Anyone in Washington state has any experience on evicting tenant?

Question

Tenant has a job and healthy, no Covid-19 infection. He said he does not have to pay rent because of the pandmeic. My wife manages her house by herself. Does anyone know how much usually cost to hire eviction company in Washington state? Can I deduct the security deposit to pay for the eviction? Thanks in advance.

Brian Hughes · Answer

I am not an attorney.

There is currently a WA STATEWIDE moratorium on evictions and other actions by landlords to enforce collection of rent through June 4th:

https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/20-19.1%20-%20COVID-19%20Moratorium%20on%20Evictions%20Extension%20%28tmp%29.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Your own local jurisdiction may have additional or different rules,  and your mortgage if any may put you under federal rules too.  Research all of that.

Be sure that any actions you take are in compliance with above.   The WA statewide emergency order explicitly calls out that landlords cannot threaten late fees or evictions during this time.    (Yes,  is annoying and stupid and your situation is exactly the grade A example why)

I would verbally communicate with the tenant and explain (in a 'nonthreatening') manner - don't use the terms like fine, fee, or "eviction" - that based on your understanding that they have not been impacted personally by COVID-19 insofar as income or ability to work that they should be able to, and you do expect them to continue to pay rent,   and while you will comply with all emergency orders, unpaid rent will continue to accrue and is expected to be repaid.

Once the emergency is over,   propose a payment plan to them per the emergency rules.   If they have still been working,   start by offering 3 months to catch up.   They will probably counter at something a lot longer,    so counter at 6 months and remind them that since they haven't paid rent and haven't lost income they should have the funds on hand.   (Don't imply they have wasted the money elsewhere,  even if there is a brand new car in the driveway,  etc)   This all needs to be documented so do it in something like an email chain making sure to identify their full name, the property,  and reference important lease terms like the effective date, deposit amount, rent amount,  how much they are behind, etc.  If they still refuse,   at this point you have offered a reasonable payment plan,  AND have adjusted it to more favorable terms during the negotiation.

Document everything,   and if it comes to it hire a professional firm that handles evictions.    I haven't had the pleasure of dealing with one myself yet but I would never try to do it any other way.  If you have your property under an LLC you cannot DIY represent yourself anyway.

Also,  consider approaching your local media outlet or writing a letter to editor of newspaper and contacting your representative government officials to let them know that you are a landlord who has a tenant who is able to pay rent but has taken advantage of the terms of the emergency eviction moratorium and refuses to pay rent.   Be factual and concise and don't name call or disparage the tenant,  just describe their actual behavior.

+1 on groups like WA LL association and RHA  (rental housing association of WA)

Nik Moushon · Answer

@Charles D.

@Brian Hughes gave you a good brake down of what to do. But I will point out a couple specifics that you can pass along to your tenant to help "clarify things" for him...

There is a moratorium on collecting rent atm NOT a forgiving of rents. Rent is still due to the landlord and is to be paid back, in full, through a payment plan that is over several months (i forget if the law say exactly how many or not). Tell him you will take the rent he has missed out of his security deposit first and anything not covered by that will be due. No state has the constitutional right to wave rent for anyone....unless the state says they will pay the rent.

You cannot charge him late fees or fines when they start repaying through your payment schedule. Though you can't evict him NOW you can start the process NOW. Start by collecting information on what he is doing. The emails and text messages are gold. Hoard that gold. You can't actually do the filing for eviction right now but you can issue the warnings and gathering proof of them breaking the contract.

I would suggest reading the law yourself as a refresher. Write up a very nice email explaining that it could be easy to misunderstand the law and then explain how the rent that is due is just postponed not erased. Use exact quotes from the law to prove this to him and attach a copy of it in the email. Suggest a repayment plan or a reduction in rent instead of not paying it at all. Be nice about the whole thing because it will help you in court later on (if it goes there...hopefully not). Do not threaten eviction or fines or anything for that matter. Dont even bring up that you know he isnt effected by the virus or the economy. If you have proof of that, keep it, but keep that as a card to play at a later date. Unfortunately a side effect of this law (that most WA state politicians dont even care about) is there are people out there that are going to take advantage of this and not pay....but do know its very very rare. And from what I've heard, once the tenants actually realize that rent isnt forgiving or wave and that it is still due they end up paying. Because they dont want to be paying 1.5x or 2x rent for the next several months after this.

Dmitry Semenov · Answer

I did 2 evictions (placed by the same property manager, lol). The first one was handled by Loeffler Law Group, second one - Dimensions Law Group. I can recommend both. I would not try to do eviction myself, there are so many things that could go wrong and you'll have to restart this process again (in the best case) or will have to pay fines (in a worse case).

Total eviction cost depends on many factors, e.g. if you need to go to the court or tenant settles, default judgement vs hearing, etc. In my case, we could negotiate with the tenant and eviction didn't cost too much. You can request price sheet from both companies and compare.

Another company, which I didn't use personally, but was recommended by several people I know - LT Services.

+1 for RHAWA membership. It costs about 200/year, but you'll get resource desk, which respond in 24 hours and would cover a lot non-trivial questions. Plus lease for WA and Seattle, and a bunch of addenda. Plus a lot of online classes about landlord-tenant law, about operating rentals, and investments in general. Plus forum. Totally worth it.

Nik Moushon · Answer

Theres nothing there that Brian or I havent said already. Here is the piece you can hang your hat on and show the renter:

• "Prohibits landlords from treating unpaid rent and charges as an enforceable debt, unless the landlord demonstrates by a preponderance of the evidence to a court that the resident was offered, and refused or failed to comply with, a reasonable repayment plan that was reasonable based on the individual financial, health, and other circumstances of that resident.

Note: All rent payments delayed through this moratorium will still be owed but a landlord must offer a tenant a reasonable repayment plan to enforce any collection of that debt."

The last bit of the first paragraph will back you up in court on a 3 month repayment plan. If what you day is true, and you have evidence of it (though if you go to court you'll have time to get that evidence), that he has had his full time job this entire time or even most of the time but just refused to pay because he was taking advantage of the law and not leaning on it because he was hurt by this virus will tell the judge that you were in the right...not him.

Just make sure to be extra nice in any communications, you can be firm but nice, and keep track of everything. You'll be fine in the long run.

Brian Hughes · Answer

You can't refuse to renew the tenant either owing to same statewide emergency orders.     One option would be to offer a short term lease renewal,  say 3 months,  in hopes that the orders will be lifted by the time that renewal comes up,  and you will finally have some leverage to force the tenant to talk to you about repayment.     If they refuse to sign,  they are now a holdover tenant both not paying rent and refusing to sign a new rental agreement;  The only risk there is if you do accept ANY rent when they are in holdover you have agreed to convert the tenancy to month to month I believe.    I would not offer or allow this tenant to convert to month to month.    So if you offer the short renewal and they don't agree to sign, don't accept any rent until they do.

In any case,  since its likely this tenant is taking advantage of the situation  its probably time to talk to an attorney or eviction service and craft a strategy.  While you cannot do anything to enforce the situation with the tenant,  nothing is stopping you from formulating your strategy so you can hit the ground running.   While you can't threaten eviction directly,  you might also try to find a sideways way of letting the tenant 'discover' you are talking with attorneys.  Maybe call your attorney from your car in front of the property when you know they might be listening or something,  fumble around in your pockets and drop the business card for the eviction service,  etc.   It might let them know you are getting more serious about things,  though its pretty likely the way this ends is that sometime after these rules lift they will disappear in the night and leave you a mess to clean up along with the unpaid debt.

Charles D. · Answer

Washingon state extends eviction moratorium to August 1 and the lease end August 31 st. The tenant still has not pay rent. Should I offer him to sign a new month-to-month lease now or should I wait? Thanks

Charles D. · Answer

Thank you so much for the info.

Charles D. · Answer

Thank you so much for all the information from Brain and Nik and I will vote for both of you.

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

@Charles D.We have found the Wa State LL Association to be a great deal, we use them for leases and all forms and support. They will handle evictions as well. Great for networking too. If you are interested look them up on line through their website.