Pregnant Woman Wants To Evict Disabled Tenant
How prepared are you if disaster strikes and you can no longer earn a living? One man not only has had to deal with life-threatening and now chronic and disabling injuries, but because he can no longer work, he faces eviction from his apartment of five years. Meanwhile, the landlord is pregnant with her first baby and in no position to subsidize her tenant’s rent, leading to the very real proposition that she’ll be making him homeless. The OP took to Reddit.
u/Saly AITA For Evicting My Tenant Because His Injury Means He Can't Work? I'm really wrestling with this because I don't think of myself as a bad person, yet I'm about to make a disabled person homeless and i don't know what to do. For background, when I was single I bought a one-bedroom ground floor apartment in a three story complex in a hip inner city part of town. I lived there for about five years, but soon after my relationship with my now husband began, we decided to buy a place together and rent my apartment out. The rental money I receive pays for about a third of our mortgage on our three bedroom house. My only tenant is the current one and he's been there for about six years. He had always paid on time, including during the early pandemic and we had not increased the rent because ...well, he's been a good tenant.
When disaster struck the tenant, the OP was initially very supportive and helped the tenant by giving over a year’s rent relief. That’s far more than many landlords would give.
About two years ago he was involved in a car accident and ended up in a coma for a week, and was in intensive care for much longer. He now can hardly walk, speaks slowly and attends physio sessions regularly. When we first heard of his accident, my husband and I were very supportive of him and told him not to worry about finances (and we'd feed his cat) and that he could pay us when his insurance payment came through. It meant that we received NO rent money for over a year before he finally received a lump-sum payment and paid us the rent owing for 15 months.
But here comes the rub. It’s one thing to provide rent relief when you know a big insurance claim is coming, but there’s no guarantee that the OP will ever be able to pay back the rent.
But he can longer work and is now reliant on a disability pension which is a fraction of his previous salary. I understand that the pension he receives is less than the rent he is supposed to pay and, of course, he has fallen WAY behind, and has not even paid us anything at all for the last four months.
And with the OP expecting a baby, maybe you have to think of yourself first.
I am six months pregnant with my first child and plan on finishing work very soon. I was not planning on returning to work for at least a year (if at all) because I want to raise a family. With the loss of my wage imminent we REALLY REALLY NEED the rental income, so if the current tenant can't pay we either need a new tenant or we will need to sell it. I have spoken to the tenant and he is distraught. He says he has no family to lean on and that the accident has ruined his life. He said that he would struggle to find alternative accommodation (especially ground floor) and will end up homeless living on the street. He said that he will eventually be able to work (but was not able to say when, when I asked him) and that I should let him stay and he will pay me back.
But the OP is still concerned about her tenant. She sounds like a caring woman.
I don't know what would happen to him if we evicted him, but I don't know what would happen if we don't and he doesn't pay rent, given my pending loss of income. I make more money than my husband so we're already going to take a 60% hit to our wages. What should I do?
Many readers admired the OP but said she had to put herself first.
u/walkingwounded1 It's sad for the tenant but its not her responsibility to provide housing for him. The OP is about to have a baby, lose more than half her income and doesn't need the financial stress on top.
u/serendiptydimensions It's amazing to have a landlord who cares this much - most would have evicted him months or even years ago. I think she has done enough goodwork though and can rest easy if she eventually evicts him.
So, what do you think? Is she an AH?
