Does Accepting Rent After Eviction Complicate Your Case?

Does Accepting Rent After Eviction Complicate Your Case?If you’ve ever had to evict a tenant, you may have had to deal with this issue before. Eviction is often an unfortunate reality of being a landlord. It’s something no one ever wants to go through, or put a tenant through, but when you have a nonpaying tenant or are dealing with someone who breaks the lease agreement, it rears its ugly head. An eviction can be a complicated process that requires a number of legal notices and stipulations, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to complicate your eviction case. You might wonder if accepting partial or full rent after notice of eviction is worth it, or even legal.

Understand Your Responsibility

Here’s the long and short of it: it’s always recommended to consult your legal counsel on issues of eviction and your legal responsibilities, but in many areas, yes, it is still perfectly legal and even acceptable to collect a partial or even a full rent payment after a tenant has been served their termination notice. Doing so does not reestablish residency for the tenant or give any indication that you intend to rescind their eviction. Often, tenants may attempt to stretch their residency by offering additional payments, but you are under no obligation to accept beyond the date of eviction. In some cases, you may even have to accept payment – this is called “right to cure” for the tenant, which gives the tenant the opportunity to rectify the defaulted payment in a set amount of time, typically a few days.

When you move to evict a tenant from your property, you’ll want to make sure you’re following all of the steps to the letter to prevent legal difficulties if the case ends up in civil court. Always review your lease agreement and confer with your legal counsel to ensure everything is as it should be. You can evict for failure to pay rent, committing illegal acts on the premises, violating the lease agreement, and more. Once you’ve served the appropriate notices and determined a tenant to be nonpaying, you can move for eviction. At this point, if the tenant offers you partial or full rent payment, you may be clear to accept it. If you do (again, consult with your legal counsel), be sure to keep an appropriate paper trail and indicate clearly to both your tenant and for your own notes that the payment is accepted for occupancy through date of eviction only. This may be important if a court appearance becomes necessary.

In some states and some cases, a judge may rescind an eviction order if a tenant pays rent in full. This varies based on your area and your circumstances. Even so, there is no reason to forego money you’re owed so long as your area allows the acceptance of said payment.

If you’re a landlord or property manager looking for a reliable tenant screening program, which can reduce the potential of a nonpaying or problem tenant, we recommend our RentalConnect program. RentalConnect offers property owners and landlords a great alternative to the expense of full tenant screening. This service requires no on-site visit, sign-up, or membership fees, making it extra convenient. The $34.95 service fee is paid by the applicant. Available 24/7, RentalConnect is fast, easy, secure, and delivers reports needed to make an informed decision, including a credit report, a national criminal search, and a national eviction search.


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