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