Quality Tenant That Refuses to Communicate

[Josh Tschirgi]

Hello! We invest in single-family homes in Southwest Washington (State), and the SFH I'm writing about is located in Vancouver, Washington.

We have a tenant (a mother and two high school age children) that have been excellent during their 1 yr lease.  That lease ran from 08/01/2020 - 07/31/2021 for $2900 per month.  They pay all utilities and have done a good job maintaining the property.  

The issue we are having is that she refuses to communicate with us about her plans when the lease ends on 07/31/2021... which is this coming Saturday!

The original lease specifically states that the lease would NOT convert to a month-to-month at the end of the lease.  I can see in our property management software that a payment for $2900 has been scheduled for August 2nd.   

Normally, I'm pretty confident in handling real estate matters but right now am at a bit of a loss on how to handle this situation. I have approached her on four occasions about signing a new lease and/or simply having a conversation about her plans.  She refuses to communicate or respond.   

To be perfectly candid, I do not enjoy the feeling of not being in control of the situation. That said, it really doesn't seem right to take drastic action against a quality tenant.  

My wife and I are also concerned that not having a formal lease or rental agreement increases our risk in the event there are issues.  

Please do not hesitate to weigh in! 

Thank you,

Josh Tschirgi

[Nathan Gesner]

You have a different definition of "excellent" than I do. Communication is an integral part of an "excellent" rental history.

Stop sweating it. She doesn't want to talk, so just wait until the deadline passes and see what she does. If she still doesn't say anything or turn in keys, go to the property and see what's going on. Maybe she just abandoned it. Maybe she's going to turn into a holdover. Or maybe she's been so busy packing and moving and cleaning that she forgot to update you.

Don't stress over something that hasn't happened yet.