Evicting a tennant… he was/is a friend. Wont pay or return calls

Crazy shite. Where are you located? Different rules everywhere. LA you have to post eviction notice on door first. I’d call JOP or your equivalent to get process.

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Someone out and get screwed every time

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Never Rent out to family and Friends. Same with loaning money.

But yes, you try to help someone out and they don't appreciate it.

Has he shown this type of behavior before?

He's on drugs or gambling too much

I had a house sitting vacant because we had to move 30 mins away to take care of my mother in law. He asked if he could move in. I got a lease signed thankfully.
He has a lawncare business. I think maybe drinks some beer but mostly just life has beat him down. Ive given him every chance. Told him if he needs time or a reduction to just let me know.. and he cant even do that. Im guessing depression. Im only charging half the going rate for a nashville house.

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I have been texting and calling and getting no response or a lie that says i will have it by the end of the week. I met with him tuesday and he said in no uncertain terms he will get it from his dad and pay me by today. Crickets.

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I went through this with a cousin a few years back. Really fun guy to hang out with and a hard worker, but his priorities were beer and partying first (with drugs possibly mixed in), kids second (he was recently divorced), paying bills third (didn't find out this priority list until after he had moved into the rental). I finally had to kick him out (told him in no uncertain terms he would need to be out by a date because we were shutting off utilities), we've had pretty much no relationship since then. It probably didn't help that it was harvesting season... and his birthday... but I had given him three months out of consideration for the family and our relationship. Lesson learned.

How long has this been going on? If he's only a week or two behind, just show the frick up at the place and talk to him. Ask him what's going on, out of concern for your friend not as an annoyed landlord. Let him know you understand and want to help, but he entered into a deal with you and needs to hold up his end.

If he's a month or more behind, confront him. Tell him he has x amount of time to find a new place, otherwise you're going to begin eviction proceedings. After that time limit has passed, shut the utilities off if he's still there and begin proceedings as promised.

He's probably going to try to use your friendship as a guilt mechanism, but you can turn that right back around on him by telling him a friend wouldn't put you in this situation.

If he were legitimately having a problem and was a stand-up guy, he would have contacted you earlier to try to work something out. He didn't, instead he's tried to avoid you. This all tells me (again, from personal experience) you are very likely going to need to evict him and it's going to damage your friendship. Accept that and move on.

(no message)

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Dave Ramsey says it the best, if you wanna help out a friend or family member, just give him the money, don’t loan it to him.

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Had a friend that was kind of down and out and asked if he could borrow some money. I wasn't in great financial shape at the time, but scrounged up $500 to give him. He's a good guy, good friend and didn't have any family that could help out, they were always struggling. End of the day, I'd hope someone would help me out if I needed it. Most important part of this, is that as soon as I handed him the money, I wrote it off. Don't loan money to friends if you can't afford it to be a gift.

Several months later we were out and he quietly handed the money he owed me with a pretty direct thank you. Years after that he let me know how much he appreciated me loaning him that money and how bad of a spot he was in, behind on multiple things and it gave him just enough buffer to get things back on track.

Long way of saying that it doesn't always turn out bad, but you should never loan money or let a friend use a place unless you completely understand that your never getting it back or compensated for letting them use it.

follow your lease and don't try and DIY an eviction. Hire a lawyer if you don't know where to start or what to do.