Eviction Filed!

Unfortunately, I had to file an eviction yesterday. Yesterday was the first day that I could legally file an eviction against a non-paying tenant. This is a tenant that I screened and that only moved in last month. When I went to collect the rent on the 4th, he said that his son was arrested the night before and that he used the rent money to bail him out. I told him that he should have left the criminal in jail and paid his rent. I posted the 3-day notice on the 5th, which after the 3 (business) day period, allowed me to file the eviction yesterday.

I also have another potential eviction pending. This involves a man that resides in one of my duplexes. He was apparently hurt on the job, but hasn't received his worker's comp check yet. I know for a fact that he was hurt because I can see the pins sticking out of his thumb. I also know that worker's comp is a pain in the butt and the payment could easily be late. Therefore, I'm giving him a few more days to get this all straightened out. However, I won't allow this to go indefinitely.

The reason that I won't allow this to go too long is that I can't force the tenant to turn over the worker's comp check once he gets it. If I allowed him to go two or three months without paying the rent and he then got his check, he would probably choose to simply keep it and move elsewhere. He would definitely be money ahead by doing so. I know this sounds like I don't trust anyone - I DON'T! (at least when it comes to low income tenants) I wish I could trust low income tenants, but EVERYTIME I have trusted them in the past, I've gotten burned.