Evicting without a written lease???

Question

A friend of mine (seriously, I'm not the "friend", this really is about another person) is in need of some advice as to how to evict a tenant of 5 years with no written lease in place. The tenant has hardly ever paid the full verbally agreed upon rent of $625/mo during the five years he has lived in the home with his girlfriend and her child. The tenant now owes thousands in back payments, and has not paid anything for the past 3 months.

I have only recently become aware of this situation, and my friend has acknowledged the fact that he has created this problem by not using a written lease from the beginning, and by allowing this to go on as long as it has. My friend is now trying to decide what to do with the property - evict and find a new tenant, or sell the house. I told him the first thing that has to happen, regardless of his future plans for the house, is he HAS to get the current tenant out.

My friend has asked the tenant repeatedly to find an alternative housing arrangement, but has always been given a variety of excuses as to why he can't (much like the excuses he uses as to why he can't pay the rent). My friend has even sent some paperwork to the tenant stating that he would pay $2000 for the tenant to move out, or he would evict if the tenant didn't accept. The tenant actually threatened legal action (I don't know the extent of what was threatened) if my friend proceeded with eviction.

So my questions are:

• What options for eviction does my friend have?
• Are there any legal ramifications my friend could face from the tenant since there is no written lease?
• Does anyone have any other suggestions for alternatives to a forceful eviction that my friend could pursue?

Gail K. · Answer

Holey moley, your friend is facing two considerations here...

Without a written lease he has a tenant who has a month to month tenancy (sometimes known in some states as a "tenancy at will").  In North Carolina this can simply be terminated with a 7 day WRITTEN notice (see the attached for the legal statute).  SEVEN DAYS!!!   No reason for the termination need be provided.

https://www.landlordology.com/north-carolina-landl...

Your friend needs to send this tenant this notice to begin the process of getting him out.   If he doesn't comply your friend then marches down to his Clerk of Court office and begins the process of filing for an eviction.

If he can't manage to do this, he can hire a local attorney to do the very same thing.  It's easy to handle and typically not very expensive; far less than the thousands he's lost in missed rent.

Afterwards your friend can put the rental house up for sale.  I hate to say this but I don't think he has the nerve to be a landlord (not everyone does).

Oh, and he very likely can forget suing the guy in court for back rent.  He's likely never going to see a penny of this especially if he's already accepted any reduced rent from his tenant.  Even if he sues and wins the court will do nothing to help him collect his judgment.

Gail

P.S.  And the claim that the tenant is threatening legal action is nothing more than the tenant blowing smoke out of a certain orifice.

Account Closed · Answer

I'm not an attorney either but I am kind of agreeing with the squatter idea... and/or tresspassing.

If taken to court, a verbal agreement will show that he owes money and hasn't paid, in which case he can be evicted. If the court decides there is no contract, then the person is now on private property without permission, which would mean the police could forcefully remove the person. Not sure if your friend wants to go to that extent, but maybe talk with an attorney and/or the local sheriff's office.

Every state is different. While I personally think the property owner should be able to get him removed quickly, some states are funny (not in the laughing way) and have way too many regulations that keep the squatter in-home.

Anyway I agree with Adam, definitely get with an attorney.

Randy E. · Answer

The landlord did at least two things wrong.

1) She proceeded to get involved in a back-and-forth with the tenant over various things.  Missed rent, condition of home, previous payment agreements, how poorly the tenant was keeping the yard maintained, etc.  That's a big no-no in my book.  Just state your facts and shut up.  Tenants sometimes ramble on and on and on.  There's no need for a landlord to respond to each and every statement.

2) The big problem was when the magistrate asked the landlord when did she demand payment.  My friend did not understand the importance of the question and basically said "the tenant knows when the rent is due and he knows he didn't pay it.  I shouldn't have to demand it."  Part of the eviction process is asking for the rent or late rent, then after so many days pass after that, the eviction process can begin.  Because the landlord said she had not made a demand for payment, the magistrate refused to order an eviction date.

The magistrate told the landlord to refile X days after she made a demand for payment.  The magistrate was even nice enough to say that failed court date would count as a demand for payment and that the landlord could refile in X days.

I was sitting in the seats watching this, and squirming so bad because I wanted to speak up throughout the proceedings to tell my friend to stop screwing things up.  All my before-court advice was forgotten under the glare of the court lights.

Filing for an eviction is relatively easy and straightforward.  However, if your friend has the money for a lawyer, I suggest he hire a lawyer for this first eviction, and just learn along the way.

Gail K. · Answer

No; the lesson is not necessarily to have a written lease.  A written lease is no guarantee that a tenant will actually pay rent.  Some tenants will view the legal document known as a lease as nothing more than toilet paper.

The lesson that should be learned from this is that a landlord should not let a tenant "slide" regarding rent.  If rent is due on the first, it's late on the second and the landlord should begin the process of eviction THEN, typically by providing what is known as a Pay Or Quit notice giving the tenant a certain amount of time to remedy the situation.  If no resolution within that time period then file for the eviction.

What happens all too  often (and why some tenants deliberately choose private landlords over bigger management companies) is that individual landlords may be clueless on the statutes in their own state, may buy sob stories, may not wish to be the "bad guys" or may be intimidated by the useless threats of being "sued" by a deadbeat tenant, etc..  So....they let things slide and slide and slide until they are, literally, thousands of dollars in debt from owed rent.

And thus they find themselves in the pickle this guy is in.

And by the way, paying a deadbeat tenant 2K to move out is ridiculous!

Gail

Nick Watkins · Answer

WOW the first post i get to reply to and its literally a situation I have found myself in on my first attempt of being a landlord.

It is sad to see this happen to people. The steps i took were as follows

1. Attempt to ask them to just leave....fail

2. Go to city hall and ask about evictions. They handed me a paper and said follow the instructions. So i filled it out made my 3 copies went back to the court hall and hired a certified mail carrier " to insure the letter was legally received." two days later i had notification they were served the letter. 30 days later still no luck so i was allowed to file for a court case. We saw the judge he told me i was young and dumb for all my mistakes lol and found in my favor. Another i believe 30 and they still did not follow court orders so I was informed to call the police and a sheriff stood by the door as i was able to take out EVERY thing they own, And put it by the curb then change the locks.

Hope this helps,

Nick

Kevin Harrison · Answer

Yes with the attorney idea. another thing I would try to do is send him an e-mail/ get the conversation in writing, tell him how much he owes and get him to acknowledge that he owes. Then you can take that to court and actually have some written proof of the tenant acknowledging the debt that you can take to court.

Adam Heim · Answer

i would think (and im not an attorney) that its a similar situation to a squatter. Ive heard horror stories of people renovating homes then finding people live there and then their required to go through eviction process to get rid of someone. That said verbal contracts are still contracts. I would consult attorney but i would think you would pursue like a regular eviction. Give notice and goto court.

Randy E. · Answer

@Mark Sossoman, I vote for eviction.  NC is a landlord friendly state, so your friend shouldn't have too much trouble.

However, I've been present in eviction court with landlords who didn't know what they were doing and what should have been an easy eviction turned into a delayed eviction.  The magistrate/judge will ask some basic straightforward questions of the landlord and tenant.  If the landlord botches the questions, the judge/magistrate will not order an eviction.  I went to court with a friend who was in a similar situation (one year tenant who had never paid rent) and because the landlord answered incorrectly, the tenant was not ordered to move, even after the tenant admitted not paying rent for an entire year.

For that reason, and because your friend apparently has some ready money to address the situation, I recommend your friend hire a real estate lawyer to handle the eviction.  It should cost much less than the $2000 he offered the tenant to move out.

If your friend hires a lawyer on Monday, February 15, I'd bet the tenants are out of the house by March 1, if not sooner.

Good luck.

Jacob Sampson · Answer

I couldn't agree more.  LOL.  7 YEARS?!?  this is not the business for your friend.  Just follow the eviction process, likely it won't be that big a deal.  Don't spend another dime on this person (trying to get back rents), if the person can't afford regular rent payments why would there be any money to go after in court.  Not worth it.

Evicting without a written lease???

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