Lease expires, tenant signalling they will refuse to vacate

[Joe Senchuk]

I have a tenant who came by way of a temporary housing agency. Their son burned their house and the insurance company moved them into a hotel. The temp housing agency found my rental through Zillow and contacted me. I already had a tenant lined up ready to sign a 1 year lease but after hearing about this family's circumstances I decided to meet with them and show them the house. Then after talking to them and getting a better sense of their plight, I caved and signed a 6 month lease and sent the other qualified tenants away. At the time I felt it was the right thing to do.  

The tenants income is not sufficient to support the rent payment so I used the temporary housing agency as their income qualifier.  The temp agency refused to be named on the lease. I still signed a lease with the tenants and the temp agency has sent all 6 monthly payments on time. It's really been good in this regard even though I was nervous throughout the last 6 months. we will not do this again.

I contacted the family 45 days before the lease is set to expire inquiring about their circumstances. They told me that they would contact their insurance company and get back to me. Fast forward about 2 weeks and their temp housing rep contacted me asking to go month to month for less than the agreed upon rental rate.  Of course I said no. I also advised them that we aren't willing to go month to month because my wife and I are planning a trip out of the country for two months and we can't allow the house to sit vacant without renters during this time (and then have to return and spend another month looking for and qualifying new tenants). We offered another 6 month lease at the current rate. They did not agree. So we offered a 4 month lease at an increased rate. They refused and got weird with us. We gave them a deadline to contact us  on or before Friday March 30th 2018 @5:00 pm before we would proceed with notice to quit (even though in Colorado, this is not required when the lease is going to expire anyway). Didn't hear from them. 

We posted the notice on the front door (and took a picture of it) the following Monday. Now the tenants are telling us that they do not intend to move. They even told us that they went to legal aid and that the attorneys there advised them that we have to allow them to stay month to month after the lease expires (which I know isn't true and I told them to have those attorneys contact us).  They also stated that they only need it for 1 to 2 months which will be right in the middle of our trip (this is why we offered a minimum of a 4 month lease renewal). Nowhere in our lease is there a guarantee of a month to month agreement upon expiration of the lease. The only place in the lease where it talks about month to month is in the holdover clause and it states very clearly:

20. Holdover. Tenant must vacate the Premises and remove all of Tenant’s personal property from

the Premises before 11:59 p.m. on the date the Term expires. If Tenant fails to so vacate the Premises,

Landlord may immediately commence eviction proceedings at its sole discretion. If, after the Lease

expires, Tenant remains in possession of the Premises and continues to pay Rent without a written

agreement as to possession (and Landlord accepts such Rent), then the tenancy will be regarded as a

month-to-month tenancy, at a monthly rental of $3250.00, payable in advance, and subject to all the

terms and conditions of the Lease.

We have given more than sufficient notice and we will not accept the rent payment. We've already secured another lease (friends of ours) and we've made it very clear that they must be out by the date and time the lease expires.

So, given the circumstances above here is my question:

If they are still there the day after the lease expires, can I enter the property and take possession without going through a formal eviction process?

If I need to go through the formal eviction process; how long before the lease expires should I start the process OR do I have to wait until the day the lease expires?

How do I encourage them (peacefully) to move out? I don't wish to upset the family but I can't sacrifice my own family's financial well being for their plight. I am willing to offer cash for keys as a last resort but I'd rather get them out by advising them that this will be a costly decision on their behalf and that moving out would be the best option for them. I certainly don't wish to threaten them even though they don't seem hesitant to do that to us.

If they don't move; can I sue them for damages as a result of losing or inconveniencing the other tenants?

For your reference, the property is located in Adams County Colorado. Any other advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

~Joe Senchuk

[Account Closed]

If you were a local friend I'd take you out for a beer and then tell you how badly you f'd up.  You ran your rental like a charity and not a business. When I was younger I wondered why my landlords all had hard hearts. Now that I've talked to hundreds of unqualified sh1tbirds like your tenants, I know why.  These kinds of people are going to cause you no end of headache until they are gone. In fact, they might even come back and mess with the property once they are gone. 

The good thing is you learned a very valuable lesson right up front.  If you see what went wrong and take much more care in the future with tenant screening, this will be your "high water mark" for bad experiences.  All of what you say is NOT normal behavior for good tenants.  You were screening but you made all the wrong decisions while screening.  

I'd strongly suggest to get a good management company in place for now. They will know how to get rid of these tenants legally and correctly (probably through cash for keys), and will find qualified new tenants while you are on vacation. They can also handle the turnover, will also keep an eye on the property while it is vacant. 

Also, if you decide to sell, most management companies are also realtors, and can get your house cleaned up and put on the market. 

Otherwise, you dont have to keep the management company when you return, and you will pay for their services and a bit of markup on the turnover, but it would let you back away from all this drama and rest easy while you are on vacation.