What's the next step?

[PJ249]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC
Tenant gave notice on November 6 that she would be moving out on the 30th and that the home would be available to rent on December 1st.

I sent a certified letter telling her I would accept her notice to move. It was made available for pick up in her PO box on Nov. 6.
On the 9th I finally received her rent for the month, along with a list of complaints and repairs she has come up with for the first time.... such as mold or mildew in the bathroom and on her personally owned furniture in other rooms.
I responded ( again certified) asking why this was never told to me before now and informing her that I will have it inspected as soon as I could and any needed repairs would be done after she moves out.
She has not picked up either letter!
I know to not open them if they are returned after 20 days. I feel she is up to no good!
Can I file for eviction if she's not out by Nov 30? Even though technically her lease isn't up until January 30, she did give notice and I accepted by the certified letter. Would I then file separately for December rent and unpaid late fee for November, ( which was also in the letter I sent.) as well as court costs. Or is this all done as part of filing for eviction?

 

[Gail in Georgia]

One might suspect her letter of repair complaints was perhaps due to justify the late rent and gloss over the fact she did not include any late fee. However, you did accept the rent she provided for November and often by doing so a court will not allow you to go back and claim late fees.

You have documentation that she wishes to terminate her lease early (and why you accepted this is also an unknown since you indicate her lease does not end until January 30th of 2016). If she remains past the November 30th date you do have the option to begin the process of eviction with the argument she is now a "holdover" tenant. Typically the filing is done to remove the tenant, not to file for owed rent although you can review the process with your particular court system (such information is usually available online).

When a tenant contacts you with what they believe is a repair issue you don't respond by saying you'll address it "as soon as you could". You make a valid attempt to address this quickly (and, if an emergency very quickly) even if these repair requests seem minor or silly.

Gail

 

[PJ249]

So, because I accepted her rent check, I can't withhold the late fee she owes from her security deposit? She did not pick up the certified letter telling her she owes it. It's not that big a deal if I can't. It's just that she has been a PITA since she moved in.
You can read my other posts by PJ249 concerning her under
Security Deposit Time Limit? And one from June under PITA Complaining Renter for the full story.
My exact wording in my response (within 3 days) was " I will have a contractor look at the home at his first available time, which may not be until late next week. This letter is to serve as notice of the minimum required 24 hour time that a LL can enter the home if you are not able to be there".
She has not picked up that letter either. So I'm not sure I should enter or just wait the 9 more days to have him come out after she moves ( or has to be evicted).
Gail, you advised me in May to send her a Happy Clause letter to offer to let her out of the lease early with a 30 day written notice..... It just took her 6 months. I will be very happy to get rid of her.

 

[FarmerJ]

don't worry about it if she refuses to pick up a certified letter , the fact that you sent it and she refused to go get it will make her look bad should she attempt to sue you or make claims that you did not give notice. just make sure you keep the letter sealed in original envelope to save as if you were going to go to court. As to her lease what your going to have to claim in court ( as long as you have a written notice from her and make darn sure you do not lose it ) is that even though the lease with her had some time to go with it that she had not been happy with my rental unit and I offered to allow this lease we had to end early and she finally sent me notice that she was going to vacate and I accepted her notice expecting her to carry thru with her desire to move out and now she refuses to leave and I want her to vacate. When you file to ask the court to hear your complaint your complaint is that she gave you notice telling you she wanted to move out and has refused to do so. The court is not likely to care why she was not happy what will matter the most is that a offer was made to allow her to end her lease contract early she finalized it by giving you notice so you do not ask for more rent , WHY because you want her gone and if you were in court do you really want to accept a court negotiated agreement with her to stay ? and Unless your state says you are to do something else you should be able to safely go to your county court house and file on December first.

 

[PJ249]

Thank you for the reply. You're right, I'd rather just see her gone,than get more rent.
I have the notices she sent as well as the envelopes showing the dates they were mailed.

 

[FarmerJ]

It is not that common for tenants to give proper notice then refuse to actually do it but it can happen, I knew of one tenant who had section 8 , she had a compact two bedroom home that was with in her HAP program and she gave her LL notice that she wanted to move out and refused to go after she had notified s8 and he too had to file for unlawful detainer to have the court order her out .