Q: When and how do I contact my renter about nonpayment of rent.
We have a rental property in Klamath Falls, OR. We have a month to month rental agreement. It states rent is due on the 1st of the month and a late fee will be charged for rent paid after the 5th of the month. The renter has always been good about paying rent until this month. I would like to know the proper way to address this with our renter before I address the 72 hour notice. Thanks
A: You can informally talk to the tenants anytime to see what is going on. That said, if you want to enforce things, you can serve a 72 hour notice anytime after rent is a full 7 days late. There are specific requirements as to what information must be included in the 72 hr. notice, and it must be legally served on the tenant (in person; by first class mail (not certified!), adding 3 days extra time for the mailing; or, if your written lease provides for it, by posting it on the main entrance and mailing it first class). If they pay within the 72 hrs., you must accept it and everything goes on as usual. If they do not, and you want to terminate their tenancy, do not accept any payment after the 72 hr deadline and proceed to file to evict them in the local court. You should not accept partial payments or you may unintentionally waive your right to evict for failure to pay rent, at least until the next month. Oregon is a "tenant-friendly" State. While a landlord can evict tenants, the process is quite technical and a landlord must fully comply, exactly, with both the laws and the procedures or risk having their lawsuit tossed out, with them owing the tenant's court costs and attorney's fees while the tenant continues to live there, presumably rent free and the landlord having to start over, from scratch. So you may well wish to at least consult, if not hire, a landlord-tenant attorney to maximize your chances of prevailing on the first try - it can save you money in the end. Good luck.
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