Tenant denies receipt of pay or quit notice

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Tenant denies receipt of pay or quit notice

Lucas Amuchastegui
Talent, OR · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 3 votes

Hi there,

I'm in Oregon and I sent my tenant a 72 hour notice 5 days ago via first class priority mail with tracking. In Oregon, you have to allow 3 extra days for mailed notices. Tenant now says she hasn't received the notice in the mail. I did send her a photograph of the signed notice with time and date of mailing and the address to which it was sent. USPS shows that the letter was delivered. USPS tracking doesn't list the delivery address online, but says it was delivered and lists the correct town and zip code. She has until 5 PM tomorrow to pay or the lease is terminated, according to the notice. Is the evidence that I have sufficient to show in eviction court that she did receive the notice and is either lying or threw it out or something? 

Thanks so much. This is my first eviction process and I'm hoping to have all my ducks in a row.

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Jeremy Horton
Rental Property Investor · Somewhere over the Rainbow · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
3y

I would put a notice on the door and take a picture

Do you have a property manager?

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  • JD MartinBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
    3y

    Should have sent it certified with signature required. No good idea, depends on your local court system's burden of proof requirements. Also you should have posted notice at the property in an obvious place, i.e. the front door, with a time-stamped picture. If you're remote, then you need some boots on the ground to take care of that for you. 

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  • Jeremy Horton
    Rental Property Investor · Somewhere over the Rainbow · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    3y

    I would put a notice on the door and take a picture

    Do you have a property manager?

    1Reply
  • Lucas Amuchastegui
    OP
    Talent, OR · Member since 2017 · 10 posts · 3 votes
    3y

    Thank you guys for the replies. My understanding is that mail requiring signed receipt can be problematic because the tenant can just pretend not to be home and then it gets returned and is invalidated. Is that true?

    I didn’t post a letter on the door, but will be doing that with important notices in the future. My own llc is managing the property. We’re a small business with 11 units. In Oregon, statutes say that first class mail alone is an acceptable method of notification. I’m curious how high the burden of proof is.  Maybe it just depends on the individual judge and circumstances. 

    2Reply
  • Ash S.
    Member since 2022 · 32 posts · 9 votes
    3y
    Quote from @Lucas Amuchastegui:

    Thank you guys for the replies. My understanding is that mail requiring signed receipt can be problematic because the tenant can just pretend not to be home and then it gets returned and is invalidated. Is that true?

    I didn’t post a letter on the door, but will be doing that with important notices in the future. My own llc is managing the property. We’re a small business with 11 units. In Oregon, statutes say that first class mail alone is an acceptable method of notification. I’m curious how high the burden of proof is.  Maybe it just depends on the individual judge and circumstances. 

    You have done the right thing. Yesterday I sent a similar notice to my troublesome tenant(who is refusing the make the payments for repairs) by USPS first class Certified mail(with tracking but no signature confirmation) for cost reasons. This costs around $4.6 while the other one is $9.90. I asked the USPS person and she told me during pandemic somebody can refused to sign and one need to just show the proof of delivery which anyway can be done using this. I had another small claims case where Court accepted USPS Certified first class mail with tracking.

    USPS first class Certified mail(with tracking but no signature confirmation)



    USPS first class Certified mail(with tracking but no signature confirmation)


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