I have recently closed on my 2nd park, each park is in Minnesota. I sent a notice out to all tenants that the park had been sold, I included a new lease with this letter and asked that all tenants review it, sign it, and return it to the manager within 10 days. My response has been about 50%. I have the manager working on getting the rest signed. One tenant in particular has not paid rent since I took ownership and has not signed my new lease, he also never signed a lease with the prior owner. I need to get an eviction started on this guy, but without a lease how do I go about any legal actions. Every time I’ve been to eviction court, the first thing the judge asks for is a copy of a lease.
I emailed my eviction attorney about this and he told me he will need to think about this for a bit. This has me confused as well. There has to be a way to deal with this situation. Any ideas?
I don’t know what state you’re in, but in the states I’ve operated in if you don’t have a written lease then the tenant is on an oral lease. Processing an eviction for non payment of rent is almost as easy on an oral lease as on a written lease.
One thing that might be helpful (but is not required) is if you can show documentation that you sent the tenant a copy of the lease.
If your attorney doesn’t know the above you should probably get a new attorney. Try calling apartments in the area and ask who they use for evictions. It’s an awkward phone call but you’ll probably get someone to tell you eventually.
I agree with Noel_S. I’m in a similar situation however I haven’t had any serious collections issues. I have a file of leases that tenants have refused to sign. Follow the eviction process (in Indiana I’m required to provide a 10 day notice to quit followed by a 24 hour eviction notice). I’m sure a judge would rule in your favor if you showed him that the tenant hasn’t paid you and that he didn’t pay the previous park owner.
Normally when a landlord provides a tenant a copy of a lease if they refuse to sign that lease becomes effective if they remain in the property. The written lease becomes a verbal lease when not signed. You must have proof the tenant was provided a copy of the lease.
Tenants can not assume they do not have a lease simply because they refuse to sign.
Best action to follow is eviction. A landlord does not want to retain a difficult tenant.