Are you a renter yourself, or do you own your home? If a renter, was your friend allowed to stay, are you allowed to sublet?

Does your friend have a written lease with you? Were they paying any rent?

You’re getting scammed… NEVER pay somebody to leave.

Call the police, tell them your feel threatened and unsafe with them there and demand a no contact order as you feel they may harm you. That’s a quick way to have somebody forcibly removed without any of the hassle of an eviction. Been there done that after my ex wife over stayed her welcome and nearly killed my cat.

How did gou handle the who Tennant protection part?

I am renting I did not ask for permission to sublet They were paying 300 in rent a month and we had soem written agreements but no real lease. They have not payed in the last month and a half.

For me it was a DV case, she was a danger to me and my new wife as well as our pets, by being a danger to us she effectively lost her rights to be anywhere near us… she was order to stay away at least 1000 feet and wasn’t allowed back in the home except to collect her belongings with the police there.

That's kind of the problem I'm in. She's bipolar, mentally damaged, doesn't understand things like normal peopel do. It's like taking with a toddler, she won't listen, creates her own facts, threatens to call the police when we try to explain things to her. I told her she can't bring men around because of the mental trauma I have of my past and she said I should just try getting over it. She also thinks she cured her diagnosed bipolar disorder.

Buy a gun.

The unfortunate reality is that the friend is likely a tenant at this point, and the OP thus has similar duties to a landlord.

And yes, it is a scam, and it is unfair. But as landlords, we frequently have to resort to cash-for-keys to get unwanted tenants out. Writing a check to get a tenant out is in most cases both cheaper and safer than waiting out an eviction process while a now aggrieved tenant does everything in their power to punish your home for the next few months.

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Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer (in any State). I've been a landlord for the past ten years in Washington state, but have never had to go through with an eviction.

If your subtenant is living there, and paying you rent, you have a lease, and the written agreements would reinforce that. That means you would have to follow Washington state law similar to a landlord.

What you are describing is commonly referred to as a "cash-for-keys" agreement. If you Google it, you should find plenty of sample templates online. Honestly, if the price is right, I think this is the right option for you. The promise of a payout gives your subtenant motivation to follow through.

The alternative is to start the eviction process, and if you think your subtenant is trouble now, think how much worse they'll be once you serve them an eviction notice? Especially if the trouble results in your landlord getting involved; if your landlord wants to deal with this more conclusively, they'd have to evict YOU to get rid of the subtenant!

Is cash for keys binding?

About as binding as your sublease was. :p

The distinction doesn't matter much though. The remedy if your tenant doesn't vacate when they agreed is eviction. The remedy for getting a tenant out for not paying is eviction. Either way, the tenant doesn't get the cash and gets an eviction filing on their record, which they presumably want to avoid.

Hopefully you weren't asking in the other direction. But yes, if your check bounces, they could come after you in court for the money, or even for damages for an illegal eviction.

To be fair, back in the "good old days", tenants could also actually afford rent.