Oregon Landlord And Tenant Legal Questions

The police are correct. You must serve him with a 30-days notice to vacate the premises and then, if he does not voluntarily leave, file an unlawful detainer case against him and have it served on him. This can be a complicated process and if not done correctly, you could be stuck with him for a while. I suggest that you contact an attorney for a face-to-face consultation and give him/her all of the facts surrounding your situation. He/she would then be in a better position to analyze your case and advise you of your options.... Read More

This is complicated and thorny from a legal perspective. The obligation you have is (primarily) to your landlord, not to co-tenants. In most all circumstances, a co-tenant cannot unilaterally kick your out or otherwise evict you. If you have legitimate health and safety concerns from co-tenants or guests of other tenants, though, you do have additional rights (with respect to the landlord) which may include terminating your lease. Privately, you may have other remedies available against the threatening individual personally, including seeking a restraining order or the like.... Read More

It's certainly possible to legally evict a family member, but if he's moved out and isn't living there an eviction proceeding isn't necessarily going to get you the results you want. An action for trespass seems like the more appropriate mechanism, whether enforced civilly by you or criminally by law enforcement. Of course, there are costs and certain effects of proceeding with a trespass claim, so you'll want to be sure that you review the situation with an attorney and go over all the case details with them. Often, these situations are best left to the individual family members to work out amongst themselves, but if you've tried to find a resolution and have been unsuccessful, an attorney will be able to help.... Read More

The most likely situation is that your verbal lease is a month-to-month agreement. It depends on why they're evicting you, but there are certain and specific notice procedures that they must follow before they're able to evict you. Usually situations like this work themselves out without having to proceed through an actual eviction process, but given the circumstances if they proceed by filing an eviction you should consult with an attorney about your options.... Read More

Yes. Upon moving out, you have to transfer possession of the property back to the landlord. This is done, most basically, by returning not just a key, but any and all of your keys. If you did not return your keys, you technically haven't transferred possession. Often this is done either through the mail, at a walk-through with the landlord, or otherwise in person, though a lock box seems like a perfectly acceptable way to accomplish the same, as well.... Read More

Unfortunately, it's not likely. If you were just given a 30-day no-fault eviction notice, it will realistically take a bit longer than 30 days to actually evict you should you choose not to comply and move. Upon the expiration of the 30 days, if you've not vacated the landlord will have to file an eviction proceeding in court. Once filed, there's an initial appearance before the judge and then the case is either settled then or it proceeds to trial, typically scheduled sometime in the next week. However, with a no-fault eviction there is often almost nothing you can do to "win" the case and stop the proceeding, and further fighting an eviction isn't without costs of its own. You have to pay a filing fee to the court, and you can actually be found liable for the other parties' attorney fees if the case doesn't settle, you request a trial and then ultimately lose, so you need to evaluate the case with an attorney before deciding to proceed in that manner. During landlord/tenant disputes, there are often only a few matters that ultimately have any real bearing on the outcome: a few technical notice-posting requirements, whether rent payments are up to date, and then habitability/repair issues/retaliation arguments, etc, if relevant. With 30-day notices, the last two factors are almost always irrelevant, so unfortunately hardship issues don't often weigh into the situation at all. Ultimately, what's most likely to happen is the judge would simply encourage you and the landlord to work something out by finding a convenient (and near) time to turn over the property and vacate the premises. These types of negotiations can happen immediately on your own, if possible. You can hire an attorney to try to negotiate for you, but if cost is the determining factor as to why moving is impossible, there's not likely going to be much benefit to paying an attorney to negotiate on your behalf when there's no chance of any economic recovery and the reality is that you'll ultimately have to move, regardless. If I've somehow misinterpreted your question and a 30 day no-fault eviction isn't the issue, please do re-post another question and/or contact me directly, or any other practicing landlord/tenant attorney in your area.... Read More

This is no doubt a sticky situation. First, he can't evict you for inquiring about the bill. Depending on the status of your lease, however, he can give you a sixty day no-cause eviction notice, which likely ultimately ends with you having to move. You'll have a number of defenses, of course (as well as some obvious counter-claims.) But you likely don't want to have to pursue this from a reactionary and/or defensive position. The long and short of this situation, then, is that most courses of action end with you moving. Of course, that may well be your desire in any event, as you shouldn't want to live in a situation where you're paying others' bills, nor subject to a landlord who may or may not have known about it the entire time and is harassing, threatening, etc. You're going to want to speak with a landlord/tenant attorney about this, and soon. You have a variety of possible courses of action, and ultimately how you proceed and respond depend on what your ends are. There may well be instances of breach of contract, tort violations, fraud, etc., as well as violations of your lease agreement. Rest assured, however, that he likewise can't prevent you from ever renting again. He can be a negative reference, I suppose, and can report actual deficiencies in rent to a credit reporting agency, but that's about it. And each of those can be effectively countered with disclosures to future landlords, communication and validation procedures with the credit reporting agencies, and/or a civil suit concerning damaging untrue statements. Again, you should contact an attorney. Even if you wish to stay in the unit, you likely can be entitled to some offset or repayment from your years of utility overpayment, and the landlord should adequately remedy the wiring and utility metering to prevent further economic harm.... Read More

Your tenant is automatically a month to month tenant and is entitled to a full month's notice of termination of their tenancy. That would make it end no earlier than March 1st if you serve then before the end of his month. I suggest you hire a landlord tenant attorney. The law is both tricky and strict.... Read More

You can certainly sue the former tenants for damages resulting from their breach of the lease agreement. This can include unpaid rent, as well as damage to the unit itself, such as removal of the furnace. Paying local taxes is fairly atypical for a residential lease and is typically the responsibility of the landlord, but if it was clearly written into the rental contract you may have a very clear case to pay any taxes currently in arrears, as well. You should contact a civil litigation attorney in your area to assist you.... Read More