Residential Real Estate Broker · Portland, OR · Member since 2015 · 153 posts · 105 votes
Hi All,
Wondering if any of you have dealt with this (in Oregon - not Portland). I have a tenant who pays late every month. Could have filed eviction paperwork on him multiple times this year, but I've been trying to work with him.
Now I'm done trying to work with him and have filed for an eviction - but I'm pretty sure he'll pay rent on the 18th. It fits his history. Last month it was on the 15th.
This means we'll most likely be going to eviction court a week after he'll have dropped a check in the dropbox. This will be my first eviction - so how does that work? If I don't accept the payment, will the judge force me to? I can charge them the court fees, but I can't evict them for not paying those. Does this just turn into a monthly cycle of going to eviction court until a 60 day notice goes through?
Is this a lease or month to month? If they pay, I would work on getting them to agree to move out on a certain date and not pursue the eviction. Eviction is lose-lose, try to work out a win-win with them. Cash for keys, give notice to end the agreement at a certain date that is best for you, whatever it takes to try to move on to a better tenant. Be firmer with the next tenant, have strong language in the agreement about late payments/late fees, and enforce them.
We also have a tenant that pays late, almost every time. We do have it written in his lease that for all late payments there will be an additional payment due, it is a set amount. He has always paid that so no skin off our teeth.
We have also evicted tenants, our first time however did not go well. We served the eviction notice, went through all the proper procedures. When it came time for them to leave we learned that our tenant was't even living there, she had left months ago when the rent stopped being paid. Her sisters however were living there free since she had left. The language missing from our lease was Et Al, this makes the termination for anyone in the property, because we didn't have this we had to start the eviction process again for the squatters.
I don't know that this helps.
Here would be my advise, find a real estate attorney to have on your team. It is important to get sound advise in situations like this. Bad decisions like the one we made can cost you way more than a couple hundred dollar fee for some advise.
Is this a lease or month to month? If they pay, I would work on getting them to agree to move out on a certain date and not pursue the eviction. Eviction is lose-lose, try to work out a win-win with them. Cash for keys, give notice to end the agreement at a certain date that is best for you, whatever it takes to try to move on to a better tenant. Be firmer with the next tenant, have strong language in the agreement about late payments/late fees, and enforce them.
Michell Prunty I'm not familiar with Oregon laws or your lease but in Colorado my leases state that any money recieved goes to any unpaid bills FIRST the remaining money gets credited to rent. That means his check would cost him first for the eviction the rest would go to rent. The rent would be short and the eviction could continue. The rent shortage would be eligible to come out of the deposit. In Colorado you can't collect bills in eviction court but you can collect rent. I'm not sure if this helps in Oregon. RR
You could consider accepting the rent and charge him for any court filing fees and cancel the eviction action, so it's not on his housing record which would be a win for him and no loss for you.
He now knows your serious.
Or you could return the check, go to court, ask the court to set up a payment plan for the next 60 days which would mean he makes good on current rent, he pays court costs, and payment for the next months rent is included in the payment settlement agreement you day payment of $500.00 in 1 day, and split balance over the next few weeks and is paid in full by date you choose usually the 10th of following month, .failure to pay in full to vacate by the 13th, Payment in money order or cashiers check by 4 pm on the 10th. ask for a writ. The judge signs the writ, If he fails to pay as per the payment settlement agreement he is in default. you then take the settlement agreement & writ back to court and file it and the eviction is set in motion, He does not come back to court and neither do you the judgement was final per the settlement agreement, court mails him a copy which says he has to vacate in the 3 days, and if he's not out you in 3 days, you go back, with the writ to have to the sheriff to serve & post ,,a additonal cost, and sheriff comes back and waits while the guy packs up and is gone. In the agreement you make you give 3 days from the 10 for him to be out, vacate by xxx date,
If your lease has it written you can accept partial rent payment you may be able to keep the payment made and still continue with court action.
If on all other counts other than being a LATE payer is ok with this tenant I'd do the first.
Cash for keys without completing the court action at this point is mindless in my opinion.
I'm not familiar with Oregon state laws so you'd have to check but in Minnesota courts this has been the procedure as of late.
What did you put on your filing, did you include late fees. if so then yes.. some courts will not permit late fees in a settlement agreement, so if you do that don't include them as part of the payment agreement.
Sorry for the multiple post before,, I had some changes and thought I did the edits in time but I was wrong.
The best place for answers is to go straight to the source. First thing you need to do is study your state codes. All the information you need is there. Also contact the court involved with the eviction and ask questions.
Your ultimate goal should be to evict, it's time step up your business to a professional level and find a good tenant.
@Account Closed Thank you for your detailed response - that was just what I was looking for. I had heard about getting writs in court but hadn't heard from anyone who had actually done it and it's just nice getting a feel of the process from someone with experience :)
In Oregon you cannot evict someone for not paying late fees, but they are included in all the paperwork so everyone is on the same page.
@Account Closed, Nice piece on the lease add-in, Et Al is a term I've seen in about every contract I've looked at. Hiring professionals in the right places is key for success in just about anything.