I have a rental property in Auburn, WA (Washington state). I noticed that my tenants have changed the lock to front door of the residence. I was planning to send them a Comply or Vacate notice, which is a 10 day notice in WA.
The trickiness of the situation is that the tenants only have 7 days left on the lease. Should I even bother sending them a Comply or Vacate notice now? Should I send a notice with wording such as, period of notice is "10 days or remaining days of lease, whichever is less"?
Anybody has dealt with this situation before? Please help.
Also, these tenants are behind on their payments for rent and utilities but I know I cannot give them an eviction notice based on monetary backlog due to eviction moratorium in Washington state.
Real Estate Agent · Nampa, ID · Member since 2017 · 439 posts · 361 votes
6y
If they are moving out at the end of their lease, I wouldn't bother serving them notice. I would simply just charge the "rekey" to their deposit. Certain things aren't worth fighting when you are that close. There is no immediate danger to the property.
Real Estate Broker · Salt Lake City & Oklahoma City · Member since 2018 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
6y
Hi @Gaurav Arora, welcome to the BiggerPockets forums! I'm sorry to hear of this drama!
Have you already served the tenant a Notice of Non-Renewal or anything else to keep their lease from automatically renewing to a period-to-period lease (usually MTM)?
Real Estate Agent · Nampa, ID · Member since 2017 · 439 posts · 361 votes
6y
If they are moving out at the end of their lease, I wouldn't bother serving them notice. I would simply just charge the "rekey" to their deposit. Certain things aren't worth fighting when you are that close. There is no immediate danger to the property.
I have a feeling they have no intentions of moving. I think the best bet is to speak to them while recording video on phone and let them know that if they have no intentions of moving at the end of the lease (which changes to month to month in WA State automatically if not signed) that you are going to sell the property which allows for evictions even with the moratorium and it will be on their credit for 10 years. " If you happen to.." not sell your unit after they move out you are in great shape.
You also have the option of cash for keys (CFK) which for the first time we have been doing to actually break leases so we can sell our properties. We have been selling all our rentals to have plenty of cash on hand for the rush of pre- forclosures we believe are comming late spring.
Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2017 · 824 posts · 1k+ votes
6y
I think any time you live in a tenant-friendly area, and you have a tenant doing something that I wouldn't consider normal course of action, you should consult an attorney to A) confirm the law and B) confirm your next course of action. Spending some money with them now will save you some time and money, most likely.
I am not sure about the laws where you are, but I know LA's eviction moratorium ties into a "self-declaration" of impact from covid19, financially. This means in order to avoid paying rent, being assessed late fees, or being served with eviction notice, you have to notify the landlord in writing or verbally of your economic impact and do so within a certain timeframe. Now, what will happen is eventually the world will get back to some level of normalcy, and this will be brought in front of a judge. I assume any judge, regardless of their political affiliation, will be able to quickly ascertain if someone was actually impacted (e.g. you received a pink slip, tried to find more work, could not, etc.) or someone is gaming the system.
All the more reason why you should consult a lawyer. There are some bad things happening here and you should walk through them in detail. If your tenant has made any missteps, having them served a letter from an attorney regarding their decisions might be what you need to get through, especially if they won't talk to you.
I wanted to give an update here. My tenant decided to simply move out and not create any more fuss. It was like magic. :)
I still have to deal with them for unpaid rent and utilities but at least I have the house back. Thank you all so much for your support during the troubling times.