Can I Ask a Tenant to Move Out (in 30 days)…….
Some Questions & Answers
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Q1
Can I ask a tenant to move out (in 30 days) so that needed work may be done on their unit? No current lease or rental agreement is in effect.
A1
There is always a lease or rental agreement in effect. If there is a written document, it likely has a clause that makes it a month-to-month tenancy upon expiration of the original term. If there was no written document, it is an oral lease agreement, with terms that were agreed by the parties and, if it goes to court, the terms that are best proved by circumstantial evidence or whichever party is the better liar.
However, the above being said, if the lease is currently month-to-month, most states do require a 30-day notice of termination. Some states require a longer notice period under certain circumstances. In most (not all) states, no reason for termination need be provided to the tenant and it is usually best to not provide one that might be turned into a fair housing complaint.
Even if there is no written documentation, you should definitely give a written termination notice and serve it in a manner that provides proof of service. This can be either by delivering it in person or via Certified Mail. In either case, it is best to also mail a copy of the notice via a Certificate of Mailing, a PO service that provides the sender proof of mailing without giving the recipient a chance to reject acceptance of Certified Mail.
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Q2
I want to evict tenants (Oregon). How do I do it? They are new tenants that have violated the terms of the lease by having more people and by smoking in the unit, both things not allowed.
A2
What you can do depends on clauses in your lease agreement. The fact that they are new tenants would usually be irrelevant. What counts is whether the tenants materially violated one or more unambiguous clauses in the agreement. If they are month-to-month tenants you can simply terminate the lease with 30 days notice without any reason being given. You could also increase the rent with 30 days notice to allow for damages.
Assuming that they did default on the lease agreement, you will first need to properly serve them with a “cure or quit” notice (not necessarily the exact legal name under Oregon landlord-tenant law). I do not think Oregon allows for an “unconditional quit” notice for such violations as you list, so you cannot necessary evict them. A “cure or quit” notice in Oregon must give the tenants 14 days to cure the default and an additional 16 days to vacate (10 days to remove an illegal pet). If the default is not cured within the 14 days and the tenant has not departed within the following 16 days, you can then begin an eviction action.
Practically speaking, the defaults you mention, as I understand your limited description, are such that they may already be no longer in default. Obviously, they could again commit such violations, always curing them before the end of 14 days after notice. Accordingly, you need to always immediately serve the notices upon first knowledge of the violations. If there are a number of repetitive provable occurrences, it is likely that a judge would allow an eviction even though the violations are always cured within 14-day period. This is something that you could ask of an attorney who regularly does evictions in the court of jurisdiction and such an attorney would likely have a good idea of how many such repetitions might be required.
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Q3
On 6/4/11 the City of Chester, Pa notified me that I am delinquent in payment of the 2000 and 2001 Trash Collection Fees for my rental property. This is my only notification from the city. Is there a Statute of Limitation on this bill?
A3
It is my understanding that there are four categories of debt collections and each has their own statute of limitation under Pennsylvania law. For oral agreements it’s four years, for written agreements it’s six years. For contract notes (such as mortgages) it’s four years, and for open accounts (such as credit cards) it’s six years. After these periods expire, the creditor can still request payment, however, he usually has no potential for punitive action recovery – i.e., via a lawsuit.
I would think that a city trash collection account would have required a written agreement when signing up for service, but such is not always true. However, since 2001 is considerably longer ago than the longest statute of limitations period, the category is likely immaterial.
The fact that this is your first knowledge of the debt may be irrelevant and a judge may believe the city over you if it claims that not to be so – after all, government entities are considered by some to be efficient and truthful.
The above being said, when dealing with a government entity, there may be other issues. For example, the entity might have a lien right against the real estate and such a right might not be subject to statute of limitations periods. It is possible that a government entity is specifically exempted from the statute of limitations laws even if it doesn’t have a lien right.
You do not specifically mention whether the account was in your name or in the name of a tenant, with the city attempting to collect from you even though you did not agree to the account. The latter is allowed in some jurisdictions, but not in others. From the wording of your question, I’m not certain that the alledged delinquency occurred during your period of ownership.
You also do not mention the amount of the city’s claim or whether they are including possible late charges and/or interest for all those years. The first thing you need to do is decide whether the amount the city claims you owe is worth fighting about, particularly if the amount is greater than the maximum small claims amount allowed, which I believe is $8,000 in PA, except for Philadelphia where it is $10,000. If the city’s total claim is for less than this amount – and I certainly hope it is – you could test things in small claims court at relatively little cost, even if you first spend a relatively few dollars for a consultation with a competent attorney experienced in the subject matter. If the claim does not qualify for small claims court, the cost of contesting it will increase substantially. When dealing with government entities it must always be remembered that they have essentially unlimited taxpayer funds (some coming from you) and likely have staff attorneys who may have less than enough to do to justify their salaries. It’s possible that you could even be subject to city legal costs if you lose.
There may be other issues that are material to the problem.
If you have not sat down with the appropriate city trash collection person, preferably someone at the supervisor level, I suggest that you do so in order to determine just what their options are (e.g., do they claim to have lien rights), how aggressive they intend to be, and whether some significantly reduced settlement is possible. After you fully understand the city’s position, you can decide what to do next.