Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I used a real estate agent to rent my apartment. They help check everything about the tanent because we don't know about renting. . We ask the agent to look for people with governments help so that we are sure we got the rent. They show us that they got government help. They have a social worker because they family almost go homeless. They had been getting money for 10 year already. I thought it was like section 8 but is not. They show us that they already got approved for the rent money. We sign the lease in(5/15/2015) for $1600 a 1100 square feet apartment. The government paid the 1st month, down payment and the agent fee. One month later the social worker said $1600 is too much for this family and didn't approved for the money. They need to apply again but the tanent can't pay rent. I am afraid each Month the same thing happen. I am still in mortgage. I can't afford to pay them without the rent money. What can I do?

If you signed the lease you really cannot do anything except send a notice of nonpayment stating that if the tenant does not pay they will be evicted. You will need to evict them and submit this all to the court. If you are using a property manager they should be the ones to do this, however if they are not working out either you will need to stop using that manager. Using families with government help is a tricky situation. There may even be rule on not evicting them because they are on government aid. Keep in mind that tenants with gov't aid does not always mean you get paid, not to mention I have had a very bad experience with this where my property was completely destroyed over 50k worth of damages. Good Luck

Posted by Susan P, CA on Monday, June 22, 2015