I Received a 30-day No Cause!

A 30-day No Cause is not considered an eviction. Just as you can give your apartment manager thirty days notice that you intend to move, so can your apartment manager give you notice. You may want to know "why" you are being asked to move, but the point of the "No Cause" is to keep them from giving you a "Cause" which will show negatively on your rental record. This is easier on both the Landlord and the Tenant. Presume that they need the apartment in order to remodel it, or that they have repairs to make.

Try to move within the thirty days, but because this is a "No Cause", if you can give them proof that you've been accepted elsewhere, but that the date is a few days (or in some cases even a few weeks) in the future, TALK to your Landlord. They may be able to allow it. But the sooner they know, the more likely they can do it.

However, if you ignore a No Cause notice, or if you comply with it by moving out, but haven't given your landlord the keys so he is aware that you have complied, you leave the Landlord with no option other than to evict you.

Yes, you can be evicted from an apartment that you have already moved out of! In fact, if you haven't made certain that the Landlord has the keys (and knows that you are finished moving out), he can't legally walk into the apartment. He/she has to file an eviction in order to get the right to even walk in to see that the apartment is empty! Regardless of how much he/she might wish to keep from filing an eviction, unless you hand over the keys, you may find yourself with an eviction on your record that you never got notice of, because you didn't return to the apartment to find it attached to the door, and your forwarded mail didn't reach you in time!

Most landlords will give you a copy of the form they use when you move out. It will show the approximate amount that they expect to need to charge for damages or cleaning, but if they are unable to determine how much that may be, it should at least show the date that you moved out, and be signed by the landlord. KEEP THAT FORM until you have either received your deposit back, or are satisfied with the amount that you are billed.

It is very important to make sure that the landlord either has agreed to allowing you some extra time to leave, or that he knows that you have vacated the apartment, that he has the keys, and that he signs something showing that he is aware that you have moved out. Otherwise, he will be likely to file an eviction on the day after the 30-Day No Cause expires.

If you aren't able to leave the apartment clean and empty, give the Landlord a signed note telling them to consider everything in the apartment abandoned. Otherwise, he may have to file an Abandoned Goods notice, which could mean that you will be able to retrieve the items later, but will mean that he can charge you storage for the items and rent for the apartment, on top of charging for his having the items moved.

Besides costing you (and your landlord!), this could also result in your having a negative rental reference. While that is not quite as devastating as an eviction, it can still keep you from getting into the apartment of your choice.

Being Evicted?

I have been an apartment manager of 72 units for seven years, and have only evicted a handful of people. The last person I evicted was two years ago. There are several reasons for this, and if you are being evicted in Oregon, I hope that you will read on.

Being evicted can create problems for you in finding a new apartment for years. It can be a real struggle to find an apartment complex that will accept anyone with an eviction on their records, particularly if you want to live in the area of your choice. If you are being evicted, before you do anything else (and before it is too late), you should be aware of the following:

1. Getting a 72-hour notice to either correct something (such as paying late rent or removing someone who doesn't belong in your apartment) is not an eviction unless you choose not to comply.

2. Getting a 30-day No Cause to Vacate is not an eviction unless you choose not to comply.

3. Receiving a court summons to appear in court (also known as a Residential Eviction Summons) is not an eviction unless you either choose not to comply with the order to appear in court, or choose not to comply with the agreement you make with the court.

I'm hopeful that the phrase "choose not to comply" was sufficiently noticeable. While there are many things than can seem to spin out of our control and make us feel helpless, and there are many reasons why we may at some time find ourselves being asked to vacate an apartment, we almost always have the ability to choose to not have an eviction haunt us for years.

While I'm not going to go into detail in this post, I will gladly answer questions. I'll be making some additional posts on each of those three points, hopefully to make the information more easily found.

Foreword ...

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that I am in Oregon, and that other states have their own laws. Further, laws change. If you don't live in Oregon, and you are considering being an apartment manager, or are being threatened with eviction, or wanting to know the easiest way to evict someone, I advise you to use the information here only to help you to recognize possibilities.

Additionally, I am an apartment manager. I am not an attorney. What I am writing has to do with my own experiences. I write them in part because I find that many managers make things more difficult for themselves than is necessary. I write them because I hope they can help whoever is looking for help. And I hope to leave you with laughter.