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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    1

    Default Can Landlord Terminate Lease Where Tenant Consistently Pays Late

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CA

    This tenant has problems in getting her pay for taking care of elderly clients which comes through an agency. The lease says

    "Tenant agrees to pay a penalty of $5 per day late (rent becomes late after the 5th of the month). If rent is not paid by the 15th of the month, Owner may at any time after that, at her discretion, deliver a demand to surrender the premises immediately. "

    However because I felt sorry for her I did not enforce the penalty when she started paying part of the rent and then the other part. It went then to three payments, and finally as you might expect she didn't pay all the rent by the end of the month.

    Have I forfeited my rights to enforce the terms of the lease? I am concerned about this person who can't even manage rent of $675 a month becoming completely dependent on me. I am not that rich. I actually live off of the rent that she pays. In addition, having to worry about collecting all month long is causing me problems.

    She has convinced herself that if she pays the rent by the end of the month she is ok. I don't feel that way about it.

    Unfortunately, though, no records were kept of what she paid when, so I couldn't prove it.

    The lease also says
    "This is a month-to-month agreement. Owner may reclaim Premises for her own use at any time, after giving Tenant two-months' notice of her intention to do so. Tenant is requested to give 30 days’ notice of intention to leave." I have been thinking of moving back into that unit. Could this be an alternative solution?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Behind a Desk
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    98,846

    Default Re: Can Landlord Terminate Lease Where Tenant Consistently Pays Late

    If a tenant's rent is past due, you can serve a 3-day "pay or quit" notice on the tenant. As you can infer, that instructs them to pay or move out. If they don't pay and don't move, you can start a legal action to evict the person.

    Is it possible that over the course of your lease you have created a course of conduct that the tenant might use as a defense to eviction - that rent is due by the end of the month, as long as it's paid in full? It's plausible that a tenant might attempt such a defense; its chances of success, if raised, will depend on a lot more facts than are presently available to us.

    If you simply want the tenant out, your best bet is to give your two months notice.

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