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

I have a good friend that did the same thing. Rented to a long time, mutual friend. Dude lost his job and asked for some time, then started ghosting him, went in for months yet this guy was still out and about, in his boat, at the bar, going on trips, got a new job, etc. Started avoiding all of the places that he’d run into my friend.

Had to file for eviction and the dude just left and never offered to pay back the lost rent - which totaled in the $1,000’s. He was an adult and we’d known him for years. Seemed like a solid guy.

Never rent to friends.

File a Notice of Eviction with the court...get a copy..tape it on the front door and take a picture. Have a certified letter sent.

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Geez.. try and help

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It's sort of a corollary to the idiom "Familiarity breeds contempt." Intermingling family or friends in your business/financial matters is often a fool's errand.

Friends/family can expect tolerances from you that they'd never even dream of asking for from someone in a normal business association. Likewise there's a tendency to avoid difficult discussions/critique from your end, even though good business practice would demand it.

Favors meld into expectations, and ironically, your effort to help or cut slack can incentivize even further bad behavior. Correction saves the business, but shreds the friendship. I've seen it far more often than not, unfortunately.

If you are serious about evicting him, I would consider hiring a lawyer to do it. At the very least do all of your communications by certified mail. No texts or verbal.

If you consider(d) him a friend, you have to make the decision of whether you want to continue that friendship. If you do, be as considerate as you can. All in all though, you have expenses and this isn’t a charity.

Give him a courtesy heads up and then start the legal process.

Well, you got yourself into this mess, now try and shoot for the best case scenario.

Find him, sit him down and talk. Man to man, friend to friend.

Don't confront him about the rent. Start off with "Hey Mike, were friends. I'd like to remain friends. Tell me what's going on. You haven't been yourself lately."

He might be a douch-bag who is just grifting off you. He might be a decent dude who has had some bad luck (or just makes poor decisions).

Talk to him as a man and friend. If you can, offer to help get him back on his feet, but tell him you need him to vacate now so you can put the property back to work for you. Maybe even tell him you'll pay for 3 months of a storage unit till he finds a place.

Assuming he still owes you back rent, tell him he can pay it back when he gets back on his feet. You'd likely never get it anyway.

If he is a decent dude, keep him as a friend, but don't bet money on him again.

You just might help out someone when they really need a friend.

Jeez, there are some cold blooded bastards on this board. If he really is a friend, I would not throw him out. You need to have a real talk about what is going on with him. If he kills himself tomorrow are you going to ask yourself why he didn’t think he could talk to you? If you wouldn’t have that thought you aren’t really friends.

I agree if you loan money to friends, have the mindset that if they can’t pay you back it’s a gift. I’ve loaned a good friend with a crazy ex-wife $30,000 to pay off lawyer debt. He’s paying me back but if he couldn’t we would still be friends. I’m blessed and don’t mind helping family or friends. If you’re budget is so tight that you would lose this house if he doesn’t pay you immediately, you should just sell the house.

There is an appropriate time that this has to be dealt with as a business transaction. I appreciate the gist of your post. Never really know what people are going through. But at some point, the bill continues to go up and it either isn't sustainable or it's very apparent that this is just someone taking advantage.

I do agree with having a face to face meeting with the guy to find out what the deal is. Seems like nobody wants to face conflict man to man. Just want to peck it out in text.