Verbal Lease Termination? Late rent. Newbie Needs HELP

[Elliot B.]

Hey all,

I just had my first tenant inform me that they will be "moving on". They informed me on the day that their new lease was due to be signed and returned to me (7/1). Additionally, they paid me the old rent amount... $200 short of the new amount. I gave them 45 days notice of the new lease and rent increase (5/15). I believe that I legally should have been given 30 days notice of termination by 6/1. This is a month-to-month / at-will tenancy (these are the same thing, right?)

Now, I just spoke with the tenant again and was told that it might not be until September that they move out. When we first spoke about their intent to leave, it was clearly stated that they would be moving out at the end of the month. They made it clear that they had spoken with Pine Tree Legal (big tenant advocate) who allegedly had advised them to only pay me the old rent amount and not sign the new lease.

In summary:

- The tenant did not sign the new lease for July nor give me any indication that they would be leaving.

- They stiffed me $200 (the difference between the old and new rent).

- They claim that their verbal termination doesn't count and that they can stay until the end of September because I haven't received a written notice to terminate.

How should I handle this?

I would obviously like to get the $200 that I'm owed (Am I owed that since they didn't sign the lease but did have 45 day notice??)

But if push comes to shove, I'd rather forfeit the $200 and get them out at the end of the month as pain-free as possible.

What should I do?

- Immediate Intent to Terminate notice? (anyone have a template?)

- Immediate Eviction Notice? (template??)

- Late rent notice?

Any advice from the veteran landlords out there would be appreciated!

[Katie Magoun]

Welcome to landlording in Maine. It's a bummer that it's started off this way for you, but none of us manage to avoid these issues in our exceptionally tenant-friendly state. 

You're unlikely to get back any of the money you're owed. Like @Ryan Murdock mentioned, your best bet is to keep them paying you anything at all. We've had a non-paying tenant in one of our units before, and by the time we were able to evict her (for legit non-payment), we were out thousands of dollars (she also happened to be a client of the illustrious Pine Tree Legal... they will cost you money, no matter how perfectly you try to adhere to the rules). Take Ryan's advice re: legal assistance to start the eviction process. The notice of rent increase does not serve as a notice to terminate the prior lease (unless your lease has specific language otherwise), so you need to put that in writing (after getting legal advice and support) before you can start the eviction process for non-payment. 

As for complaints about leaving without notice... ha. We once had a tenant leave without even notifying us. We found out when the electric company called to put service back in our name. They just left. Landlords have almost no recourse in this instance other than to put the tenants into the collections process (we've never received a dime from anyone we've put in collections). 

Long story short... these issues are one of the major reasons we have a good, professional management company for our properties. They know the ins and outs of all of this stuff, and they are on top of it with all the necessary legal steps accounted for. 

I wish you the best of luck in this scenario. It's not fun, but you will learn a great deal.