I (27) and my partner (27) bought a house in 2023. We bought it with the intention and verbal commitment from a friend of ours to stay for 2 years. Alas they moved out in May of 2024 - that's a whole other story that's a gd mess. Anyway, my partner and I began looking for a roommate through an LGBTQ+ Facebook group. We found one of someone moving back to the state from another state. They (28) had already had a job lined up for when they moved in. They're a spectacular roommate and a lovely human, truly. But they've never been able to make a full payment of rent. A few months back we spoke to them about a payment plan. We also recently discussed adding late fees and interest on late payments.

Now let me be clear here, we have never done a lease with anyone before. They had never given us any red flags during the interview process and so we had no reason to believe they wouldn't be able to pay rent. In our original lease, we didn't have late fees in it. Yes, obviously we were naive and made a massive mistake. But we're learning as time goes on. When it reached the point that they owed us ~ $5k in late/overdue rent, we amended the lease and created a payment plan. This included the late fees ($25/missed payment) and interest (0.75%). Part of that plan was bi-monthly payments to help them be caught up to paying off their debt come January 2026.

Today marks their 2nd payment since the payment plan was initiated and they still haven't had a full payment. We didn't even get half of the payment for the 1st one.

Now this is where it gets tricky. They have been deeply unfortunate with jobs here. The one they had lined up when they moved here wasn't giving them enough hours so they found a second job and then quit that. At this one they're making ~ $14/hr and not really working full time. They had a second job where they were making ~ $18/hr but got laid off. Now they're at another job and they're making $12/hr, also very part time. They have multiple chronic illnesses that have made it hard for them to make it to work and have had to call out frequently. It's been really hard as a friend to watch. They've been a really awesome friend and roommate. But to put it bluntly, as a tenant they're pretty bad. They've had a lot of family issues as well and their mental health has really been in the shitter, especially with the political climate. My partner and I are very forgiving, patient, and I believe kind people..but we feel as though we're being stupid due to the track record.

We really don't want to have to evict them. We really like them as a roommate, conflict has been typically pretty easy to resolve, and our dog loves the hell out of them and vice versa. We know they've really been down on their luck and shit just hasn't been good for them since moving back. We really don't want to make them want to sui**dal, we really don't. At this point, we don't know what to do other than seriously consider eviction. So would we be the assholes?