Tenant Eviction and Month to Month Lease: TN

[Shawn Dandridge]

I just recently closed on a duplex in Memphis at the end of March. Tenant in one of the units informed me she will be moving out at the beginning of April. She moves 80% of stuff in the beginning of April. She still has stuff inside the unit. I contact her and she told me she will pay me rent and move the rest of the stuff out in 2 weeks. PM and myself read over the TN laws and found an abandonment clause. We sent the letter and had to wait 10 days of no response from tenant to gain possession of the unit. Of course she calls. A clause in the previous lease states that if the unit isn't occupied for 5 days, the owner has the right to take possession, PM was told by his attorney that this clause is unenforceable? I am trying to figure out would I have to go through the eviction process to gain the unit back.

[Alex Craig]

Chris's recommendation of attorney would know the answer, but I am thinking you need to go through the eviction process or she could return to the house and have a right to stay there. We went through a similar situation where the tenant vanished with all their stuff in the home. We went through the eviction process, gained possession, then had to store the tenants belongings for 30 days.