bought house--do i have to keep tenant?

[silly rabbit]

i bought a home in madison, wi in november. tenant failed to pay rent until december 21. being that it was winter, it was decided that keeping our tenant on just to make sure the house ws heated, and pipes would not burst seemed to be a good idea.

every month the tenant has been late paying. finally, this month, we gave the tenant a 5 day quit or pay notice, along w/a 14day termination of lease option.

all in all, my question is......are we sol because a lease was never signed? i look back at it now and question my sanity. am i required to keep a tenant who has never paid security deposit, nor the rent timely? i felt the lease, as i did not sign it, would revert to a month to month. wi statutes and madison city statutes leave me baffled.

i just want to confirm my utilization of 704.17 is accurate.

thanks!!

 

[silly rabbit]

oops--just talkedto spouse--lease was m-to-m anyway. now i have a question regarding 30 day notice--does this have to be on the 1st of the month, or could it be from the 15th? curious as how i should interpret wi statute 704.19 as we originally gave 15 days on june 15th, then realized error and extended to 7-15-00 on 6-23-00. is this date still ok, or does it go by the 1st? either way we are ok as we have already given the notice today of 14 days. just curious....sory for the mistake previous.

 

[loudrich]

everywhere I have lived a 30 day notice start from the day you would normally pay rent, if its the 1st, then they should be out July 31st if not you can go to court the next day and start eviction proceedings.

Make sure you get a fowarding address...they probably did some damage and you will need to sue them....

Also when a person buys a property all leases and security gets transferred to the new owner at the closing...so no lease, well they are out of there.......they should have been given notice before the closing so it would have been EMPTY on the day of the closing.

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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by silly rabbit:
oops--just talkedto spouse--lease was m-to-m anyway. now i have a question regarding 30 day notice--does this have to be on the 1st of the month, or could it be from the 15th? curious as how i should interpret wi statute 704.19 as we originally gave 15 days on june 15th, then realized error and extended to 7-15-00 on 6-23-00. is this date still ok, or does it go by the 1st? either way we are ok as we have already given the notice today of 14 days. just curious....sory for the mistake previous.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by silly rabbit:
oops--just talkedto spouse--lease was m-to-m anyway. now i have a question regarding 30 day notice--does this have to be on the 1st of the month, or could it be from the 15th? curious as how i should interpret wi statute 704.19 as we originally gave 15 days on june 15th, then realized error and extended to 7-15-00 on 6-23-00. is this date still ok, or does it go by the 1st? either way we are ok as we have already given the notice today of 14 days. just curious....sory for the mistake previous.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

On a month-to-month lease, 30 days notice can be given on any day and starts from the date the tenant receives the notice. The notice is not required to be on the 1st, 15th or eom.

 

[Tracey]

The original 14-day notice was sufficient because T was behind in rent. The oral lease is not a problem. Had T been paid up on rent, you would have had to give notice 28 days before the 1st of the month. [704.19(5)] In your case, 704.19 does not apply; you are terminating the tenancy under 704.17. Is it clearer now?

BTW, be sure to send T a list of damages within 14 days, including the fact that T had no security deposit. If T can prove s/he made a deposit with the prior owner, you are liable for it, whether you got the deposit money in the closing or not. Make sure you get T's forwarding address OR serve T with a summons & complaint in small claims court for damage to property when T gives you the keys. Then, if T skips, you get a default judgment for all damages.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.