Landlord tenant help

[pmajka]

I need to tell a tenant they have 30 days to Leave the apt.

3 (or more) instances of Excessive Noise and disturbing the peace. They are out of chanes. Neighbors are losing sleep. Cops arent bothering to show up anymore.

THe lease has become a month to month lease.

HOw do i word this???? Plain english or hard legal.


We arent at eviction yet. THis is my first problem tenant that has not skipped out.

[kstar]

Hopefully your Lease has a paragraph that addresses this.

Keep it simple, refer to the proper paragraph and give notice without emotion via certified mail or whatever method called for in the Lease.

FWIW.

Best,

Kurt

edit: Or simply terminate the month to month Lease and give the thirty day notice without even addressing problem - your goal is to get them out, yes? Keep it simple and unemotional, IMHO.

[rammstein]

Originally Posted by kstarnes

edit: Or simply terminate the month to month Lease and give the thirty day notice without even addressing problem - your goal is to get them out, yes? Keep it simple and unemotional, IMHO.

Yup- month to month means month to month. This is the last month. No explanation needed, keep it simple.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

We the People or Legal Zoom probably has boiler-plate forms you can use too.

[Dantilla]

I know Landlord-Tennant law of Washington State very well.

But where are you?

[Tobra]

I know that if they are in California you better hope they are not on welfare or kicking them out might be a neat trick.

[craigster59]

I think you might be able to serve a "3 day comply or quit" which gives them 3 days to conform to your contract which should have an excessive noise clause.

[Rot 911]

Read the Landlord/tenant laws in your state. They will be very particular. 30 days doesn't necessarily mean 30 days. For example, here in Missouri, 30 days notice means 30 days from the time the rent is due, not when you want to boot them out. So if the next rent payment is due on September first they have to be out by September 30. Don't screw around with this or you could find yourself paying out money.

[pmajka]

Ok, I am here in Pennsylavnia.

Rent is being Paid Bi-Weekly, and she does always pay. I hate to kick her out, but....
but read down to 45b.

I already gave them notice. I have had 3 complaints from neighbors, police have been called more often than i am aware of. this is the 3rd stike.
Problem is daughter has gotten involved in a bad element. The porch is now a hangout. There have been noise and other disturbances along with littering, loitering and vandalism on the block that never happend before they moved in.

The mother, unfortunately doesnt rear her daughter.

A woman 5 houses away tracked me down (friday) through neighbors regarding intimidation and vandalism. She was terrified and crying. She (the daughter) identified the problem as "That girl and her friends".

excerpts from my lease, I love 45b.


41. TENANT BREAKS LEASE
**** a. If Tenant breaks this lease, Tenant agrees to give up his right of a “Notice to Quit.” (250.501 & 250.502 Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951) This means Tenant allows Landlord to go to court without giving notice. Tenant has the right to challenge the Landlord’s charges in court. _______________
Tenant’s Initial
b. Tenant loses the protection provided in this lease if:
1. Rent or other charges are not paid when due;
2. The leased property is emptied or abandoned before the end of the lease
without written notice to the Landlord;
3. All the terms and conditions of this lease are not followed;
4. Tenant does not leave at the end of the lease period.


42. LANDLORD’S RIGHTS IF LEASE IS BROKEN
a. If Tenant breaks this lease, Landlord has the right to sue each Tenant to:
1. end this lease agreement after giving Tenant 5 days’ written notice to
correct violations or move;
2. go to court to get back (recover possession) the leased property;
3. go to court to recover rent due until the end of the lease.
b. If Landlord wins in court, Landlord can use the court process to take Tenant’s
personal goods, motor vehicles, and money in banks.



45. NOTICE TO END LEASE
a. If either Tenant or Landlord wishes to end this lease, each agrees to give the
other 30 days written notice before the lease ending date.
b. Pennsylvania law requires a shorter notice period when the rules of the lease
are not followed or rent is not paid when due.


46. CHANGING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF LEASE
a. Landlord must give Tenant at least 30 days notice before the lease ends if any
terms and conditions are changed. Tenant has 15 days from the date of the
notice to decide to accept or not to accept the changes.
b. If Tenant does not respond or give the required notice, the lease renews under
the new terms and conditions given by the Landlord.

[craigster59]

45b refers to the landlords "3 day notice to comply/pay or quit (vacate)". As porscheophile mentioned, you can go to the bookstore and get a copy of Legalzoom or Nolo Press's "Landlord's Rights" for your state which has all the forms and contracts that you would need if you don't already have them. When serving a "3 day" notice, the tenant has 72 hours (3 business days) to reach compliance. For example, if served on Thursday they have from 12:01am Friday to 11:59pm Tuesday.

[Dueller]

Law varies from state to state. In some states they would regard the lease contract as completed, therefore you are not currently operating under that contract, but rather under laws governing a holdover tenant.

In most jurisdictions you are only required to give a 7 day notice for month to month tenants. To be on the safe side, I would give them a 30 day notice by hand delivery, first class mail and by certified letter. If they don't vacate then begin eviction proceedings. Most evictions are handled in JP courts or the like...call the courthouse to find out which court handles it in your state, pay the clerk of the court a visit and get them to help you with the required forms. Most clerks are very helpful for landlords wanting to proceed pro se. YMMV.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Good advice by Kurt. Landlord-tenant act is typically online for your state, Google and a little reading should clarify things. Sounds like you have the proper wording in place in the lease, just figure out the "when". This does not sound like a tenant you want, giving them the boot would be a no-brainer, at least for me.

[KFC911]

If it were me, I'd give them a 30 day notice (since you're month-to-month) that you're terminating, and be done with it. I personally wouldn't go the "3 day" route and all the bs that could entail. Dot your "T"s, and cross your "I"s, and you'll be fine

[turbo6bar]

+1 30 day notice. Do it now.

[schamp]

I hate to say it but hire a lawyer. Get it done and get it done right. You might just protect yourself in the process. Mess it up and you may get sued by your tenant. I have rental property here in Georgia and most of the time I can handle it by myself but if unsure protect your assets. Good luck.

[pmajka]

I gave her 30 days last night....She is a nice lady, and i hate to send her away, BUT!...its her daughters fault for turning the porch in to party central. I think she (the mother) sincerely tried, but the Entire street identifies the problem as "the young girl at xxx address and her friends."

They brought this on themselves. Mixed emotions here.
It might be a good idea to get the daughter away from this element. but who knows what is in the next neighborhood.

[1973911s]

Originally Posted by pmajka

I gave her 30 days last night....She is a nice lady, and i hate to send her away, BUT!...its her daughters fault for turning the porch in to party central. I think she (the mother) sincerely tried, but the Entire street identifies the problem as "the young girl at xxx address and her friends."

They brought this on themselves. Mixed emotions here.
It might be a good idea to get the daughter away from this element. but who knows what is in the next neighborhood.

It wouldn't hurt if you mailed her a copy via return reciept, in the event they don't move, you can prove to the court that you did deliver a copy to them.

[Evans, Marv]

When I owned rental property (in California), I had some occasional tenants over a 25 year period that I had to give notices to. Not many because I screened them pretty well. I dealt with a law firm in the area that specialized in landlord actions.
What I did was give a 30 day notice (a couple of times I gave 3 day notices) delivered by hand and also mailed one. On the back of the notice was a place to notate the date & time of service. If I felt I was going to have problems with them leaving, I was always up front with them. I'd briefly explain that if the place wasn't vacated by then I would be filing an UNLAWFUL DATAINER. I'd explain the procedure (timeline) of the unlawful detainer, and inform them I would be filing a claim in small claims court for any damages or costs over their deposit.
It's more expensive (usually around $200 unless they challenged it & went to court - in which case you would win & get a judgement for the costs) than just giving somebody a piece of paper, but it does the job very well. I had to use it a few times. I'd have my info ready for the law firm, and if the tenant hadn't vacated by the 30 days, I'd notify the firm to begin the unlawful detainer and phone or FAX the info to them that day. Within 3 days, they would be served with a notice (it cost $40 to have the Sheriff serve it) that if they weren't out by a certain amount of time, the Sheriff would be there to physically move them out and lock the place up. I think I went that route two or three times. If you went the 30 day notice route, they could drag it out for much more than that.
One time (maybe 15+ years ago) I had a guy that just didn't pay & didn't move out. I went the unlawful detainer route. He notified the court he would challenge it, and never showed up which gave me the default judgement. He ended up owing me around $1,600. Fast forward a few years, and I received a call from a woman. She explained she was marrying this guy and they couldn't get any credit to buy furniture, car or anything else because he had this judgement against him. I told her if they paid the $1,600 I'd have the law firm to remove the judgement.
Shortly after I received the $1,600, I removed the judgement and used the money to buy a set of new JE pistons.

[KFC911]

Great info Marv, thanks!

[lookin]

Hey-

Bummer about your current situation.

We have used the below listed book as our guide for everything from advertising to kicking people out. The book is great. It is written by Lawyers. It covers all 50 states and it comes with all the forms on a CD.

Every Landlord's Legal Guide by Nolo. You can purchase the book at www.nolo.com, and I'd suggest it for everyone.

Regarding kicking out your current tenant, you need to make sure you find out the rules for your state and follow them exactly or you could be put in a bad spot. This happened to my father in law

Wish you the best and buy the book.

Dale