My tenant signed the lease renewal, but I have not signed yet, can I terminate the lease?

[Zigner]

I will be sending them a "pay or quit" notice today. We gave them time till 5th to pay.

From your earlier post, your lease states that they have until the 15th to pay before you begin the process. Based on that, I believe that a pay-or-quit is premature at this time.

I suggest that you speak with a local attorney who can review your lease and advise you.

 

[jsteven]

Not2 in line number / post number 7 he post it as Utah . OP once they are gone do not give such a generous grace period in your next lease you offer to a tenant, instead go with a due date of the first and If your state has not mandated a grace period then move right into filing for a court ordered eviction.

Yeah, lesson learned in a bad way. We are not a rental company by profession. So just stuck in a bad spot..

 

[jsteven]

From your earlier post, your lease states that they have until the 15th to pay before you begin the process. Based on that, I believe that a pay-or-quit is premature at this time.

I suggest that you speak with a local attorney who can review your lease and advise you.

I was going to just send them a letter asking them to vacate if they cant pay the rent and explaining the consequences-aka-eviction notice. Just an informal nudge

 

[not2cleverRed]

I will be sending them a "pay or quit" notice today. We gave them time till 5th to pay.

When is rent due? The 1st or the 5th? It cannot be both. What is the grace period? Until the 5th or until the 15th? It cannot be both

Yeah, lesson learned in a bad way. We are not a rental company by profession. So just stuck in a bad spot..

Yeah, that's not a surprise. However, not being willing to learn the basic rules before becoming a landlord would make this an expensive hobby.

You seem to be particularly resistant to enlightenment here. It can't be blamed on lack of caffeine. Find a lawyer.

I was going to just send them a letter asking them to vacate if they cant pay the rent and explaining the consequences-aka-eviction notice. Just an informal nudge

Oh brother. Please don't. Spend your time more usefully retaining a competent lawyer.

 

[jsteven]

When is rent due? The 1st or the 5th? It cannot be both. What is the grace period? Until the 5th or until the 15th? It cannot be both



Yeah, that's not a surprise. However, not being willing to learn the basic rules before becoming a landlord would make this an expensive hobby.

You seem to be particularly resistant to enlightenment here. It can't be blamed on lack of caffeine. Find a lawyer.



Oh brother. Please don't. Spend your time more usefully retaining a competent lawyer.

Rent is due by 5th. After that late charge of $10 per day for a max of 10 days, i.e. till 15th + late fine of $50 is the rental agreement. If not paid by 15th, we can serve them a legal eviction notice.

I will find a lawyer.. wanted to see if there was a better way to resolve it.. there are 4 little kids in the house and my heart goes out to them..

 

[Zigner]

My understanding is that rent is "due" on the 1st, but the OP allows a grace period through the 5th before s/he starts applying late fees. Then, contractually, eviction proceedings can only begin after the 15th if rent still has not been paid.

The fact that the OP thinks that rent is "due by the 5th" indicates that the OP needs to 1: REALLY learn the law, and/or 2: Hire a management company, and/or 3: Have an attorney advise him on the proper way to do things, and/or 4: Get out of the landlord business.

 

[jsteven]

My understanding is that rent is "due" on the 1st, but the OP allows a grace period through the 5th before s/he starts applying late fees. Then, contractually, eviction proceedings can only begin after the 15th if rent still has not been paid.

The fact that the OP thinks that rent is "due by the 5th" indicates that the OP needs to 1: REALLY learn the law, and/or 2: Hire a management company, and/or 3: Have an attorney advise him on the proper way to do things, and/or 4: Get out of the landlord business.

You are right @Zigner, I have put myself in a sticky place. I will have to reach out to an attorney to help. Bad mistake, learned the hard way

 

[STEPHAN]

If rent is not paid till the 15th, then we can evict them.

YOU can not evict anybody. You can file for an eviction through the court system.

 

[jsteven]

YOU can not evict anybody. You can file for an eviction through the court system.

I agree @STEPHAN, that is what I was meaning too I will go via court.

 

[justalayman]

I agree @STEPHAN, that is what I was meaning too I will go via court.

Well, you can issue a pay or quit notice. If they pay, you have no basis to evict them. ,if they don’t pay, then you can file to have them evicted.

 

[FarmerJ]

After Im more awake now , Jsteven these tenants even though you said they have 4 kids are clearly making a statement to you by ignoring your calls , Granted I used to feel a bit for the kids of screw up tenants , I had related tenants who were screw ups and during the time they were there I became more attached to the kids than I expected BUT what I did learn is if you allow it some tenants will try to work you like a
W on Broadway , At this point the best thing that could happen is that they leave before a eviction hearing is filed and even if they offer to pay I suspect you should see to it that it goes to court so if you decided to let them stay on and pay you then you can get a judge to include stipulations such as a conditional type of stay that says they will pay you in full by X date and the remaining months in the lease on time or you can go back to the court and get them out a lot easier.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

Might I suggest rewriting your lease for future tenants.

Rent is due on the first, late on the third and the eviction PROCESS will start at that point.

All this nonsense of late fees and grace periods, etc. only confuse tenants. If you give them a "late fee" period of, say, the 5th a good majority are under the misconception they have until the 5th to pay.

Technically rent is due on the first and the eviction process can be initiated in many states on the second.

Gail

 

[justalayman]

After Im more awake now , Jsteven these tenants even though you said they have 4 kids are clearly making a statement to you by ignoring your calls , Granted I used to feel a bit for the kids of screw up tenants , I had related tenants who were screw ups and during the time they were there I became more attached to the kids than I expected BUT what I did learn is if you allow it some tenants will try to work you like a
W on Broadway , At this point the best thing that could happen is that they leave before a eviction hearing is filed and even if they offer to pay I suspect you should see to it that it goes to court so if you decided to let them stay on and pay you then you can get a judge to include stipulations such as a conditional type of stay that says they will pay you in full by X date and the remaining months in the lease on time or you can go back to the court and get them out a lot easier.

If they pay the landlord has no right to continue an eviction action. The court cannot assert any stipulations since the action must be dismissed without any further action

If they don’t pay the op simply sues to evict them.