Can you please not file eviction on my tenant?
Obviously, this isn't a question we get very often. Most owners are pretty mad when their tenant hasn't paid what they're supposed to pay, and rightfully so. They want their tenant to be evicted, as well they should. But occasionally, on very rare occasion, we get the following kind of phone call:
"My tenant has lived in my house for many years and we feel he's a great guy! He's just fallen on hard times, and we want to give him a break. Please don't file eviction on him!"
Now, most landlords will find this a bit odd. After all, this is a business, not a charity. And that's how every landlord should look at it. But sometimes an owner has an unhealthy attachment to a tenant, and it leads to this sort of conflict.
If you're one of those owners, we're very sorry, but we have to say "no." We can't make special exceptions for your tenant that we don't make for every other tenant. We have to treat everyone equally, otherwise it isn't fair to the other tenants who have to suffer actual consequences for being irresponsible and not paying their rent. Were we to make an exception for your tenant, we would have to make that exception for every owner's tenant, and that would not be fair to the vast majority of our clients who expect us to enforce the lease and collect what the tenant owes.
This really comes down to a fair housing and legal liability issue. As it stands right now, anybody from our company can go into court and sit on the witness stand and testify under oath that we never waive our policies and we always treat every tenant the same. This is what the judge (and jury, if applicable) wants to hear. If we waived our rules and treated your tenant differently, we would never again be able to testify in court that we treat everyone equally. That would do major damage to our legal defense in every case we fight for all of our clients, and we simply can't do that.
However, if you are feeling especially generous, you can always pay your tenant's rent for them. Just make sure you get the payment to us prior to the eviction date. We always file for evictions on the 6th of the month, or the next business day, depending upon holidays and weekends. We recommend against this, as you should view your rental property as a business, but it's up to you.