Tenants not paying rent

[OHlandlord]

MKD, as you probably know, the solution to tenants not paying is to serve them the appropriate Pay or Quit notice as soon as legally possible in your area, then evict if they don't pay. You may think that NY state is tenant friendly, but other states are even more so. In NY state (not city), you can serve a Pay or Quit notice very quickly and it is only a 3 day notice. The poster from NJ isn't as lucky. He has to give a 30 day notice and must allow the tenant to stay as long as they pay anytime within those 30 days. Basically, tenants there have an automatic 30 day grace period. In his state, a tenant cannot be evicted unless they are habitually late with the rent. Once or twice late isn't good enough. Hence my advise to document any late payments so you can prove habitual late payments. It is very difficult to evict in NJ. I'd hate to live there!

As for rent withholding, it usually is reserved for only habitability issues. It can't be used for everyday type problems, only for those that affect the habitability of a unit. If the problem is just inconvenient, it is not reason to rent withhold. There are other remedies available to deal with that type of problem. (BTW - there are no statutes for rent withholding in 12 states. No law to allow it.) A tenant must notify the LL of a problem and allow him time to repair BEFORE he is allowed to rent withhold. A smart tenant does this in writing so he can prove to a judge later that he did inform the LL. A phone call or a conversation cannot be used in most courts to prove that a tenant informed the LL of a problem. (It becomes a he said-she said argument over whether the LL was informed or not.)

Most states say that the rent must be paid to the clerk of court or to a special escrow account, on time, to do this correctly. In almost every state, the tenant CANNOT just keep the rent and fail to pay. He needs to pay it to a different place, that's all. Some states' laws say they need permission from the court before the tenant can do rent withholding. Failure to rent withhold correctly is cause for eviction. The idea of rent withholding is that the tenant pays the rent, but not to the LL. The court informs the LL that they have his money and he can claim it if he repairs. The money is an incentive for the LL to make the necessary repairs. Without paying the money at all, there is no incentive. Tenants take note - do rent withholding correctly. If in doubt, call your clerk of court and ask what the procedure is for your area.