3-Day Pay Rent Or Vacate: Fill & Download for Free

In WA a landlord isn't required to give any grace period but in practice we usually give four or five days. If you are late, the first thing we do is sent you a Notice Of Late Payment with the section from your lease about late payment and the late payment fee (which for us is 10% plus $15/day). If we don't heard from you, we serve a 3 Day Pay Or Vacate Notice, which costs you another $250 or cost of service, which ever is greater. After the three days, if we haven't been paid, then we file an unlawful detainer action (AKA eviction). Then the costs can become thousands.Here's the key, we could serve you a 3 Day Pay Or Vacate Notice on the first of the month. Contrary to popular belief, most landlords are good and reasonable people and don't want to evict somebody. In fact, we maintain a list of about seventy non-profits that may be able to help renters who can't pay. WA State also has a great service where if you dial 211 they can put you through to services that may help.A big issue, if you are not able to pay, is to communicate with your landlord or property manager. There is nothing worse than sticking your head in the sand and ignoring the problem as we have to go through the eviction process.Of course, other jurisdictions have different laws on residential landlord tenant law.

You can leave anytime you want, but your landlord can withhold your deposit and demand that you continue to pay rent until the end of your lease.Your landlord could never force you to stay against your will, but they do not have to agree to a “move out” in the sense that it would terminate your lease. The lease is a legally binding contract, and even if you never signed any documents, the law would still consider you a month-to-month tenant. In that case you would only be responsible for the rent owed and an additional month for your 30 day notice.The whole idea behind a fixed term lease is that while you are guaranteed housing for a set period of time, your landlord is guaranteed income. Most states will require you to pay rent until the end of the lease, whether you live there or not. That obligation usually ends if another tenant moves in, and some states require your landlord to search for a new tenant, but in reality that doesn’t mean a whole lot. They can still reject applicants as they normally would, they can’t be forced to spend money on advertising, and they don’t have to go out of their way to fill the vacancy. Other states have no such requirement, so it would be up to the landlord if they wanted to consider finding a replacement.The best case scenario is one where you will have to pay the rent owed, forfeit your deposit, and pay at least two months (likely more) additional rent. The alternative is one where you are evicted and sued. Your landlord could either serve you a 3 day notice to vacate, followed by an eviction suit and a suit for unpaid rent, or you could break your lease by moving out voluntarily, in which case you would be sued for the rent owed plus what is left under the lease.Both scenarios will have devastating consequences for you. An eviction would cost you less money, but it would go on your record and no other landlord will rent to you. You would also be sued for the money you owe, which would go on your record as well, making it even more impossible to rent or obtain loans. If you break your lease instead you won’t have the eviction on your record, but the judgment will have you owing much more money. If you are on a monthly lease you can get out by giving thirty days notice and paying what you owe, or moving out without notice and payment and face a lawsuit for that amount.Your best bet at this point would be to stop looking for technicalities to get out of the situation you are in, and acknowledge that your landlord has a right to get paid. If a tenant approached me respectfully and apologized, offering to do whatever they could to repay me, I would be more inclined to work with them. They would still need to pay me, but if they vacated the home immediately, leaving it in an immaculate condition, I might consider agreeing to an (strict) payment plan before I went ahead and took them to court.

Generally speaking you are responsible for the entire period of your lease unless someone else moves in and starts paying rent. If you had to leave because you violated the lease in some way (there are many ways to violate a lease besides not paying on time) you likely remain responsible under the lease until the time period in the lease is up or until the place is rented again. You can also, of course, try to negotiate with your landlord about what you owe.The landlord can still sue you, even if he didn’t have to evict you, if you fail to pay what is owed under the lease. Whether you have any additional obligations no one here can tell you. Your lease and the specific facts in your case control.Your lease should explain your obligations and rights. If you are not clear on what those are, you will need to speak with a landlord/tenant lawyer.North Dakota Landlord Tenant Laws [2020]: Renter's Rights & FAQs