Lease ends on 23rd, can I give 30 day notice!?

Question

Hope everyone had nice Thanksgiving weekend!

We have a tenant I don't think is going to pay rent this month. He's done it once before, I paid an attorney, gave 7 day notice, tenant had a for the people attorney call me, and paid rent and late fees on day 7. He's paid the months since but told me last week car broke down... We acquired team ant with property and I leaned he has 8 previous evictions.

With that being said... I will be pleasantly surprised if he pays this week.

I don't want him to stay or go through the 7 day notice, etc.

His lease ends Decmeber 23rd (right before Christmas, I know) can I give him a 30 day notice if he hasn't paid by the 5th and be done?

I don't want to call the attorney I worked with for $200/hour. I liked her but would love to avoid extra fees.

Anything as it pertains to state of KY appreciated!!

James Wilcox · Answer

Emmy K. is correct and it is the same in KY. If the lease after the rental period reverts to a week by week basis (not likely you wrote it that way) than it is a 7 day instead of 30 day notice.

Mike H. · Answer

Obviously, the laws in every state and county are different. But typically, most are pretty simliar when it comes to giving notice.

If it were me, I'd wait til he's late, then give him the 7 day (here in illinois its 5) pay or quit notice AND also give him the 30 day notice that he has to be out.

The other post above may be correct though in that I don't think you can give him 30 days and have him out by the 1st of January. You missed the 30 day window to get him out when his lease was up. So your 30 day notice would "likely" (here's where you need to have an attorney tell you the law in you area) be that he be out by January 23.

But thats why I would give him the 7 day pay or quit and the 30 day notice for Jan 23. He'll be less likely to pay at the 7 day mark if he thinks he's getting the boot eventually anyway.

So the sooner you can start the eviction the better.

Because if he has 7 or 8 evictions already you can bet thats what its going to take to get him out of the house again this time.

The other thing I'd suggest is finding another attorney for your evictions $200/hr seems crazy high to me. Attorneys in my area will typically give flat prices for the evictions. If not, I'm guessing that you could find someone a tad cheaper than $200/hr.  Maybe a new attorney or something?

How much did you get charged for your last eviction?I'm in a few counties. Cook county (which includes chicago) is 1k hit for an attorney. But kankakee and will is 500 to 600 which seems much more reasonable.

Jeff Rabinowitz · Answer

Lease laws differ in different States so I cannot be positive this would be interpreted this way in Kentucky (consult someone with local knowledge). In Michigan, the 30 day notice must cover a full rental period. If rent is due every month then one month is a rental period. Therefore, if the lease ended December 23, I would have to give a 30 day notice so that the tenant received it before November 23. (Different Courts count a different number of days for mailing if notice is sent by mail.) If I gave notice after November 23 and before December 23 (assuming the lease reverts to a month to month after the year is up) I would not be able to file for a court date on a 30 day notice until after January 23.

James Wilcox · Answer

Emmy K. looks like you have a fun one. Not sure about the whole story. I am not an attorney, but you just need to follow what your lease says. I have never had to evict or even serve a tenant. I have no real world experience in the subject. However, if you wanted to serve a 30 day notice it should have been done 30 days or more before the lease ends December 23 (maybe it wasn't your property then). You could maybe try to serve it now (assuming they don't pay) but likely you aren't going to see them leave for sometime past the holidays. You could try a cash for keys program.

These types of tenants know where they stand on stuff and in this situation will likely not want to move. I would read over the lease and the KY specific rules as a refresher and see where you stand. Sometimes you can get free legal advice as well. I would keep track of all contact with this tenant. Having a good paper trail is important.

You don't need an attorney for a 7 day. I believe you can start the eviction process before filing a 7 day as well. It takes a long time to process the paperwork and you can stop it anytime. Might save you a few days.

Sorry you inherited a bad tenant. It happens though. LLs need to run more background checks. 8 evictions is a lot.

James Syed · Answer

@Emmy Kupper

What happend in your case? I am going thru a bad one myself (see my thread).

James

Emmy K. · Answer

Thank you all for the feedback!

Says he will pay tomorrow... Fingers crossed! And attorney shopping continues. Her eviction fee was $1000, which, is high for our area I would guess.

Thanks again, very helpful info! We are communicating so that's a plus :)

Edward Kempen · Answer

First step.   check the existing lease for staying over requirements.   This  is a good clause to have in place if you don't already have one.   I put them in my leases so there is no confusion.   If neither party provides 30-day notice and no new lease is signed it automatically carries forward month to month under the terms of the existing lease.   Best to be explicit.

Second step.   Know your state laws, you can probably Google them.   Most states have a landlord tenant guidebook that you should know.  This should have good info on how the courts would handle it.

Third.  Communicate with your tenant.   You don't want a hostile vacancy either.  Best to end on good terms, they will exit with the place in a better condition for the next tenant.   you may find they they are Ok after all or were already planning to leave, but failed to give notice to you.

They may have just been testing you out as a new landlord,  sounds like they have experience with the system,  but doesn't necessarily mean they have it in for you.

Good luck!

Emmy K. · Answer

Thank you, @Jim Wilcox I'm afraid you are correct :) I'll look at this as a (hopefully not too expensive) learning experience. Thanks for the input!

Lease ends on 23rd, can I give 30 day notice!?

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