I have a tenant who pays the rent habitually late. And two of her rent checks have bounced in the last year and a half. Her lease is up in May can I evict her prior to the expiration of her lease? Is her security deposit defaulted? Can she be required to pay all of the fees incurred as a result of her bounced checks?

Hello ssnj:

If you DIDN'T evict her when the checks bounced, and you collected your rent, you can't NOW use that as grounds.

Her security deposit is for damages to your unit - nothing else. It's not a landlord bonus.

She can be required to pay ALL your bank fees IF you put it in your lease. If you didn't, then you can't. You cannot go back and change the agreement you made with her.

excon

PS> You might want to check out the landlord/tenant law for your state. We have a copy right here at the top of the page on a “sticky note”. They are the RULES for the landlord business, after all. Within those rules are ALL your answers.