Poll of the Day > Will you be paying rent?

(+) Yeah! (+)

There is a new thing on facebook etc, where people are standing with companies like the Cheesecake factory, and people who are not paying rent. This seems to be spreading and I'm curious if anyone on here is going to not pay rent as well?

I'm paying rent of course, but my rent (since I just rent a basement) is only $575. I realize there are people paying 3x that just for a 1 bedroom in some places and with no work, even the $1200 won't help enough.

So are you paying rent? There are no evictions right now, and I feel like some people are taking advantage of that fact to just skip out on paying rent. Currently home owners do not have anything waving mortgage payments or taxes, so they are still relying on rent to keep up the payments.

I do believe there is a halt on foreclosures as well, but, unless they make it permanent for missed payments during this time, a homeowner who doesn't pay mortgage payments would just be forclosed on after this is over, even if they started making payments again.

I think that is seriously wrong, and this could lead to many people losing their homes (and yet another way for the banks to make a profit) because people won't or can't pay rent to home owners, and therefore, they are unable to make mortgage payments etc.

I feel bad for everyone in this situation, I really think there should have been a direct FREEZE on ALL rental payments, mortgage payments, and property taxes until this is resolved and people can go back to work.


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Zangulus posted...

Of course I am. Its my number 1 priority. I dont want to be evicted once this is over. Its only a half on evictions. It doesnt stop people from owing the money...

Exactly, but since you can't start the eviction process right now (or even file a 20 or 30 day notice) people are taking advaatage of that fact, they wouldn't even get an eviction on their record, since the notice can't be given till the halt on them ends.

This could mean months of no rent for home owners that rent their properties, and yes, you would imagine nobody would do that, but for now, some don't even have a choice, and others are just taking advantage of it as "free" rent for a few months.

It's really sad thouuh.


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lol, not only do I have to continue paying my stupidly high rent, but they aren't allowing us to pay by check anymore and forcing us to use an online portal

Zangulus posted...

This isnt true. Simply because they wouldnt have one right now doesnt mean it wont happen in a few months...

Sadly it is true, I worked in Landlord Tenant law for years.

The process goes like this.

First the landlord has to give an official 30 day notice (it varies state by state, sometimes it's a 20 day notice, but needs to be given by the 10th of the month etc).

This notice informs the tenant that they must move out by the end of the month.

IF the tenant moves out by that time, no eviction is given, and everything moves forward as normal. If the tenant didn't pay rent (which is the cause of the notice) then the tenant probably won't want to use that landlord as a reference in the future, but nothing shows up on their record.

IF the tenant refuses to leave, they can get an eviction notice after the 20-30 day period is over, and the landlord can even try and have them evicted in 3 days (if they have not paid rent etc. Thing is the Tenant has the right to be heard in court and argue why he didn't pay etc (IE there were repairs that needed to be made and the tenant refused to pay rent again till they were made etc). Even if there is an at will contract saying the landlord can evict the tenant after 30 days, the tenant still gets the right to be heard ii court.

Now that is where things can get tricky as some courts are VERY busy and sometimes you have to actually wait weeks or months to be seen. In general up until you actually go to court, the tenant can leave on his or her own violation and there STILL won't be an eviction.

This again varies state to state, but in some tenants can literally stay rent free for 3-4 months before leaving, without getting an eviction on their record.

In this case, you could stay for however long the freeze is for, then the current landlord would have to give you a 20-30 day notice and you would have 1 more month before the eviction process could even start.

So lets say the freeze lasts through may, a landlord would only be able to give a 30 day notice at the start of June, and the tenant wouldn't have to leave until the start of July right now (and could still stay longer possibly without a eviction especially since the courts are likely to be REALLY busy at that point).

So yeah, it can REALLY hurt landlords with mortgages right now.

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wolfy42 posted...

Exactly, but since you can't start the eviction process right now (or even file a 20 or 30 day notice) people are taking advaatage of that fact, they wouldn't even get an eviction on their record, since the notice can't be given till the halt on them ends.

This could mean months of no rent for home owners that rent their properties, and yes, you would imagine nobody would do that, but for now, some don't even have a choice, and others are just taking advantage of it as "free" rent for a few months.

It's really sad thouuh.

Where do you live? In California Newsome just signed an executive order barring evictions for 2 months, but the catch is that you must give a 7 days notice to your landlord that you will not be paying due to the coronavirus. The problem with this is that he signed it yesterday and starting yesterday there was only 5 days left until April 1st, which means that most people literally didnt even have enough time to give that notice.

Without that notice landlords are free to proceed as usual. And even if you do give notice youre obligated to pay all back due rent in 2 months when it expires or your landlord can file for eviction like normal.

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I worked in the Bay Area in landlord Tenant and yeah again, you can't start the eviction process until after giving notice, so you should be good as long as you giie notice now for next month (they could in theory sttll give 30 days notice for next month and then start the eviction process when the hold was removed.

It's complicated but I'm about to play DnD on zoom so can't go into it right now.

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wolfy42 posted...

I worked in the Bay Area in landlord Tenant and yeah again, you can't start the eviction process until after giving notice, so you should be good as long as you giie notice now for next month (they could in theory sttll give 30 days notice for next month and then start the eviction process when the hold was removed.

It's complicated but I'm about to play DnD on zoom so can't go into it right now.

California? California has 3 day pay or quit notices. You can literally start the eviction process in 9 days, 4 days after the notice is given after the rent is 5 days late. You dont have to wait 30 days for starting eviction.

But maybe San Francisco has stricter rules than the rest of the State for all I know...

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I still have my job. I would be an asshole to stop paying my bills right now.

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I don't pay rent, but I own a couple of rental properties.

I self-manage one of them and the tenant is a woman that has adult children and is extremely hard working and self-employed. She has been unable to work by law and I don't think she would ever consider opportunistically not paying rent because she's honest and a good person. I trust her.

I have a management company for the other property. I have not met the tenant, but it's a guy in his 20s that has done some things in the past that makes me think he's a lazy dishonest douche and I wonder if he's going to try to pull some shit like that. Speaking as the landord, if he decides to stop paying rent because he temporarily cannot be evicted I will do the following.

First, I'll immediately sweep and apply his security deposit and he won't get it back. Second, I'll immediately institute whatever legal process is required to evict him as soon as lawfully possible. Third, I will have the default reported to credit reporting agencies and inform future potential landlords of what he did. Finally, I will aggressively pursue him for any unpaid rent and damages to the property plus attorneys fees, which I will collect by any means necessary including through wage garnishments and bank account and vehicle seizures.

So I suggest people keep paying their rent because the type of moral hazard bullshit they think they can get away with won't last and will come back to bite them in the ass. Hard.

Are there still late fees?

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reruns_revenge posted...

I don't pay rent, but I own a couple of rental properties.

I self-manage one of them and the tenant is a woman that has adult children and is extremely hard working and self-employed. She has been unable to work by law and I don't think she would ever consider opportunistically not paying rent because she's honest and a good person. I trust her.

I have a management company for the other property. I have not met the tenant, but it's a guy in his 20s that has done some things in the past that makes me think he's a lazy dishonest douche and I wonder if he's going to try to pull some shit like that. Speaking as the landord, if he decides to stop paying rent because he temporarily cannot be evicted I will do the following.

First, I'll immediately sweep and apply his security deposit and he won't get it back. Second, I'll immediately institute whatever legal process is required to evict him as soon as lawfully possible. Third, I will have the default reported to credit reporting agencies and inform future potential landlords of what he did. Finally, I will aggressively pursue him for any unpaid rent and damages to the property plus attorneys fees, which I will collect by any means necessary including through wage garnishments and bank account and vehicle seizures.

So I suggest people keep paying their rent because the type of moral hazard bullshit they think they can get away with won't last and will come back to bite them in the ass. Hard.

Eh... From your attitude I get the feeling youd settle for payments without credit reporting long before it gets that far.~

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JOExHIGASHI posted...

Are there still late fees?

I dont believe they are barred from the California order so Id gather youd still owe them in addition to your missed rent payments after the ban has been lifted.

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aDirtyShisno posted...

Eh... From youre attitude I get the feeling youd settle for payments without credit reporting long before it gets that far.~

Sure. If he pays me what he owes, that would be fine. If he doesn't, we do it the hard way.

of course.
I've never missed a single month over the past decade. Why would I stop now?

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I live in my old place, on my parent's property again. So technically no rent, but I've paid more than my fair share of money to be allowed to stay.

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Unless the government is waiving taxes on those landlords, people should be paying rent.

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Yes.

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Zeus posted...

Unless the government is waiving taxes on those landlords, people should be paying rent.

I 100% agree my man.

I do think the gov SHOULD wave them AND force the banks to wave all mortgage payments during this time as well, but I think you don't believe in the gov exercising so much power (which I can understand).

I just think it would prevent us having to spend so much money, increase the deficit etc, and help the small businesses (and large ones). Honestly preventing evictions without given ANY protection to home owners is a horrible idea, but oh well.

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Are you guys kidding I want my mortgage gone so if I get a period intrest free because of waived interest and late fees im gonna take it. I got into a nasty car wreck some time back and didnt get paid until my disability. I am so glad my mortgage co took care of me and didnt kick me out for the year and a half I was not paying. Once I got my disability back pay I payed the back owed payments and interest.

I dont see trying to abse the system especially if those who you are paying are only trying to make a living and treat you right. On the other hand the people who rented my first apartment can eat a @#$@ as they would refuse to maintain the ac units. My wife was 7 months preggo and they just said keep the fron door open with a fan

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We're paid up a bit advance afaik, before all this happened.

I don't know what's going to happen when that is no longer the case, since one of our two bill payers was laid off due to corona virus related issues....

ChaosAzeroth posted...

We're paid up a bit advance afaik, before all this happened.

I don't know what's going to happen when that is no longer the case, since one of our two bill payers was laid off due to corona virus related issues....

Make sure everyone has a direct deposit account on file for the IRS and the $1200 should help on April 6th.

Also have the person laid off file for unemployment asap, since it takes some time to get (I've helped others apply in the past) and this bill adds $600 to the weekly amount (which is probably more than many people were making and way more than you need to pay rent anywhere).

That should help at least for the short term, and if your conservative and don't blow the rest, even when the unemployment runs out (which I think it's also being extended past the norm...of 20? weeks), you could have enough saved to double the time while looking for new employment.

$600 a week in addition to base seems like so much to me lol.

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When we first signed our lease, our landlord had us make a deposit of our first and last month's rent. He offered to let us count that final month's rent for this coming month instead, and we took that offer just to give us a bit more breathing room. So we technically aren't paying this month's rent, but that's through a mutual agreement with our landlord that means we're just deferring it until the end of our lease, rather than an actual rent strike or anything.

We'll see how next month goes, though hopefully by then the widespread rent strikes that are happening this week will have resulted in some sort of legislation that makes the decision for us. Our premier has actually said that anyone who can't afford rent this month should just not pay it and that the government will protect them from eviction as needed, but given that he hasn't outlined any sort of plan to make that happen and Ford hasn't exactly been super competent thus far (read: I'd be better off being governed by a paper bag duct taped to a fish tank), I'm quite happy to not be in a position where I need to test how far that statement will go.

Zeus posted...

Unless the government is waiving taxes on those landlords, people should be paying rent.

That's the thing that a lot of people don't seem to get. There are a lot of calls to waive rent the same as mortgage payments are being deferred, but equivocating them like that ignores the fundamental difference between rent and a mortgage: With a mortgage, you're gradually paying the bank the price of a product. If you stop paying for a few months, when you come back, you still owe the bank the same amount (presuming interest wasn't charged during the waived period), and the bank still owns the same percentage of your home. Nothing's changed, it's just a few months later. Rent, on the other hand, is paying for a service. Stop paying rent for a few months, and you continue to use the service, but without paying for it, and your landlord will never see the income for those months.

Now, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect landlords to lose some of their income at a time when pretty much everyone else is also losing income. That should really be a given with an economic disruption on this scale, especially where it's not like they're going to be able to readily replace a delinquent tenant with somebody else that's paying the full rent they want until this all blows over (at which point the original tenant would probably be fine to pay). But that doesn't mean people should be disregarding landlords' income the way they seem to in calling for rent freezes. The fundamental goal of any rent freeze legislation is going to have to be to protect landlords from bankruptcy, with enabling rent relief being the trickle-down effect of that (an effect which should be enforced, because there's no shortage of landlords out there who would happily take the relief cheque and then still charge rent even though they no longer need to).

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wolfy42 posted...

Also have the person laid off file for unemployment asap, since it takes some time to get (I've helped others apply in the past) and this bill adds $600 to the weekly amount (which is probably more than many people were making and way more than you need to pay rent anywhere).

She was denied apparently due to hours worked the week before the layoff.

Worst thing is she was going to get another, albeit temp, job. But due to working with talc in a place with lax safety she developed a cough she's had for years. Welp, can't work with a cough in these times... Which I get don't get me wrong. Just upset at how bad her work f'ed her.

Lying about hiring on for years, gave her this cough, and dropped her. Just... Yeah...

adjl posted...

There are a lot of calls to waive rent the same as mortgage payments are being deferred

I get what your saying, but while rent can be a source of income, it is usually mitigated by a mortgage and taxes, and for those that it isn't mitigated by them, they probably are not hurting much if they lose out on a few months of rent.

Well it's mitigated by taxes for just about everyone.

So if you freeze mortgage payments and tax payments, you should also freeze rent payments and honestly this should 100% be done, and should have before this (in the US) relief package deal was struck. Would have saved a ton of money.

In fact, if you look at it this way, probably 90% of the $1200 is going to go to home owners/renters at this point, or basically the wealthy in the US. Freezing rent would help small businesses more than any relief package etc as well (it's their biggest overhead).

Also this is going to cause some crazy things to go down as alot of people ARE refusing to pay rent anyway and can't be evicted now, but its' going to mean a ton of landlords are going to want to evict tenants after this is over.....that is going to be absolute chaos.

Seems like most everyone on this board is going to pay rent if they have it, but yeah, there are alot who are not going to be, by choice, or who can't currently (at least till they get the $1200). There are also alot of people renting rooms who work under the table etc, so won't get that $1200...but also can't work lol.....so that is going to be really bad for them in the long run.

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ChaosAzeroth posted...

She was denied apparently due to hours worked the week before the layoff.

Worst thing is she was going to get another, albeit temp, job. But due to working with talc in a place with lax safety she developed a cough she's had for years. Welp, can't work with a cough in these times... Which I get don't get me wrong. Just upset at how bad her work f'ed her.

Lying about hiring on for years, gave her this cough, and dropped her. Just... Yeah...

Ugh, that realy sucks, hopefully once the bills extensions etc go in, she can get it. They are opening unemployment up for contractors, temp workers etc, alot of people who didn't qualify before, will qualify now (or at least that is what the bill says will happen). Might be worth applying again once it has time to go into effect.

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wolfy42 posted...

I think you don't believe in the gov exercising so much power (which I can understand).

Waiving taxes across the board isn't really exercising "so much" power.... well, I guess if done at a federal level it would infringe on states' rights.


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I pay my old man part of the rent he pays and he still needs to pay rent so yes.

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Obviously, probably going to complain about having to pay the $25 membership fee since my apartment closed off all the common areas.

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wolfy42 posted...

I get what your saying, but while rent can be a source of income, it is usually mitigated by a mortgage and taxes, and for those that it isn't mitigated by them, they probably are not hurting much if they lose out on a few months of rent.

Well it's mitigated by taxes for just about everyone.

So if you freeze mortgage payments and tax payments, you should also freeze rent payments and honestly this should 100% be done, and should have before this (in the US) relief package deal was struck. Would have saved a ton of money.

In fact, if you look at it this way, probably 90% of the $1200 is going to go to home owners/renters at this point, or basically the wealthy in the US. Freezing rent would help small businesses more than any relief package etc as well (it's their biggest overhead).

Also this is going to cause some crazy things to go down as alot of people ARE refusing to pay rent anyway and can't be evicted now, but its' going to mean a ton of landlords are going to want to evict tenants after this is over.....that is going to be absolute chaos.

Seems like most everyone on this board is going to pay rent if they have it, but yeah, there are alot who are not going to be, by choice, or who can't currently (at least till they get the $1200). There are also alot of people renting rooms who work under the table etc, so won't get that $1200...but also can't work lol.....so that is going to be really bad for them in the long run.

Yep, in a world where most businesses are shutting down it's a bit ridiculous to expect rent and mortgages to be paid. The banks that financed these things should not be still raking in their usual money when plenty of people are out of work due to this.

I have heard alot of gym memberships are not allowing people to cancel even though they are not open (and not even letting you call them).

I told my friend to block it on his card so he doesn't get charged.

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I own some rentals and my tenants will be paying rent according to my conversations with them. I'm not a monster who's trying to fleece them but I still have to pay my mortgage too. If my bank tells me I don't have to pay my mortgage for some amount of time, then I'm happy to pass that luxury on to my tenants.

In the mean time, I do have a late rent clause. If a tenant isn't paying rent for whatever reason, it amounts to something like 5% per day its late which would very quickly add up to a lot of money. I may or may not be able to evict them now, but they'd be owing me a lot of money in the end and their credit rating as well as future renting opportunities would be fucked. That be said, I would do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. It's a last resort.

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Yep and Ill start a new topic thanks for reminding me.

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Smarkil posted...

I own some rentals and my tenants will be paying rent according to my conversations with them. I'm not a monster who's trying to fleece them but I still have to pay my mortgage too. If my bank tells me I don't have to pay my mortgage for some amount of time, then I'm happy to pass that luxury on to my tenants.

In the mean time, I do have a late rent clause. If a tenant isn't paying rent for whatever reason, it amounts to something like 5% per day its late which would very quickly add up to a lot of money. I may or may not be able to evict them now, but they'd be owing me a lot of money in the end and their credit rating as well as future renting opportunities would be fucked. That be said, I would do everything in my power to prevent that from happening. It's a last resort.

I have a strong feeling that if you evict anyone and their rent was like 60 days late there is no way they would pay any of it. The fees alone would be turning those late rents up to an insane proportion. 5% a day in loan form is considered a predatory loan, now in late fees maybe it's within the rules but just pointing out how insane that type of fee is when it accumulates for 60 days.

I'm still getting paid thankfully, so I still intend to pay my rent. Even if I wasn't, I'd probably dip into savings, which would suck, but I have an extremely low rent for the area I live in. 4 roommates and the house isn't in the best condition, but even with that the bay area is super competitive. My rent is really good for this area and the last thing anyone in this house wants to do is upset the landlord. Luckily of us roommates one works in essential business, one is work from home I'm on work from home, and one has a few weeks of "on call" with pay. Not sure what will happen with her if this drags on but the company is taking care of her for a few weeks. Or was last I heard. I don't really want to see if things chang if this continues because asking would likely stress her out. If she wants to talk about it, she will volunteer it eventually. Our last roommate is out of work, but she was looking for a job before this. This just screwed up her chances.

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I refuse to pay rent.
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Yes I have rent/mortgage is paid and I have zero cc bills and no car note just insurance so I am good for now.

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reruns_revenge posted...

I don't pay rent, but I own a couple of rental properties.

I self-manage one of them and the tenant is a woman that has adult children and is extremely hard working and self-employed. She has been unable to work by law and I don't think she would ever consider opportunistically not paying rent because she's honest and a good person. I trust her.

I have a management company for the other property. I have not met the tenant, but it's a guy in his 20s that has done some things in the past that makes me think he's a lazy dishonest douche and I wonder if he's going to try to pull some shit like that. Speaking as the landord, if he decides to stop paying rent because he temporarily cannot be evicted I will do the following.

First, I'll immediately sweep and apply his security deposit and he won't get it back. Second, I'll immediately institute whatever legal process is required to evict him as soon as lawfully possible. Third, I will have the default reported to credit reporting agencies and inform future potential landlords of what he did. Finally, I will aggressively pursue him for any unpaid rent and damages to the property plus attorneys fees, which I will collect by any means necessary including through wage garnishments and bank account and vehicle seizures.

So I suggest people keep paying their rent because the type of moral hazard bullshit they think they can get away with won't last and will come back to bite them in the ass. Hard.

how does it feel living off other people's paychecks and calling them lazy

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wolfy42 posted...

I have heard alot of gym memberships are not allowing people to cancel even though they are not open (and not even letting you call them).

I told my friend to block it on his card so he doesn't get charged.

Yeah, that's definitely illegal as fuck.

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Yes. My boyfriend and I both are able to keep working so our mortgage is going to be paid.

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OniRonin posted...

how does it feel living off other people's paychecks and calling them lazy

Pretty good. Quite satisfying, really.

Monopoman posted...

I have a strong feeling that if you evict anyone and their rent was like 60 days late there is no way they would pay any of it. The fees alone would be turning those late rents up to an insane proportion. 5% a day in loan form is considered a predatory loan, now in late fees maybe it's within the rules but just pointing out how insane that type of fee is when it accumulates for 60 days.

I meant to say a month. Don't know how I fucked that up. But 5-10% is pretty standard for late fees. To date I've never charged anyone a late fee though and I'm certainly less inclined if they text me and say, 'Hey I get paid on the 5th is it alright if I pay it then?'.

In any case, if someone were to try and dishonestly pull that shit on me I would have to evict them. At the very least, their deposit will cover me for the 30 odd days it would take for a standard eviction. If I had to go after them for additional debt after that, I guess I could but I'd most likely just eat it and ding their credit if it was less than a month or two of rent. Fortunately the courts aren't closed down here yet so I doubt I'll have to deal with it for some time.

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No. I don't handle rent in the house. Other bills, yes, but not rent.

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If I paid rent, of course I would. Landlords/renters have a shitload of stuff they have to pay for too still, and they're gonna be hit hard by this shit too. People who think that all landlords just sit around and rake in money without a care in the world are just silly

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SirPikachu posted...

If I paid rent, of course I would. Landlords/renters have a shitload of stuff they have to pay for too still, and they're gonna be hit hard by this shit too. People who think that all landlords just sit around and rake in money without a care in the world are just silly

found the landlord

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OniRonin posted...

found the landlord

lolz

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Yes, I just paid it via the apartment complex's online portal, which took a couple days to process and show up on my banking accounting as pending.

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