Late Fee

[quezon2002]

My tenant is being difficult and told me he does not care what the contract says but he will not pay a late fee this month. He is a chronic late payer and has paid a late fee only once when he was 10 days late. I reside in another state and I believe he takes advantage of the situation. What steps can I take to claim the $100 he owes me for this month? He also says he will skip payment on the last month of his one year lease and use the security deposit as payment. The contract explicitly says he can not do that but he is a stubborn piece of work. How can I make him honor his contract without costing me a lot of dough?

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Begin the process of eviction as outlined in the state of Florida:

http://www.rentlaw.com/eviction/floridaeviction.htm

If your tenant is not including the late fee in the rent as outlined in your contract with him (i.e., the lease) then he has not paid the entire rent for the month.

Often the initial letter they receive jump starts stubborn pieces of work into following the rules outlined in the contract.

Gail

 

[mightymoose]

The sooner you start eviction the better off you will be... otherwise the guy will be out and long gone while you are still owed money.
Give him a 3 day notice to pay, and then begin the eviction process if he doesn't. Do everything in writing. If you aren't familiar with the process then contact the court and they can likely provide you with instructions regarding the process.
Since you are out of state you will have to make some phone calls and pay someone to serve your papers. You can probably find all the documents you need on the Internet.