Small Landlords Trapped in Slow Eviction Courts
Evictions dragging for months: pro-tenant stalling tactics, bankruptcy stays, marshal and court backlogs, notice-drafting mistakes that reset the clock, unpaid rent piling up while the case crawls.
SOURCES (60)
“if your management company fails to screen, would you trust them in the eviction court? lawyer now.”
“Who in their right mind would rent from you if you only accepted money orders? Look into Venmo or an EFT transfer directly into your checking account. We have 9 rentals and haven't handled cash or a paper check in about 15 years.”
“Property manager I use is also an attorney, not someone that just got their real estate license. They guarantee the tenant and if eviction is necessary, it's covered in the management agreement. Most property managers are not attorneys. Sure, they'll hire one for you, and send you the bill.”
“In Oregon it's a written pay-or-quit notice that is usually at least 10 days. It needs to be mailed by the landlord with a record of mailing, it also needs to be served and signed to their door by someone other than the landlord. This is all a pain to do but I have won every eviction that has come across, just by doing things by the book. When the tenent sees this notice they know the next step is eviction, works most of the time.”
“I just evicted my (last) tenant with an attorney. It took just about four months and nearly $9,000 so far. I'm done. Edit: This tenant checked out fine and was a decent tenant for over a year. I suspect drugs, mental illness, or both, but I'll never really know why things went so bad so fast.”
“You may question your management company's minimum qualifying criteria, including income requirements and minimum credit score. Its hard to believe that a complete and thorough review of the credit report didnt show some red flags. Definitely find a lawyer that specializes in evictions because, as someone else stated, an innocent typo or missed deadline can cause delays and loss income. Also, should you accept any money after you start the eviction process will cancel the process.”
“You should consult with a eviction lawyer about evicting the tenant. For the property management part, I don't think go with a lawyer you can do much, given the pm have a proper system (check income statement, credit score, criminal history etc.) that aglin with your standard and have your final approval to proceed with the tenant. CA is suck so bad for landlord as you will not able to find much rental history / unpaid rent etc to protect the tenant. Even refercing with the tenant old landlo”
“I’m a landlord in California dealing with my first eviction and would appreciate some advice from people who have gone through this process. The situation: Tenant is on a fixed-term lease (1 year) Tenant recently moved in (July 10, 2026) They paid roughly 20 days of rent (prorated) The next rent payment came due (August 1, 2026) and they didn’t pay A 3-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit was properly served The tenant did not pay or respond The property management company has also tried contacting th”
“How do you know they won't trash the place before they leave? I refuse to pay someone who has screwed me over.”
“If they have good credit history, why would thru want to mess it up with not paying rent and having an eviction on their record and a money judgement against them? On what basis do they have to sue? Why would any judge allow this to proceed?”
“Stop being a landlord and run a charity instead. If for no other reason because of the last sentence you wrote. How any landlord cannot know this amazes me in all honesty. This tenant sees you as a pushover because you are. You’re letting the tenant run the show. What you’re doing is exactly why small time landlords are disappearing. It’s usually their own doing and little else.”
“You aren’t asking the right question. They can verify funds, most banks even have an automated system. You need the account number, amount of check, check number and they will say yes there are funds or no there aren’t. I verify checks all the time.”
“It’s better to let a property be vacant than to rent it to bad tenants. I always ask for 3x income to rent and no evictions/collections. Even then they sometime struggle to make rent so I’m not flexible.”
“I totally agree! She’s actually refusing. Says she did her part. This woman operates with a level of entitlement I would have never expected when I first rented to her in 2024.”
“Right? I would think it would make it hard for many elderly to pay in that case. How frustrating that would be…”
“Check your state laws carefully about that. In my state landlords are prohibited from using solely electronic ways of paying rent.”
“Ahh I see. I think this is good advice for someone who is hoping to really build a business as a landlord. In my case, I kept the rent fairly low in order to not contribute to the local housing crisis in our small town. This is a home that we used to live in, and rented to a friend before he died of lymphoma. We want to keep the energy in there positive, but made mistakes in the pursuit of kindness. There’s a late fee in her lease, which she has never paid or even acknowledged in text or otherwi”
“This one has been a BIG lesson learned. She’s my first tenant and after she started being late with rent last year, I encouraged her to get Venmo or use money orders and she just refused. It’ll be in the lease in the next round for sure!!”
“Everything you wrote conveys you are lost. For that matter the time to learn how to deal with issues like this is before they happen. One example accepting checks. Why not? Because they bounce. So no. Here’s what I do, and it’s agreed to in the lease. I use a rental collection platform, apartments.com in my case. On the 1st of the month the rent is taken right out of their account automatically. Grace periods aren’t required in my area except in limited circumstances so I don’t offer one. Rent t”
“Depends on the state. If she pays you the entire late amount, you have to accept it in some places, but the fact that it's a likely bad cheque probably complicates it. I think you could've demanded cash or something direct.”
“This is why I don't accept checks. There are plenty of ways to pay that is an instant transfer.”
“I can’t believe how obvious it is that I should have brought the check to her physical bank instead. One person in the comments said they’ve been able to retrieve the check from their bank, stop the transaction, and go cash it at the tenant’s institution. I’m gonna try tomorrow”
“Is it possible with my next tenant to require that it’s always done via money order or Venmo? This one has never done a money order no matter how many times I’ve asked and says she doesn’t have Venmo or other online payment. As dishonest as she is, I do believe she’s also entirely incapable of problem solving anything ever. Including signing up for PayPal or visiting a post office for a money order.”
“Thank you! My bank is unable to know what the delay is. And tenant claims that her own bank told her there’s no reason it shouldn’t go through.”
“Haha fair enough! Very much my first tenant. But I own that home and can’t live in it. I don’t want to sell. Can I ask what part of the last paragraph conveys that I’m lost? I do want to know!”
“She gave you a paper check because she doesn’t have the funds. Ask for printed proof the funds are/will be available 9/1, if she stalls, then you know.”
“New York State isn’t that tenant friendly by law. What makes them tenant friendly is how slow the courts are. Outside of that, it’s a pretty reasonable state”
“I don't think you can file after having accepted the check. If the check balances, obviously go ahead. Frankly, it makes sense to wait a week anyway, since she might move out end of August. If she doesn't move out in the check is bad, file immediately.”
“The exception to that rule is if the check is bad. If the check clears, the clock starts over. If the check bounces, there's no delay in filing the eviction, no starting over.”
“I would make sure a check bouncing counts as a bad check. Bounced checks can happen by accident or if the person takes too long to cash it and the balance changes I would be surprised if there was jail time associated with it.”
“My month-to-month tenant hasn’t paid her rent since May. In July, she received the five-day late rent notice and in August she was served by the sheriff with the rent demand, as required in New York State. Tomorrow, Aug. 25 is the deadline to pay or move out. She has a long history of lying, but I know that can’t really be a part of this process. Last week, she said she mailed her June and July rent (totaling $3K). I received the check and deposited it last week. Now there’s a hold on the check”
“I am a Landlord. That sure would work in the state of Texas, which is where I live! I’ve never been in the situation, but I like the idea.”
“Learning this the hard way. The current tenants are a college friend’s in-laws. Definitely has strained the friendship”
Screen everyone the same and keep personal relationships out of business.
“Long story short - 9/30 is the end date of a one year lease with a tenant - 8/8 I told them I do not wish to renew the lease and they need to vacate by noon on 9/30. Needless to say they’re not happy and are putting up a fight and have threatened not to pay septembers rent and will sue me etc. there’s a big back story - everything is documented etc. Would you hold your nose and wait for 9/30 and evict for overstaying or start the proceeding assuming they follow through on their threat not to pay”
“I use American apartment owners association. You can also check court records manually for the addresses where they lived.”
I had to go through a six month court process to evict a hostile flatmate.
“I've looked it up and because I don't live in one side of the duplex and it was built in 1968, it is fully covered under AB 1482 and San Jose's Rent control ordinance, so I have to do a just cause eviction. That said, I've been keeping everything in text messages and not being harassing, so it's clear there is a pattern of late rent payments and broken promises to pay, so I'd hope that a judge would see that I've been very fair and reasonably accommodating, but judges”
“If the tenant isn't harming the property why are you forcing them to destroy their hard work. They are obviously pissed and being malicious. At this point, they are probably in too deep and likely won't even pay the judgement and attorney fees unless you take a humble pill and reach out to them nicely to compromise”
“Ah, ok, good that you have been through it. But I would not accept payment which was your original question, I would reject it, and start the eviction process. Sounds like they were taking advantage of your aunt. Is your Aunt talking to them at all or accepting any payments? How do they physically make payments normally, via what method?”
“If i were you i would really do a good check on their finances - once you win you need to collect. To collect you need to collect against something. Make really sure they have jobs. Good jobs. Actual jobs. Etc. You are going to burn through a lot of $$$ and they end up owning you a lot of $$$. Collections is the name of the game. So what if you win but cannot collect.”
“have you had to evict someone ever? how long did it take you? This is the first I am evicting. I also think my tenant has sub rented my rooms too. Because I see his family, and I also see one other family in that house, who are totally different ethnicity and age. Most likely he is charging rent from them too.”
“Being a landlord might not be the right thing for you. 100% I am realizing that now, I am selling the house after he leaves. Don't take on a property that you arent able to pay without a tenant paying on it I didn't know this before. I thought ok this is a great way to generate income. Next time when I am going to do something, I would ask from others for their opinions , especially the ones who have done it.”
“If they can afford a lawyer then they can afford wage garnishment. You’ll get what’s yours eventually”
“YOu need to stop allowing the late payments, at all. That's been part of the whole problem. You need to talk to a lawyer and serve him a proper 3day pay or quit notice. And then go through with a proper eviction. To be nice, you can tell him if he leaves in a week you will not peruse a formal court eviction, but other than that this is a buisness so you need to treat it as such. once someone gets that behind on rent, they usually cannot catch back up. If he has not paid all of Aug rent by no”
“The LAST option should be eviction. It's a very dark road. I've been down it a few times. If the guy is maintaining the property and you are getting the rent... even if late and piecemeal... then you're not anywhere near eviction level. I don't know what people in the rest of the country are like, but my best tenants have been through hard times and are still good tenants. Some a-holes pay, but complain about every damn thing. So, if the guy is taking care of the place, then be h”
“I've been renting my house to the same tenants for three and a half years. I self-managed for three years, then decided to try a management company earlier this year. That lasted three months before the management company dropped me as a client and I went back to self-managing. In April, right before dropping me, the management company sent the tenants a lease violation notice with a 14 day cure period. The violations included a shed they built and attached to the house, plus other exterior”
“OP asked for opinions.. My opinions are formed from many years of experience. It appears that your opinion is not formed from experience and definitly not in CA but you are still allowed to express it. FACT: if OP is so tight on funds and has no money in reserve as he says, an eviction would cause him to lose the house.. in that case everyone looses.. DO NOT TELL ME what I can and can't say..”
“NJ landlord here. If at any point a tenant pays the rent during the eviction process the eviction has to be dismissed. The tenant has up until the sheriff comes to pull them out the apartment. The frustrating part about that is you may end up paying hundreds or thousands to a lawyer just for you to be forced to dismiss your case (this exact thing has happened to me). Unless you have a LLC I highly suggest going to the court where you have to file and filling out the non payment of rent paperwork”