What to Do When a Tenant Stops Payment on a Rent Check
Renting your home means that you deal with many different situations over the course of a tenant and landlord relationship. If a tenant stops payment on a rent check, you may need to pursue legal action in order to get the rent paid or evict the tenant from the home. Eviction requires a landlord to follow a specific legal process in order to regain possession of the home, as well as recovering back rent if the tenant refuses to pay.
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Instructions
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Talk to your tenant to see if the tenant is willing to make payment arrangements to get caught up on back rent. It's possible that an emergency made the tenant stop the payment on the rent check, and he is intending on paying the check as soon as possible.
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Send the tenant a notice to quit if she does not want to pay the rent. This notice is required in most states to start an eviction. The notice may be provided in a legal forms store in your state, or you can write it yourself. This notice must contain your name and address, the reason for eviction, the tenant's name and address and how long the tenant has to pay her rent or leave the home. The specific time period depends on the state you live in.
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Go to court and file an eviction complaint and summons form, along with any other additional documents needed to file the eviction complaint. Send the sheriff to serve your tenant with the summons.
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Gather any additional documentation to prove that the tenant stopped his rent check and is not intending to pay rent. In most cases the court will rule for you, and you get the eviction order as well as a money judgment for back rent against the tenant. In some situations you may need to file a separate lawsuit for the money judgment. The tenant has a specific amount of time to move out after the court judgment. If he remains in the home, the sheriff will physically evict him.
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