How SCREWED am I?

Question

Hello,

I think I'm going to have to do my first eviction but I cannot find the signed lease.  My tenant is 10 days late and she's just dropped off the face of the earth.  Won't answer phone calls and  doesn't reply to text messages.  I do have her rental application which was completed April 23rd of 2014 and the lease was for 1 year.  I have a copy of the lease I typed up for her, but just not the one with her signature on it.  I'm sure that's something I would need if this gets all the way to court.  I was in the process of preparing a 5 day notice (a bit late obviously) when I realized I didn't have the signed lease.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!

Marcia Maynard · Answer

Serve the "Pay Rent or Quit" notice. Charge a late fee as per your lease. Proceed as if you had all of your documents in proper order. If the tenant doesn't respond, then take it to a qualified eviction attorney. The attorney will help you sort this out as per the laws in your jurisdiction and the requirements of the court. Written or oral, there is still a binding contract in place. You can still show the history of her paying you rent every month at the rate you specified in the written contract.

Also, make a good attempt to locate her. Have you visited the property? Have the neighbors seen her? Have you called her emergency contacts? Have you tried all means of contact (phone, text, email, postal mail, knocking on the door)?

If a tenant is avoiding us, the first thing we do after posting the notice to "Pay Rent or Quit" is to post a "Notice to Enter" as a periodic maintenance inspection. If a tenant is not paying rent, they may also not be paying utilities, check that all systems in the unit are operational. While at the property, keep an eye out for other terms of the rental agreement that she may be violating. The other reason we want to enter the unit is to check on the welfare of the tenant, in case she is in the unit and is incapacitated. Also it lets us know sooner if the unit has been abandoned. Most of the time when we state we will be legally entering the unit, it will draw the tenant out and we are able to have a face to face talk about what is going on. Sometimes that results in the tenant paying the rent and late fee. Sometimes it results in us working out a move-out plan, so we get the unit back sooner, with less damage, and we can all avoid court. Bring another person with you as a witness.

Ben Leybovich · Answer

You are not screwed. This may be a little longer process, an aural contract is still binding as far as I am aware, and an attorney will fix it. Go talk to a RE attorney :)

Marcia Maynard · Answer

@Ben Rasche Find out why she did not pay rent when it was due. Talk with her in person if you can so you hear not only her words, phrasing and tone of voice, but so you can also see the non-verbal communication in her facial expression and body language. That may give you an idea if this is the beginning of a late-pay/non-pay streak or a one time occurrence. Find out her intent and whether she wants to renew the lease. It could be she has no intent of paying you on Friday and plans to skip. It is obviously not just an "oops" oversight.

If you sign another lease, be sure to obtain the name and phone number of a reliable emergency contact person. I call emergency contacts prior to initiating an eviction, as sometimes they are able to provide the support the tenant needs to get back into compliance.

Also, if you haven't done so.... time for a periodic inspection. :-)

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

If her lease is up at the end of the month you'd need to get her to sign a new lease anyway if you do want to keep her.

Cal C. · Answer

Glad it turned out well.  If this is the only issue you've had with her AND she keeps the home well  I'd keep her, especially if you collect some late fees.

In GA, and I believe in a lot of other states/jurisdictions, if you don't have the written lease at the very least you have a tenant at will.  For others reading this thread look up how tenants at will are treated in your state.  I'd guess that the judge is more than likely going to go by the unsigned copy (or the tenant's signed copy if she takes one to court).  But in any event you still have a contract and you have the right to evict her.

Ben Rasche · Answer

Thanks everyone....I ended up posting a letter on the door on Sunday saying that if I didn't hear from her by Tuesday I would contact my attorney and begin the eviction process.  She contacted me on Monday and said she'd have the rent to me by Friday.  Her lease is up at the end of the month so I have a decision to make as to whether or not to renew it.  This is the first real issue we've had with this tenant so I'm torn.  I know she takes good care of the unit and I don't particularly want to turn it over if this turns out to be a one time thing.  One thing I can guarantee you is that if I renew the lease with her I will place it in our safe at home haha.  Thanks again everyone!!

Steve Babiak · Answer

I once was attending eviction hearings, and with one pair io landlord and tenant ( both were there in person), both acknowledged that there was a signed lease on paper, and both admitted that they could not find their copy to show the judge! :)

Judge still set a date for the tenant to be out ...

Steve Rozenberg · Answer

Whatever your policies and procedures are you need to stick with them. More importantly if it's stated in the lease you need to follow the enforcement just as much as the tenant needs to.

Once you deviate and do not charge late fees or do not start eviction the court of law can see you breached the contract first and not uphold the eviction when you do finally decide. Every state and law is different but I would say follow the lease and proceed per that.

Account Closed · Answer

I'd just put her on month to month at the end of the lease.  That way you can keep her if things work out, but you're not stuck in a lease.  And she may end up staying longer than she planned, if she knows she has the option to just give 30 days notice when she is ready to move.

Account Closed · Answer

Some courts require you submit a lease with the eviction filing and others dont.  I suspect they don't even look at your submission, but only file it away. They rarely look at the lease in court and as the other post said...the main issue is if they admit they are behind.  You will probabaly skate right through it and she probably won't show up.

How SCREWED am I?

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