Buying an owner occupied duplex with tenants in Washington?

[Kirsten Crotts]

I just bought a duplex in Puyallup that I will be moving into. Both tenants are month to month and one side hasn't paid rent in two months (this is the unit I plan to vacate and occupy). The property is closing this Monday the 20th, how do I go about vacating the non paying tenants so I can move in? Do I need to give them 20 or 30 days notice in Washington? Can I send the letter to vacate the day of closing or do I have to wait to give notice to January 1st? Thank you.

[Nik Moushon]

Congrats on the purchase. You should've made the previous owner do the evictions....if not i hope you got a hell of a deal for your trouble. 

You need to file eviction papers/notices immediately. Get a lawyer involved yesterday. State laws are changing, I think Jan 1, that make it even more difficult to get month to month tenants out. If i remember correctly there is a 3 month window to that allows you to change all month to month contracts into 6 or 12 month contracts. WA has effectively eliminated the month to month rental agreements now. Even remove the option that a 12m lease will auto renew into a month to month. Basically never do any kind of month to month ever again unless you can justify the risk. The new law makes to eviction process quadruple the time frame now. Its horrible. 

Get with a lawyer before christmas if you can.