Evicted

[gbpacker40]

Ok so me and a ex of mine moved into a lower flat of a duplex on March 1st. By the 7th she was back with an ex boyfriend and out of the house. Fine whatever, it happens. I had a friend of mine who was going through some problems stay with me to help me with the rent and bills for the remainding 6 months of the lease. My ex informed the landlord of this and he was not having it, at all. I told him why I asked him to stay with me and he did not care at all. Meanwhile the heat was in my ex's name and without my knowledge she turned it off the day she moved out. It ended up reverting back to the landlords name and I also wasnt informed of this til' April 1st. I told my landlord that I would be a few days late with the rent due to the circumstances and he did not care about that either, he said he wanted me out regardless. So I basically said screw it on that rent payment and told him to take me to court for eviction...We went to court, I had a 2 day writ and moved out this past weekend. So now that you know the "details", there was anopther reason I refused to pay rent and thats what leads me to my question.

 

The landlords sister was the tenant upstairs and a day or two after we moved in we "discovered" she was a Paranoid Schizophrenic (sp). She was constantly coming down INTO our house, checking liscence plates of everyone who came over, accusing us of stealing her "eyeglasses" then asking her to help her find them. She called the cops one day when we were doing a friends brakes in the garage and told the police there was a undertaker in the garage ready to take her away and she wanted to talk to President Bush this instance. I todl the landlord of this the 1st week we were there and he said she must of ran out of pills and things would get better with her. It never did get better with her. Now my question is, do I have any legal rights to countersue and somehow have the lease broken, or am I just pretty much screwed?

[jordanmuehl]

From my own personal understanding and from the description, it doesn't sound like you have a very strong case. Simply because the upstairs tenant was unhealthy and (perhaps) a nuisance isn't very strong ground to countersue, especially since as soon as you signed the lease, your co-lessee had moved out, therefore voiding your agreement (unless your other roommate was subletting the lease from your ex, which from my understand through your description doesn't sound like the case). I'm not an expert or anything, but it doesn't sound like a strong case. Best of luck with the situation, though.

[Point Beer Is Best]

It's been a long time since I've had business law, but doesn't the landlord (once notified about the ex moving out) have to show that he tried to find another occupant before he can come after the remaining persons on the lease for the rent due? If what your describing is true, I can't believe he wouldn't give you a grace period since you already had lined up someone to take your ex's place. Money later is better than no money. Unless of course he already had people lined up to rent the property immediately.

 

As far as the sister thing goes, he's a shyster for not telling you about her, but I don't think there is anything you can do about that.

[gbpacker40]

Its not that I want to get money from him, its I want the lease to be void since he didnt tell me about the person living upstairs and her medical condition. I did have someone lined up to take my ex's spot ont he lease but he wouldnt allow me to use him as a roomate, to take her place. I imagine I probably don't have a strong case but I guess its a lesson learned.

[brewerjamie15]

I believe that you should get a few friends together, go to his house, knock on the door, and when he answers, you should all moon him.

[jazzytrav]

1. Your ex sounds really annoying.

 

2. What exactly is wrong with your landlord that they don't understand the terminology of a sublease? For some reason, it sounds like the landlord would rather have you struggle to pay the full rent and live there yourself than have someone else there and have them split it so that the two of you can actually make rent.

 

3. I don't think you have much of a case. You can't fail to pay rent because of the way another tenant acts unless, I suppose, you can find a string of complaints about her from neighbors or previous tenants and also show that the landlord hasn't done anything about it. Even then, it would be tough.

[RyDogg66]

1. So you lived there for March and April, correct?

2. how Long was the lease?

3. You paid rent for March? But not April?

4. you were evicted and are out as of May 4 for non payment?

5. The reason for your non payment was that the landlord would not accept your new roommate?

 

if those are the facts you have a halfway decent case. The landlord has a duty to mitigate his and your damages. If your ex moved out and you had someone ready to move in to pay the rent the landlord pretty much has to allow it unless the person is some sort of convicted felon. If he doenst allow it then he can let you out of the lease but he cant have it both ways. Assuming your ex signed the lease she should also be responsible for the amount you may or may not owe.

 

Im not your lawyer and this is not legal advice.

[jazzytrav]

Assuming your ex signed the lease she should also be responsible for the amount you may or may not owe.

This is another good point. Technically she doesn't HAVE to pay anything, but the landlord should be coming after both you and the ex, not just you. She signed the lease, so she's just as responsible for it.

[TooLiveBrew]

If your ex moved out and you had someone ready to move in to pay the rent the landlord pretty much has to allow it unless the person is some sort of convicted felon. If he doenst allow it then he can let you out of the lease but he cant have it both ways.

 

That's good to hear. I often get frustrated with the balance of what's 'legal/illegal' v. what's 'just/unjust'

 

Best of luck to you gbpacker40.

[tristarscoop]

A point that I think is getting overlooked is that the neighbor was in your house. Did she have a key? If so and they didn't tell you that, I think you have something. Did she just walk in? That would be breaking and entering, or at the very least, trespassing. While this doesn't account for you not paying, it's still not ok.

[gbpacker40]

1. So you lived there for March and April, correct?

Correct

 

2. how Long was the lease?

6 months 1850.00 was total out of pocket including the security deposit

 

3. You paid rent for March? But not April?

Correct, I offered to pay a little bit late before he told me he didnt want me there anyways (I know it sounds like I mustve did something wrong that he didnt want me to stay there, but honestly that is not the case)

 

4. you were evicted and are out as of May 4 for non payment?

Correct, which is what I expected to happen but he wants to go after "imaginary damages, the full remaining balance of the 6 months" and when we went to court, he told the court comish that he will not be going after my ex, just me. (Can I sue her for half of the remaining since the landlord or myself never let her off the lease?)

 

5. The reason for your non payment was that the landlord would not accept your new roommate?

The reason for my non-payment was a combination of that and the fact that he said he did not want me there anyways. I told him I would be a few days late on the rent and he told me, I had 3 days to move out. When I told him he can't do that and that he needed something from the courts, thats when he went for the eviction "legally".

 

I do have photos/videos of before and after and nothing was damaged except the front screen had a small tear in it from moving a couch in. I made sure to protect myself that way.

 

The lady upstairs did not have a key to the house, its hard to explain but we had the basement as well and thats were we set up the gaming room so I generally left my door open because my daughter was always downstairs and I wanted to be able to hear what she was doing down there. When the door was open she would walk right into our house and on occasion walk in if I left the door unlocked. After her bothering us so much we pretty much abandoned the basement and kept the door to my house locked at all times.

And yes my ex is not nice!

[TooLiveBrew]

I offered to pay a little bit late before he told me he didnt want me there anyways (I know it sounds like I mustve did something wrong that he didnt want me to stay there, but honestly that is not the case)

 

It sounds like you managed to luck into a total jerkwad for a landlord. I'm sorry to hear that -- that sucks. In my experience, they're way more common than you'd hope. One thing you seem to have going for you, though, is that he doesn't appear to know his way around the legal stuff all that well. What landlord would want to target just one person when you've had contact with the other on the lease, & haven't let her out of the lease? I mean, if the ex-gf had just gone AWOL, then it's a different story.

 

It seems like he's willfully & maliciously targeting you, when he should be focusing on both names on the lease. Maybe I'm the one that has it all wrong, though.

[Raw Biz]

Well I just took my property exam yesterday and so this stuff is kinda fresh in my head, though now I'm studying from my criminal procedure exam. I wonder if you might have a case for an implied warranty of habitability with the crazy chick. There is an implied warranty when you sign a lease that you will be free from nuisances and that your living space will be generally livable (reasonable expections). I wonder if a crazy person wandering into your apartment repeatedly and calling the police on you for no reason, especially when the landlord had knowledge of this woman, could be considered a breach of that implied warranty. I wonder if you could also make a case out of feeling threatened with her constantly coming into your apartment. There is a duty for the landlord to take reasonable care in protecting its tenants from harm, although I guess this is a rather weak case. I wonder about the implied warranty though. Maybe one of the lawyers here can shed some light on it?

[mothershipconnection]

when we went to court, he told the court comish that he will not be going after my ex, just me. (Can I sue her for half of the remaining since the landlord or myself never let her off the lease?)

 

I'm pretty sure you can sue her. When I went through a divorce, we almost got sued for a joint loan (I co-signed) that was delinquent. They basically said they'd go after me (because I had a better income), but since our separation agreement stated she was responsible for the loan, I'd then be able to turn around and sue her for what they sued me for. Fortunately, she started making payments and it was all avoided.

[RyDogg66]

Ive got to put my kids to bed first, but when I finish with that I'll come back in and chime in some more....

[RyDogg66]

and we're back...

 

If I were in your situation, the first thing I would do is join the ex-girlfriend into the action. I'd file a cross claim against the ex girlfriend who would be a third party defendant. The defense would be "I dont owe it, but if I do, I only owe half and so does she." Also be sure to have her "served" with the paperwork.

 

I'd then counterclaim for my security deposit back and ask for double damages because if they landlord doesnt give it back within "x" amount of days (I think it is 30) he owes double the security deposit. Let's see, what else, you'll need your friend as a witness to state that he was willing to live there and pay half the rent. Of course this is moot if there is outstanding rent owed for April, and possibly May since you didnt leave before May 1.

 

You could have a problem with not having the money by the 1st of april if there isnt a clause in your lease about when rent is due and if there is a grace period, etc, etc. This is where you might want to bring up the crazy lady, but the crazy lady isnt that great of a defense in this action so dont dwell on it too much or put too much faith in it working. You need to focus on the landlords duty to mitigate his damages (and your damages). The duty to mitigate basically says that if you have to break a lease that the landlord has to work to find a replacement and he cant be overly picky, this becomes even better for you that you would still be living there and responsible for the rent and not leaving the landlord high and dry with this other guy all by himself.

 

Again, not your lawyer, not legal advice, Im just sayin' is all.

[Thurston Fluff]

I would expect there to be some privacy issues the landlord would be obligated to honor even if it's his sister/tennat. She has the right to have her medical condition kept private. If she did come into your house without permission that is a police matter. If you called the cops and have a record of that then maybe it will help with the implied warranty of habitability thing. If you and your ex both signed the lease then just go after her. Sounds like she sort of deserves it anyway. She is the one who owes it after all.

[homer]

Sounds tailor made for Judge Judy.