way.
Finally, on Friday I told them that if they didn't pay me half of what they owed total by April 15, pay May rent on May 1, and catch up the other half of the total by May 15, I would have to kick them out and find roommates who would pay. In retrospect I don't know why I was so generous; I should have kicked them out in February. At any rate, I was away this weekend, and when I came back, their stuff was gone and their keys were on the living room table. No note, no check, no forwarding address.
What are my options at this point? They have a signed lease, and I have copies of emails requesting and agreeing to payment schedules that were never followed. Can I take them to small claims court? Do I have to evict them first, or since they moved out on their own, does that count as a starting place for the proceedings? At this point including utilities they owe about $3000.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Sonia
I would have taken the $400 check to the police station and got her/him charged with a crime. What to do now? I think you have to sue them.
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