We just closed on a house in Salem and the sellers have not moved out

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We just closed on a house in Salem and the sellers have not moved out

They didn’t tell us until after the house funded and recorded that they could not get movers for another week and they can’t move before then. We have our movers scheduled and we have a renter moving into the home we are leaving, we did not anticipate this. Can we make them leave? We told them through our agents that they can stay another week if they pay us $4000, for rent and inconvenience. We have not heard back yet.

Asked on December 14, 2016 under Real Estate Law, Oregon

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 7 years ago | Contributor

Legally, you can make them leave; practically, there is no way to do so in time, since you'd have to bring an ejectment action--eviction for non-tenants (since they are not a tenant of yours), and even if you bring it on an "emergent" basis (think: "urgent" or "emergency"), it will take a week or two minimum to get a court order, then longer to enforce it--or more realistically, given the imminent holidays (courts tend to shut down), possibly several weeks just to get the order.
A better idea is to threaten filing the action if they don't *immediately* agree to pay $400/week and to move out by a set date, and also give you the $400 in firm funds (cash, money order, certified check, etc.) immediately as a deposit against that amount--that is, to make sure you don't have to chase them later for the money, get it up front. If they won't do this, then 1) start the ejectment action--which you'll probably want to hire an attorney to do; they are not particularly simple, especially if you file on an emergetn basis--and 2) keep track of *all* your expenses coming from this, including the lawyer and filing fee for ejectment, so you an sue them for your losses.


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