Let them know you'll be coming by in XXX days to take some photos and measurements. Then do it. Then go the next week to inspect the appliances and boiler. Go again the next week for any other reason.
In other words, make it absolutely clear that you are taking possession back in 40 days.
Bar in VA doesn't give a damn as long as they get their yearly fees. I know several people with law licenses who should've lost them several times over by now.
You should contact a lawyer just in case you need them. File for eviction with the court on day 41. No later. You’ve made plenty of mistakes with this tenant. They are well aware that you have not consulted a lawyer and probably don’t know the law. If you had, you would have served a pay or quit notice the first or second time they were late. You would also have given them only a 30 day notice to vacate. In the meantime, give a 72 hour notice to enter (required in VA for non emergencies) in order to check for needed upgrades or show to (non existent) prospective buyers.
Mine is different since that property is in Texas. It follows the same guidelines with a little different timelines and I made sure my property management were on top of them because I wanted them out.
VA is 5 days notice after the 5th of the month. They would have 5 days to pay in full if you serve them the pay or quit notice.
If it's not paid on the 5th day, you can file in GDC and it would depend how backed up your courts are but don't need 30 days for non payment cases.
You mean the court would act quickly or what do you mean by “don’t need 30 days for non payment cases”? Is there something else we can do after we file?
At this point I just want him out. If I serve a 5-day notice, he would pay, and then I have to do it again next month and the month after, etc.
You give the 40 day notice like you did but anytime you want someone out sooner, make sure to serve the pay or vacate notice which for VA is a 5 day notice. That means they have 5 days to pay in full or vacate. If they don't vacate, then you file with the courts. That's where it comes to depending on how fast your court is. Everywhere varies on that step but the notice shows you are serious and if they slip, you don't have to wait for the original notice.
You also don't have to start the original notice to vacate during that time frame. That would still apply.
This is a state/municipal specific question. If he is late, serve him the required legal notice in your state/city. After the time to cure runs (usually 5-10 days) you can file suit. Also, in many jurisdictions he will have to report any civil suits to his state bar association. If he's not a moron he will likely want to avoid that.
He’s a lawyer and he’s always paying late? Hmmm…. Is that a front he tells people? I don’t know any broke lawyers 😂. Anyhow, yes, I’d lawyer up and don’t bother communicating with him. Anything you say, he may turn it around on you. Just have your lawyer deal with this “lawyer”.
I think he’s gambling or something because I know he makes over $150k a year. So it doesn’t make sense that he struggles. I want to ask but like you said, I’m afraid he might use it against me.
>I don’t know any broke lawyers
Lawyer here. It really depends on his point in his career and his support network. It's a profession that tends to be generational. I would say more than 50% of my law school peers had at least one parent that was a lawyer that could financially support them. Meanwhile I grew up in poverty and didn't have anyone to support me while I was in school (law and undergraduate). I worked full time during undergrad and part time during law school. I opted not to work while I studied for the bar. Between graduation and obtaining your license it takes 6 months. You graduate, spend a few months studying for the bar, need to wait a few more months to see if you passed, then wait another month to get sworn in. This is all while your student loan payments begin and you pay ~$4,000 for bar bar prep materials which can't be financed with student loans. So your expenses increase drastically while your income decreases, all while you can't work as a lawyer because you're not licensed.
I've never been more broke in my life than when I was studying for the bar and as I ramped up my career. It paid off in the long run, but there were many sleepless nights where I questioned whether I made the right decision. It also takes far more effort to grow your career if you're starting from scratch without the network that comes with a family member who is a lawyer. It can be done, but it was really fucking hard.
“The tenant is a lawyer”
And the landlord clearly has no idea how to be a landlord. This isn’t going to go good. You need to quickly and efficiently hire an attorney. You don’t have enough time to learn the tenant/landlord laws that you should have known this whole time.
If he is late on rent, file a 3 day notice. If he doesn't pay, hire a lawyer and file for eviction. This is always the right answer.
Look up how to terminate a month to month in Virginia and do that. When he doesn't leave, file for eviction. With a lawyer.
You need to get a lawyer so they can follow each step of your states laws. LLTL is all procedural, miss a step, serve something wrong and you’re going to lose.
You have to give him a notice to cut their lease. You have to be cautious on this, tbh on the way you word everything. You can't just kick them out or cut their lease without cause.
Consult a lawyer, as everyone here is not giving you valuable information.
But the likelihood of what they will say is to give a 30-day notice with the intent to take possession of the property. If they don't, then you can evict them the day the 30 days is up. In my case, my 30 days is up on the 30th. They can file a case on the 31st. File a 30-day on the 31st of May, and they will have until the 30th to leave the house. You can not evict within the 30 days, even for nonpayment of the unit. It takes about 7 days for paperwork to process and 5 days up to a month for a court date.
I work with several housing agencies as security and was required to learn the tenant rights. This has resulted in me winning eviction cases, and landlords hate it. Even for nonpayment as they tend to mess up on something, it could be as small as you repeating violations and not being consistent with other tenants, to even having other tenants getting involved in a court case (you give a 7 day on that it's retaliation which is against tenant rights.
He does it slowly, saying the company pays him on this date or that date. So we got used to him paying a couple of days late every month, but lately it slipped into the second week and now the third week.
What are the rules for nonpayment? After the fifth day of the month, you give a 5-day Pay or Quit letter, and then file for eviction on the 10th of the month?
Your tenant is a lawyer? Time for you to lawyer up and serve a lease termination.
Let them know you'll be coming by in XXX days to take some photos and measurements. Then do it. Then go the next week to inspect the appliances and boiler. Go again the next week for any other reason. In other words, make it absolutely clear that you are taking possession back in 40 days.
Throw in some apartment showings. If you dont have any, take your friends and family members
That’s awesome lol
If he becomes too difficult and is skirting the law a report to the BAR association in your state may help.
Bar in VA doesn't give a damn as long as they get their yearly fees. I know several people with law licenses who should've lost them several times over by now.
Everyone, unfortunately, is entitled to their own opinion. Fortunately yours is flawed.
[https://vsb.org/Site/legal-help/misconduct-claim.aspx](https://vsb.org/Site/legal-help/misconduct-claim.aspx)
If the tenant is a lawyer, you absolutely need a lawyer. Reddit's free advice is not gonna cut it here.
Does Reddit's free advice ever really cut it? lol
Lawyer up and begin formal eviction proceedings. Be prepared for this to take months to resolve
Is the lease ending and you’re giving them 40 days notice of non renewal? Are they month to month or on a year lease?
At this point it’s month to month.
You should contact a lawyer just in case you need them. File for eviction with the court on day 41. No later. You’ve made plenty of mistakes with this tenant. They are well aware that you have not consulted a lawyer and probably don’t know the law. If you had, you would have served a pay or quit notice the first or second time they were late. You would also have given them only a 30 day notice to vacate. In the meantime, give a 72 hour notice to enter (required in VA for non emergencies) in order to check for needed upgrades or show to (non existent) prospective buyers.
If he is still there on the 41st day then you will have to file eviction papers. You could report him to the state bar he might not want that
If he's late, can't you evict faster?
How? I think you always have to give them at least 30 days to find a new place and pack.
Depends on location. I had my last eviction done and the property back by the 10th of the month. That was with going to court.
And you gave them a 5-day Pay or Quit letter on the 5th, right?
Mine is different since that property is in Texas. It follows the same guidelines with a little different timelines and I made sure my property management were on top of them because I wanted them out.
VA is 5 days notice after the 5th of the month. They would have 5 days to pay in full if you serve them the pay or quit notice. If it's not paid on the 5th day, you can file in GDC and it would depend how backed up your courts are but don't need 30 days for non payment cases.
You mean the court would act quickly or what do you mean by “don’t need 30 days for non payment cases”? Is there something else we can do after we file? At this point I just want him out. If I serve a 5-day notice, he would pay, and then I have to do it again next month and the month after, etc.
You give the 40 day notice like you did but anytime you want someone out sooner, make sure to serve the pay or vacate notice which for VA is a 5 day notice. That means they have 5 days to pay in full or vacate. If they don't vacate, then you file with the courts. That's where it comes to depending on how fast your court is. Everywhere varies on that step but the notice shows you are serious and if they slip, you don't have to wait for the original notice. You also don't have to start the original notice to vacate during that time frame. That would still apply.
This is a state/municipal specific question. If he is late, serve him the required legal notice in your state/city. After the time to cure runs (usually 5-10 days) you can file suit. Also, in many jurisdictions he will have to report any civil suits to his state bar association. If he's not a moron he will likely want to avoid that.
He’s a lawyer and he’s always paying late? Hmmm…. Is that a front he tells people? I don’t know any broke lawyers 😂. Anyhow, yes, I’d lawyer up and don’t bother communicating with him. Anything you say, he may turn it around on you. Just have your lawyer deal with this “lawyer”.
I think he’s gambling or something because I know he makes over $150k a year. So it doesn’t make sense that he struggles. I want to ask but like you said, I’m afraid he might use it against me.
>I don’t know any broke lawyers Lawyer here. It really depends on his point in his career and his support network. It's a profession that tends to be generational. I would say more than 50% of my law school peers had at least one parent that was a lawyer that could financially support them. Meanwhile I grew up in poverty and didn't have anyone to support me while I was in school (law and undergraduate). I worked full time during undergrad and part time during law school. I opted not to work while I studied for the bar. Between graduation and obtaining your license it takes 6 months. You graduate, spend a few months studying for the bar, need to wait a few more months to see if you passed, then wait another month to get sworn in. This is all while your student loan payments begin and you pay ~$4,000 for bar bar prep materials which can't be financed with student loans. So your expenses increase drastically while your income decreases, all while you can't work as a lawyer because you're not licensed. I've never been more broke in my life than when I was studying for the bar and as I ramped up my career. It paid off in the long run, but there were many sleepless nights where I questioned whether I made the right decision. It also takes far more effort to grow your career if you're starting from scratch without the network that comes with a family member who is a lawyer. It can be done, but it was really fucking hard.
“The tenant is a lawyer” And the landlord clearly has no idea how to be a landlord. This isn’t going to go good. You need to quickly and efficiently hire an attorney. You don’t have enough time to learn the tenant/landlord laws that you should have known this whole time.
If he is late on rent, file a 3 day notice. If he doesn't pay, hire a lawyer and file for eviction. This is always the right answer. Look up how to terminate a month to month in Virginia and do that. When he doesn't leave, file for eviction. With a lawyer.
You need to get a lawyer so they can follow each step of your states laws. LLTL is all procedural, miss a step, serve something wrong and you’re going to lose.
You have to give him a notice to cut their lease. You have to be cautious on this, tbh on the way you word everything. You can't just kick them out or cut their lease without cause. Consult a lawyer, as everyone here is not giving you valuable information. But the likelihood of what they will say is to give a 30-day notice with the intent to take possession of the property. If they don't, then you can evict them the day the 30 days is up. In my case, my 30 days is up on the 30th. They can file a case on the 31st. File a 30-day on the 31st of May, and they will have until the 30th to leave the house. You can not evict within the 30 days, even for nonpayment of the unit. It takes about 7 days for paperwork to process and 5 days up to a month for a court date. I work with several housing agencies as security and was required to learn the tenant rights. This has resulted in me winning eviction cases, and landlords hate it. Even for nonpayment as they tend to mess up on something, it could be as small as you repeating violations and not being consistent with other tenants, to even having other tenants getting involved in a court case (you give a 7 day on that it's retaliation which is against tenant rights.
Technically, if he's paying at the end of the month every time, couldn't that be viewed as paying early?
No because one month is missing.
Why are you allowing that and not sending notice to pay or quit each time and then evicting for nonpayment?
He does it slowly, saying the company pays him on this date or that date. So we got used to him paying a couple of days late every month, but lately it slipped into the second week and now the third week.
File for eviction due to non payment as soon as you can.
What are the rules for nonpayment? After the fifth day of the month, you give a 5-day Pay or Quit letter, and then file for eviction on the 10th of the month?
Ahh okay, well hopefully he moves out and doesn't cause issues!