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I recently purchased my first home earlier this summer and discovered I wasn't using two of the spare rooms and decided to rent them out to earn a little extra income. I met my now current lodgers through an online service, created my own rental agreement, and they have since moved in about a month ago.
While I was planning on doing a criminal history check, I never got around to it (my fault, I met both individuals and they appeared to be very professional, young women who I wouldn't have an issue with). In addition, one roommate signed the rental agreement, but I never signed it and returned it to her (not on purpose, just forgot and it wasn't an issue at first). The rental agreement stipulated that the lease term would be for 6 months (set to expire in March) and that the security deposit was to be paid on the date of the signing.
The roommate that I am interested in seeing if I have grounds for a For-Cause Eviction (in the state of Oregon), did not pay the security deposit at the time of signing. She did pay it about a month late. During which time, she was fired from her job, and as the current month was drawing to a close, I initiated a--what I was expecting to be an informal and friendly--conversation about her plans to pay rent, security deposit, etc. Since that time, our relationship has QUICKLY deteriorated to the point where I am not even living in my own house because I cannot tolerate to be living in such of a toxic condition. I have tried to do independent online research, but have not been able to determine what qualifies as grounds for a For-Cause Eviction.
Currently, rent was due on November 5th which she has not yet paid. I am aware that 7 days after the rent is late (which I calculate to be Nov 12th), I can service her with a 72-hour notice of eviction for non-payment of rent. However, if she pays the rent during that time, I cannot evict. She is accruing a late-rent fee of $15/day, but, if she pays the rent but not the late fees, I cannot use that as ground of non-payment rent eviction.
To complicate matters, I discovered that she was arrested this spring for a Criminal Mischief in the first degree charge (just arrested, has not been convicted yet), which, in Oregon, is a Class C Felony if convicted. I did not specifically ask her if she has any outstanding arrests or convictions of misdemeanors or felonies, but would I be able to use this new information to remove her from the house?
To summarize, assuming she pays rent and I cannot evict her for that reason, would the late security deposit payment, me not signing the rental agreement, the felony arrest, and late rent payment be enough for me to file for a For-Cause eviction? Or, is me not signing the lease coupled with her not paying the security deposit at the stated date enough to void the rental agreement?
I'm not sure if this would work, but why don't you take her "rent" and apply it to the late-fees she owes then tell her she still owes you "X" amount of rent because you applied her money towards the late fees. I was under the impression you could be evicted for late fees too... my LL won't accept late rent payments if the late fees aren't with it and they will evict you over it.
Other than that though, you have no grounds to evict. You can't evict her for paying the security deposit late because you accepted it. You can't evict her for a felony charge either because you never asked her if she had a criminal past. Plus, even if you had, I don't think you can evict her over that because she isn't convicted of anything. Innocent until proven guilty. I also do not believe that you could use the unsigned lease either. She's been living there for a month already and is moved in. You MIGHT get away with saying she had no lease and giving her a 30 day notice but I really do not recommend lying to get your way. It never ends well.
What types of things has this woman been doing? Has she violated ANYTHING in the lease that you have documented proof of? Has she threatened you or hurt you physically?
I also think you have a valid lease, even though you didn't sign it. The reason is that your behavior shows you acted as if you did have a valid lease. You did this by presenting a lease to her to sign, taking her rent and deposit, and letting her move in. I think a judge would say your lease is in effect because of this.
So, since she did pay the deposit, there's no grounds to kick her out for failure to comply with any agreement regarding the deposit. As azurabug says, you can't use hindsight about her arrest after she's already moved in.
So, all you're really left with is kicking her out for non-payment of rent, and any other provision she may violate in the lease.
Are you sure you can't serve her with a 72 hour notice until her rent is late for 7 days? I haven't looked up OR law, but that seems weird to me. If the rent is due on the first, usually you can serve the next day. This law would give the tenant 10 days. That seems unreasonable.
I say move back into your house and start acting like the boss of the house, that you are. And if there's any provision in your lease about behaving nicely, then perhaps you can kick her out if she acts hostile, as it would be a breach of the agreement. That may be your ticket. Otherwise, just take ownership of your space, and count down the 5 months remaining to get her out of your house. Really, it's time to make her uncomfortable enough to go somewhere else, not you.
I think I read somewhere that, at least in Oregon, you cannot use the funds for the rent payment and take out the late charges and claim that rent was not paid in full. However, that may be for the landlord-tenant relationship, not a landlord-lodger (not sure if it would make a difference).
She has not broken any part of the lease, yet. And she has not physically threatened me. Essentially all she has done is completely ignore my presence (even if I ask her a direct question) and excludes me from any dinners or events that she and my other roommate go to (side note, I do not have a problem with the other roommate; her and I still talk). It probably doesn't sound like much, and would likely be easy for others to simply ignore and not let it bother them, but it's very uncomfortable for me to be living in a house where I am so blatantly unwelcomed.
I could overcome my own discomfort about the living situation, but I have a cat and a dog that live in the house as well which mean the world to me. Although I don't believe she would ever hurt them, I could see her 'accidently' leaving the front door open and them running away. Perhaps I'm paranoid (very likely, actually), but I don't want to risk it. 5 days ago I requested her Police records and will receive them in about 12 days. She will be notified that I requested her records (she probably has received notification already) and I am concerned for any retaliation.
You didn't sign the lease so, in my book and based on experience, you don't have a lease with this tenant and she's a month to month tenant who you can simply ask to leave by giving her the written notice required under Oregon law. Suggest you check with legal counsel to verify but this was a point which was upheld in my favor in one court case.
Samantha38, I'll get the not nice part out of the way first. You screwed up in a bad way. I'm not being mean here. You asked for opinions and answers and I'm going to give you one. Please don't think I am attacking you here, as that is not my intent. I hope to keep you from making a similar mistake in the future. Hopefully, you won't rent again because I don't think this landlording thing is for you. My reason....you let the tenant force you out of your house. You have shown them who is in control. Fortunately, you can fix all of this.
Depending on your judge or magistrate, you might wind up having to use the state defaults here. It may not be a bad thing. A bad lease is worse than no lease sometimes. Think about unenforceable parts that are totally illegal. Not what you want to present in court. I've seen magistrates pick people to shreds here about illegal late fees, conditions, etc. It's ugly and you don't want it.
Read the state LL/T laws and go from them. In this case, forget you have a written lease, especially since you wrote it, unless you're a LL/T lawyer. I'm going to assume you're not because you made this post. Also , seek legal counsel. You are really going to want it based on this situation. Aside from this, I can't be of much help since I am in NC and you have a complicated scenario on your hands. There are only one or two people on this forum who can offer you accurate advice based on your situation and location.
In the future, join a local landlord association and use their lease, if there is one. Lots of time and research goes into creating them. A local Realtors association lease will do well also.
As far as the security deposit goes, in NC you only get one real shot at collecting it. That's at or before move-in. In my jurisdiction, allowing a tenant to move in without collecting a full deposit is essentially saying you've collected what you want. This is from the mouth of a magistrate. I imagine your locals will probably have a similar take. Don't plan on that being your "out".
If you're worried about the door being left open, install a closer mechanism. Anticipate problems and solve them before you have an issue.
I have company coming over as I type this, so I am cutting short, but I will say that STT Resident is right about seeking counsel. STT has provided much good advice here over the years and I think this is spot on. Get an attorney.
Once you get this mess handled, you really need to step back and decide if you are landlord material. It isn't for everyone, not by a long ways. Some people cannot leave emotion out of the situation, and I think you have let it in. It doesn't make you a bad person, or stupid, or anything else. It's just about realizing if you're cut out for this business. It is business first and foremost.
Check your PM box shortly, I have an unrelated message for you. Call it a looking-out-for-you courtesy.
Last edited by Ultrarunner; 11-07-2014 at 09:19 PM..
Technically since you didn't sign the lease, there is no written lease. You can say(if a judge asks in court ) that you chose not to sign the lease because she didn't give security deposit at move-in. And you realized because of this it's best to have month-to-month lease rather than a 6 month lease.
Therefore, since you don't have a signed lease, I agree with the above post about giving 30 day notice for her to move out.
Go back to living normally in your home. Just ignore her as she does to you when you are in the home. Who cares if she doesn't invite you out to dinners and events like she does with the other roommate. She is not your buddy.
Why is rent due on the 5th? Isn't it normal that it's due on the 1st? If you want to evict her for non-payment instead of giving 30 day notice, then it's best to get an attorney. But 30 day notice to move out can be given even after rent is paid because technically, she is on a month to month lease.
I am not so sure if you have a true landlord-tenant relationship here anyway, since you also live there. An attorney would guide you here.
Last edited by sware2cod; 11-08-2014 at 07:20 AM..
I looked for an example of the type of laws that are out there, that say a person can't present someone with a written contract, have them sign it and give it back, then start performing that contract, and later say there is no contract because it wasn't signed.
The OP presented a lease to the tenant, who signed it, paid money to the OP which the OP accepted, and let the tenant move in. The tenant believes she has a lease based on all of the above.
A landlord, or anybody else, can't get away with then having the choice of enforcing the original written contract, or saying there is no contract if they feel like it later on.
Here's an example of a law in CA that addresses this:
1623. Where a contract, which is required by law to be in writing, is prevented from being put into writing by the fraud of a party thereto, any other party who is by such fraud led to believe that it is in writing, and acts upon such belief to his prejudice, may enforce it against the fraudulent party.
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The OP may get away with bluffing that she can give a 30 day notice to kick the tenant out, but if the tenant decides to fight it, I don't think the OP would win. Her actions created an implied signature that the tenant relied on - to her detriment (fraud).
Had she told the tenant there was no lease BEFORE taking the tenant's money and letting her move in, based on there being no signature, then yes, that would be true.
Last edited by NoMoreSnowForMe; 11-08-2014 at 11:36 PM..
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