Always Serve the 5 Day & Avoid a Very Common Landlord Mistake
Many of the landlords that I deal with often delay serving the 5 Day Notice to Pay or Quit when a tenant is late with the rent. The thinking is that the landlord will negotiate with the tenant, hoping to get the rent, albiet late. When the tenant doesn’t come through with the rent, then they serve the 5 Day Notice. The tenant often strings the landlord along, though, and eventually the landlord has to serve the 5 Day Notice but there is often 2 weeks of delay (or even more…some landlords get strung along by the tenant for a month or two before they serve the 5 day!!).
Here is my solution: Always serve a 5 Day Notice when the tenant is late with the rent. Negotiate with the tenant after you have served the notice. Why do this? For one thing, that 5 Day Notice shows to the tenant that you’re serious that you want your rent. The negotiation with the tenant will work better because the tenant knows that you are prepared to evict if they don’t through with the money. It’s also been my experience that many tenants move out on their own once they recieve the notice.
Also, if you do negotiate, always make sure to come to an agreement with a hard date when they will have the rent and make them pay the late fee. If they miss that agreed upon date, then you can go to court right away to get them evicted.
Here’s some good news – I’ve had some tenants that have been with me for several years. They are often late – I always serve them the 5 Day; they always come through with the rent at the agreed upon date, and I get my late fee. It works out pretty well.
Here’s some bad news – When a tenant is late with the rent and they’ve been with me for less than 6 months; it never works out.
Remember – serving a 5 Day shouldn’t be that expensive – it requires you to fill out the 5 Day Notice to Pay or Quite notice and then mailing it to them the proper way. If you have an eviction service provider do it for you, it should cost around $25 for the whole thing. It’s much better to do that then to get strung along for a month or two without any rent!
