by Dieter W. Heinichen The crises come in waves: first it was the subprime crisis of 2007-2008, then from 2019 the COVID 19 pandemic and now we are experiencing the difficulties derived from the war in Ukraine. There are many families whose income has been reduced and their expenses increased and, consequently, who have serious economic difficulties even to meet the most basic payments, and therefore the cases of eviction for non-payment or eviction for non-payment of rent.
An example of the economic difficulties is the high number of families that have to resort to the Food Bank and also the extraordinary measures that the Administrations have to take to prevent or avoid the avalanche of evictions due to non-payment, be it mortgage loan installments, or of rental income.
Unfortunately, apart from the families who suffer real economic problems, there is another group that, taking advantage of the situation, try to blend in with the mass of those affected to avoid paying rent.
The tactic of these individuals is to appear that they are trying to pay but de facto What they do is delay payments or skip a monthly payment on time, so the owner confuses a delay that he considers punctual with the clear will of the delinquent tenant not to pay the rent, until it is late and the problem has become too big. The owner often thinks that the non-payment situation will be resolved and he will recover the lost installments, but if he has fallen into the hands of this type of professional delinquent tenants, the only thing he will achieve is to make the debt bigger.
These types of problematic tenants live by swindling small amounts from successive owners who lease them homes or business premises who, clearly, take advantage of crisis situations, whether they affect them or not, to evade their payment obligations. They always find a justification for doing so, for example regarding the characteristics of the rented home or premises, and that they believe is a sufficient excuse for non-payment of their due rent. At first, they appear to negotiate with the owner the delay in paying the rent, which contractually has to be paid before the 5th of each month, with excuses such as that their clients have not paid them or that the help of the administration does not arrive until on the 10th. But if the owner accepts their excuses, they will lengthen the terms because the aid does not arrive until the 20th and so on until they skip an entire month's rent. They tend to be very conflictive and aggressively argue that they have financial problems and they do not care if they are causing financial problems to the person who has rented the house or premises, and they point to the owner as if all the rental contracts were signed by a large fork , be it a bank or an investment fund.
In case it is a professional defaulter, at the first non-payment or lack of punctuality in the payment You should immediately resort to a lawyer specializing in eviction for non-payment of rental income who, based on his experience, will negotiate with the tenant the settlement of the pending debt or directly take the necessary measures to proceed with the eviction for non-payment of rent.
Unfortunately, the Administration of Justice is excessively protectionist and seems designed to favor these professional delinquent tenants and harm the owners, and when they finally accept an eviction lawsuit for processing, after months of waiting with the excuse of COVID or for other reasons, they set a trial date to address the lawsuit for non-payment of rent several months later, and even more months later the release date is set, and meanwhile the delinquent tenant continues to live quietly in the rented home and without paying any rent.
What does he have to do? owner before an eviction for non-payment of rent?
We advise all owners who have a home or premises for rent to take precautions against professional delinquent tenants and, at the first symptom of delay or haggling over the conditions of the rental contract, go to a lawyer specializing in evictions for non-payment of rent. , because they are going to have to take the tenant to court so that they return possession of their home, which, in the meantime, is in the possession of the tenant.
Your tenants may be good, dutiful, honest people whom the landlord would like to help pay their rent in case of temporary financial difficulties, but there are countless professional delinquent tenants who go from house to house and from place to place. leaving large amounts pending payment in its wake. We know the case of a tenant who, with what he has defrauded the owner of his home, has saved enough money to change the commercial premises of the business for one larger and in a more commercial area than the one he had. By the way, the owner of the old premises has also stopped paying rent, and surely the owner of the new premises will also stop paying sooner or later.
