I am a Landlord in the Miami Dade County. I have been finding myself involved in allot of eviction cases lately. It is an undeniable truth that the economy is bad and as a result honest people are defaulting on payments and dishonest people are just taking advantage of this opportunity.
I want to write about these dishonest tenants that know they cannot afford a certain rent payment, yet they rent the property knowing before hands that they will default on the rent payment in 2 or 3 months. I have been a victim of this type of dishonest tenants in multiple occasions already.
Yes it is true … I can run background, and credit checks, I can call references, but these people know very well how to get around those checks. They become better at what they do, “default multiple rent payment s”. Imagine a family or group of dishonest tenants that default in an average of 5 payments a year. Imagine that they rent homes worth of $1,500 and every year they move from one home to another defaulting in about 5 months per year, that is the equivalent to savings of $7,500 per year. That is profitable move for any family these days.
How can they get around it?
They know they cannot afford these rent payments, they could move to a property which rent is affordable for them but they know there is a glitch in this system of law when it comes to these matters and they take advantage of it. After they manage to pass all the checks and reference calls, they move into the property, pay 1 or 2 months and then default. They come up with story or excuse to justify why they cannot pay this month, then they promise the Landlord that they will come up with full payments in the following months and they will even pay the late fees. A Landlord might file an eviction after the tenants are 1 month of rent behind, but they usually give the tenant the benefit of the doubt and wait at least 2 months. Then the eviction is filed, let’s say, after the tenants are 2 months behind. The court at Miami Dade County is currently taking from 1 to 3 months to turn over an eviction case and the dishonest tenants know this fact. So the tenants in this scenario might easily end up with 5 months of free rent and then move to another property to repeat the process.
The court gives tenant the option to respond the motion or eviction. These types of dishonest tenants are very knowledgeable as per how the court process works so they do everything at the right time for them to delay this process as much as they can. The court schedules hearing to hear the tenant’s version without even requesting that the tenants deposit in the court registry the funds or months that the tenant is behind. At the end the tenant has to leave the property, but no after living in the property from 3 to 6 months free of rent. Amazing savings, right! It is all legal and they can do it over and over. This system of law is not doing anything to improve the way they handle eviction process in a distressed economy. As per me … I will not rent my property anymore. I will sell it if I cannot afford to have it vacant.
