State Specific Question About: VIRGINIA (VA)

Unusual situation:

I had a prospective tenant who signed a lease in early July to move in August 1 on a month-to-month lease.

Both Aug and Sept rent were pre-paid.

I ended up letting tenant move in 10 days early and we signed a lease addendum saying that rent was due ad pro-rated pro-rated for those 10 days in July.

He has not made that rent payment yet.

Should I do a "5 Day or Quit Notice"?

Or should I send letter of intent on August 1st that I do not intend to renew the lease?

Thanks for reply. The tenant knew he was to pay upon move in of July 22. And we signed a lease addendum. He said on the 22nd he would have it on the 25th. We met on 25th and excuses. On the 28th he said he'd have the money "this week". But non-responsive to my 3 texts since Sun.

He was just evicted in June/July of this yr! So I figured getting 2 months pre-paid rent would "cover me".

I suggest you improve your screening criteria, so that you do not accept an applicant who has ever been evicted, much less CURRENTLY in the process of being evicted!

Sounds like the tenant is on the way to becoming a professional deadbeat.

He already got away with it, thus the current eviction. Now he is already scamming you about 10 days of rent.

Sounds like maybe your Tenant interpreted your kindness

"He was just evicted in June/July of this yr! So I figured getting 2 months pre-paid rent would "cover me"."

Okay... not to beat you up but...

Why did you give him KEYS before he paid the RENT?

Money first. Keys after. No exception. Even if they pre-pay 12 months....

The way my lease is structured, this wouldn't be a problem. All money paid goes to the current balance due. So his prorated July rent would be paid, as would August, but he'd be short for September and would need to get that squared away on or before the due date for Sept rent. I suggest rewording your lease to be the same or something along that line.

When I was a newbie landlord, I too got caught up in the mental "buckets of money" game that. Tenants would be late on rent, then fail to pay the late fees and insist, "Well I'm paid up for THIS month, so you can't evict me for unpaid late fees!" I got tired of those shenanigans, so I fixed my lease. Zero problems since then.

Money paid gets applied to fees, charges, etc first and rent LAST. So it's always rent that's unpaid, and it's super easy to evict.

My guess is your judge will not allow an eviction since he's paid ahead. He/She will probably tell you to do what my lease does and just apply the prepaid to the earliest charge. Probably not worth filing over. Just cruise along until Sept, and if he's still short, evict then.

Thank you all for very good input.

I will incorporate pieces from all of your responses!

Since my lease requires 2 months of rent to be paid in advance at all times, once he misses the next payment, local atty said I could do the 5 day notice then. And sue fir civil damages(rent from July) afterwards.

Thank you all for very good input.

I will incorporate pieces from all of your responses!

Since my lease requires 2 months of rent to be paid in advance at all times, once he misses the next payment, local atty said I could do the 5 day notice then. And sue fir civil damages(rent from July) afterwards.