Evicting tenant in Portland

[Patrick Kernan]

We are having to evict a tenant who has never signed a lease. What to do if he doesn’t leave voluntarily? They always paid cash, so there are no checks of record.

The tenant has lived in a basement room in a large rental house we own for several years. He hasn’t paid rent for three months. Last month I sent him an email saying that if he is not out by July1st I will begin legal proceedings. Not sure what to do because he has never signed a lease. 

[Mathew Wray]

Morning Patrick,

Just to be clear, are you talking about Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine or one of the other Portlands? 

For the Oregon version, you're going to have a real tough time ahead of you. We're a very tenant friendly state and even more tenant friendly city. There's so much advice about what not to do and what should've been done, but I think you're already realizing that so you don't need to hear more! 

Before you do anything else, call a landlord tenant lawyer. You're going to need to pay for professional help to untangle the situation. If you try to go it alone you risk muddying the waters and making it worse. I'd pay an attorney who can give you an exact course of action to take to get him out of the basement. If you go it alone and submit notices incorrectly, or don't notify him in the correct way, or do any of the other number of tasks wrong you risk making it worse, potentially paying damages, and still having him living there. 

I'm happy to connect you to an experienced LL/Tenant Lawyer here in town...send me a message and I'll get you his contact info. 

Best of luck in a tough time!

Mathew