14 day notice - how to deliver
I sent 14-day pay or vacate notice through certified mail. I also have proof of the notice being delivered to the tenant. I also e-mailed the notice to the tenant via e-mail. I didn't have it deliver it myself or post it on the premise, and so don't have proof of that.
Tenants have not responded or acknowledged to e-mail or for the USPS mail delivery of the notice.
Is certified e-mail considered as an acceptable form of delivering the notice or could the tenants possibly claim that they never received any (e-mail or USPS mail)?
I don’t know your state laws, but if you have no proof the tenant received the letter via USPS, I would say you need to post it. I’ve never heard of certified e-mail and even if that is a thing, my non-professional guess is most laws wouldn’t be caught up and modified to such a thing yet.
Quote from @Kosh Vokter:
You sent it certified and have proof it was delivered. That's all you need. If you feel like hounding the tenant a little more, you can post it to their front door and take a picture for evidence, then drive back to see if it's been removed.
Hi Kosh, sorry you're having to deal with this. How did this turn out for you? I don't have a direct answer to your question, but did want to share:
The PM company I work with uses Task Masters to post all notices. (and they also can do inspections to check in on your properties) They are based locally in the Treasure Valley and the owner Mitch is very easy to work with. If you didn't want to post the notices yourself, that's another option.
I hope your situation worked out ok!
In Virginia, it's a 5-day notice, but the city of Alexandria requires that they generate the letter (I think it was $15) and that the Sheriff has to deliver it.
Check your town, and county in case they have rules that override the state.
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btw. In my case, it took the sheriff 14 days to deliver the letter and a week to send me confirmation.
From there I could file for eviction after 5 days pass giving the tenant time to resolve the rent. So 5 more days pass, and the clerk has no hearing dates for 3 weeks.
Go to court and assuming the tenant does not show up to contest the eviction, the judge rules in your favor, and submits eviction notice to the sheriff to serve the eviction notice.
It takes the sheriff 10-15 business days to serve the notice and the tenant has another two weeks to leave.
If the tenant showed up to court to file appeal, add another month or so to the process.
In my case, the tenant paid what she owed me before I could file.
@Bill Hoo I delivered a 5 day notice to a tenant in stafford VA but where does one file for eviction. I am also curios if you had email as a delivery method for your lease, could the email delivery be just as good as certified mail?
The 5 day letter just has to be posted somewhere on the property.
In my first try, I entered the property and posted it on the refrigerator. This embarrassed my tenant into paying up rent THE FIRST TIME, as she was renting out the spare bedroom via Air-B-N-B and her "guest" saw the notice.
When I found out the Alexandria Sheriff has to post it, I went thru them a year later when she was really late with the rent THE SECOND TIME.
I don't think the legal verbiage allows for email delivery. And many times, she has denied getting emails from me. Certified mail would work in most cases, except when your county requires the sheriff to do it. Alexandria is very Pro-tenant since they have a 3 year backlog on Section8 requests and do not want to deal with a bunch of people thrown out onto the streets.
To file for eviction, you go to your county clerks office. That is where I was notified that my 5 day letter would not be honored by the courts.
The sheriff delivered the letter when my tenant was out of town. So he put it in an "official Alexandria Sheriff's Department plastic shopping bag" with their star emblem on the bag and hung it on the door handle in the hallway for everyone in the building to see.
I saw it when I visited the property and put it inside the property where my tenant could see it.
Va is a 5-day notice to pay or quit.
Most Va leases allow for electronic service but if you don't get confirmation that they received it and you get the wrong Judge they may make you start over. So not worth the risk and time.
We use ProofServe.com at my property management firm to have a third-party process server posted on the door and provide an affidavit of service for only $50. Then we send it off to the attorney and bill everything back to the tenant incurred. Because of how long the process takes and how fast the rent accumulates if delayed it's best to serve asap and let the attorney handle it so it is done right.
This is what the VRLTA says about how notice must be given. In my area, we just note the date we mail them regular USPS mail, and we also e-mail them (because our lease gives permission for electronic notices). Never one time, have I ever seen a Judge question how notice was delivered. We are not
"Notice" means notice given in writing by either regular mail or hand delivery, with the sender retaining sufficient proof of having given such notice in the form of a certificate of service confirming such mailing prepared by the sender. However, a person shall be deemed to have notice of a fact if he has actual knowledge of it, he has received a verbal notice of it, or, from all of the facts and circumstances known to him at the time in question, he has reason to know it exists. A person "notifies" or "gives" a notice or notification to another by taking steps reasonably calculated to inform another person, whether or not the other person actually comes to know of it. If notice is given that is not in writing, the person giving the notice has the burden of proof to show that the notice was given to the recipient of the notice.
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Real Estate Agent VA (#0225186139)
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- http://www.pmivirginia.com
