Big Decision!

My day started with a trip to the post office before I headed into town to start rehabbing one of my 3 bedroom houses. One of the letters I received this morning was from "Community Action", which is an agency that helps those in need. The letter today was a promise to pay the rent and late fee for the tenant that I turned over to my attorney for eviction on Thursday. This is a tenant who moved in March 1 and then didn't have the money to pay April's rent (he spent the rent to bail his adult son out of jail).

As soon as I read the letter, I called my attorney to see if the eviction had been filed with the court yet. She said that the paperwork was done and that the eviction would be filed with the court today. I asked her to wait until she heard from me to file the eviction.

I would really like to have that rent money and really like to avoid the expense of an eviction. However, there was a sentence in the letter from Community Action that said I must agree to allow the tenant to stay 30 days from the day I signed the agreement with Community Action. I called Community action and informed them that I would NOT accept those terms, because the money they would be paying was for the April rent and late fee. If the tenant didn't pay the May rent on time, I would immediately evict him (again). The lady from Community Action suggested that I write in the agreement that I would allow the tenant to stay only until May 1st. That would be fine, but I would need her to sign the change, so that the tenant's low-life, legal aid lawyer couldn't argue that I agreed in writing that the tenant could stay until May 13th (30 days from today). She informed me that she was required to send that specific letter and she couldn't sign off on any changes.

I really wanted the rent money and late fee. I really wanted to avoid an eviction. However, I just couldn't do it! I'm not giving a deadbeat the upper hand by agreeing to adverse terms. The tenant had failed to pay the SECOND MONTH'S RENT and I therefore expect this to happen every month with this tenant. I'm simply not playing this game with the tenant. Therefore, I told the woman from Community Action that I would not accept their money and I immediately called my attorney to tell her to go ahead and file the eviction with the court today. It was a tough decision, but the right decision!