How to handle tenant months behind on rent?

Q: Now that evictions are resuming, I need to deal with my tenant who is over six months behind. I have kept paying the mortgage, but it hasn’t been easy. I need cash flow from a paying tenant before I end up in foreclosure. Is there anything I should know? —Peter

A: The recent Supreme Court decision about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium removed the federal roadblock to evicting tenants who did not pay rent.

Though most tenants who stopped paying did so for valid reasons, the moratorium banned evictions for not paying rent or abiding by the lease agreement.

Tenants still had to maintain the home and pay rent. When they stopped paying the landlord, missed payments starting accruing, and debt to the landlord grew. Many tenants who relied on this protection face an insurmountable debt due to back-owed rent.

Even with the CDC moratorium lifted, several states and many municipalities still have restrictions in place. Before you do anything, ensure you don’t live in one of these jurisdictions. If you have the green light where you live, follow traditional steps, such as posting a notice and filing a lawsuit.

Decide whether to take the more straightforward route of only regaining possession or the longer path of seeking money damages for the back rent. When making this decision, consider your tenant’s financial situation. Though many people genuinely could not afford to pay their rent due to the COVID-19 crisis, some exploited their situation by not paying rent they could afford. Other tenants found steady work recently as the economy reopened. If your tenant has a regular job or valuable possessions, it may be worth getting a money judgment and trying to collect.