tenant evction advice

[Ian]

I received a call today from my PM that they have posted an eviction notice to the basement tenants in my house in Red Deer. Apparently the two tenants didn`t pay full rent for April and had promised to pay the remainder 4 days ago. They didn`t and so they received the eviction notice. My PM also directed the tenants to The Homeless and Eviction Fund. Apparently this is a governing body that will "bail out" the tenants for the remaining rent owed but is only a one time payment. One of the tenants recently lost his job and the other still has his.

So, my concerns are the following:

1. they get "bailed out" --but what about paying full rent in the future months (even though the tenant with the job is still responsible for all the rent if the other tenant doesn`t pay).

2. they pay the remaining rent--again what about future months?

3. they don`t pay and get evicted and I am looking for new tenants.

I am looking for any input/advice on this matter. in regards to the above two points. I am trying to be proactive but not sure what to do.
Your help is greatly appreciated!

Ian

 

[Fortuneinvesting]

QUOTE (Ian @ Apr 14 2009, 09:35 PM) I received a call today from my PM that they have posted an eviction notice to the basement tenants in my house in Red Deer. Apparently the two tenants didn`t pay full rent for April and had promised to pay the remainder 4 days ago. They didn`t and so they received the eviction notice. My PM also directed the tenants to The Homeless and Eviction Fund. Apparently this is a governing body that will "bail out" the tenants for the remaining rent owed but is only a one time payment. One of the tenants recently lost his job and the other still has his.

So, my concerns are the following:

1. they get "bailed out" --but what about paying full rent in the future months (even though the tenant with the job is still responsible for all the rent if the other tenant doesn`t pay).

2. they pay the remaining rent--again what about future months?

3. they don`t pay and get evicted and I am looking for new tenants.

I am looking for any input/advice on this matter. in regards to the above two points. I am trying to be proactive but not sure what to do.
Your help is greatly appreciated!

Ian

While I know its a hard thing to do, you could always offer a reduction if finding new tenants is going to be hard. What are you charging for rent at the moment? I believe the best option would be to take the bail out and look for new tenants. Or talk to them and see what their plan is, IE the guy without the job.

Cheers

 

[invst4profit]

I would follow through on the eviction regardless of whether they get the bailout or not. If they missed the first rent after losing one job they have no back up funds and will not be able to make there rent in the future. Start looking for another renter in advance and you should be fine.
Good luck

 

[Nir]

start looking for another tenant today as if the unit is vacant. "worse case" they`ll start paying again but this way you haven`t lost time regardless of what happens. good luck.

 

[GrahamWhite]

You should know it is taking up to 6 weeks to get a court date in Red Deer, so if they don`t leave without a court order and baliff showing up, you can lose up to three months rent.

There are so many cases going before the courts right now that this lag time is just getting longer.

I have fired all of my property management companies and hired people who help me do a better job of screening tenants (or screen them myself) as well as check on the state of things at the property regularly.

My strategy now is to have lower rents than the rest of the market in order to attract the greatest number of potential tenants and choose ones that are highly overqualified.

The lessons you will learn in this softened market will be more expensive than the "education on the job" from a couple years ago.

Good luck.

 

[Ian]

QUOTE (invst4profit @ Apr 15 2009, 05:15 AM) I would follow through on the eviction regardless of whether they get the bailout or not. If they missed the first rent after losing one job they have no back up funds and will not be able to make there rent in the future. Start looking for another renter in advance and you should be fine.
Good luck


Thanks. Can I show the suite to potential tenants even though the current ones haven`t left yet?

 

[RebeccaBryan]

QUOTE (Ian @ Apr 15 2009, 08:42 AM) Thanks. Can I show the suite to potential tenants even though the current ones haven`t left yet?


Yes you can, but you need to give 24 hours notice and you need to be confident on Move in day right? Can you guarantee that your current tenants will be out by a specific date. Lots of things can happen. Leave yourself a safe amount of time.

 

[Bluesteel]

I used to have properties in Red Deer and had the same experience with tenants and property management companies. I fired my property management company not because of poor screening - which can happen to anybody - but because they could not manage the eviction process. I hired a paralegal and they managed the process for me. It ended up costing me about $1,200 for the paralegal and 3 months lost rent.

What I ended up doing in the Red Deer market is always setting up a fixed term lease for no longer than 6 months and preferably 3 months in the beginning. That way the lease is up and you can boot the deadbeats out without a court order. You are still out the unpaid rent but at least you have some semblence of control without relying on outside processes and parties.