30-day notice went to Spam!!—what to do??

Question

Our tenant text my husband today saying that he's vacating in a few days. He said he emailed us his 30-day notice to both of our personal emails two weeks ago, however neither of us received an email from him. My husband then asks him to forward the email, which he did. After seeing the exact date, I started digging through my spam folder and sure enough, there it was. I am assuming it ended up in spam as he used a different email than the one we had on file for him. At this point we are being set back two weeks as I can't get a painter and other needed contractors in there on such short notice. I'd just like to know the specifics on what California law says about this kind of situation, without having to hire an attorney as this is rather minor. Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and how it played out!🤔

Greg M. · Answer

Unless the law or the lease requires the notice to be paper mailed, I don't see any way it would be ruled in your favor. The tenant sent you notice and you literally admit that you received it. No one is going to hold the tenant responsible for your spam settings.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

When you email something of importance and require a response, it's best practice to follow up with a call or text to ensure they've received it. All I can suggest here is that you make sure you have a fool-proof method of communication for your tenants to prevent this from happening again.

Elaine Hester · Answer

I agree with what you are all saying, so please disregard my post as I tried to delete it after the initial shock wore off that this happened, but BP does not seem to allow that. The difficulty with this particular situation was that we had a different email on file for the tenant, one that he always used in the past. And as for checking spam, HA—I can hardly keep up with the spam that ends up in my inbox, let alone to check my spam folder. That would be another full time job in itself.🤪

Russell Brazil · Answer

You've learned a valuable lesson that all kinds of people in all kinds of businesses eventually learn......check your spam folder regularly.

Allan C. · Answer

@Elaine Hester I suspect you’ll get a fair amount of negative comments to your post. I trust you wrote it with sincerity, but take a step back and reflect on the question that you are asking. The folks on this forum want to help others, but there is also a basic level of accountability that investors should have as well.

Let’s flip this situation around - how would you respond to a tenant that said your notice went to their spam box? If you are willing to give them grace, then the least you can do is ask them for grace as well. However, don’t expect them to accommodate you, and be ready to own your actions.

Nathan M kiefer · Answer

I just lost money reading this thread.

get it leased up and move on.

Michelle Taylor · Answer

I don't know of any law that would be in your favor.  If that happened to me, I would chalk it up to "my bad" that I didn't pay closer attention to my spam inbox, as he did in fact give and prove he gave proper notice. Important emails unfortunately go to my spam folder frequently, so I have to check it regularly.  Sorry that happened to you.  But it looks like an unfortunate "lesson learned."

Zander Kempf · Answer

Hire an attorney to handle evictions. It may cost a bit but it will avoid headaches and gray areas.

Theresa Harris · Answer

Mistakes happen. He sent it in good faith, I'd honour it.  With 30 days' notice, he's still moving out 2 weeks early so in some ways that gives you a head start on some of the things you need to do to get it ready for the next tenant.  Not sure what rent control is in place where you are, but you can also use the opportunity to get the rent up to market value.

30-day notice went to Spam!!—what to do??

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