- July 15, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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The Situation
For context, I (21F) and my boyfriend (24M) have been living in this dilapidated house with an elderly man who helps with the bills. My boyfriend has been here for just under a year, and I’ve been here for 6 months. Despite repeatedly asking, the ‘landlord’ never had us sign a lease. We recently got approved for a new house because we were fed up with living here; the place truly needs to be condemned.
The Issues
The house is falling apart, with garbage bags duct-taped to the bathroom walls to cover holes, and the backyard is a mess because they hired unqualified people to fix the roof and landscape. The fence has been hit twice in one year and still hasn’t been repaired despite promises. We’ve always paid in cash, there’s no signed lease, and we have no texts from her confirming we live here. The only proof we have of living here is the mail we’ve received.
The Disagreement
My boyfriend doesn’t want to pay the last month’s rent because we feel so mistreated, but I’m worried she could take us to small claims court over it. We’ve always paid in cash, there’s no signed lease, and we have no texts from her confirming we live here. The only proof we have of living here is the mail we’ve received. I think we should pay the last month’s rent, but he disagrees.
Can She Take Us to Court?
This is a valid concern. Without a signed lease, we may not have a strong legal basis to defend ourselves against a claim of unpaid rent. However, it’s essential to note that the ‘landlord’ doesn’t own the house; the elderly man we live with does. She’s just taking care of our rent because she’ll inherit the house after he passes.
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****** just grabbed a
It sounds like he might need a referral to APS as well….
Who are you guys to the old dude who owns the house? It almost sounds extremely sketchy. t
The old man needs someone who doesn’t have an interest in anything to help him.
It doesn’t sound like they would take you to court
But pay your bills.
Think a bit more broadly about the case she might have. She has the testimony from her father, her own testimony, and you’ve been getting mail there. You would have to lie, in court and under oath, about whether you lived there. Would you be willing to do that? The judge would wonder why this woman sued you, and they would ask you where you DID live. Is a judge more likely to conclude that you owe back tent, or that she is a rando who is suing you for some crazy reason?
Now she might not want to sue you, as who knows what other nonsense is going on there. Tax fraud, elder abuse, and building code violations all seem feasible. But if she did sue, I would think she could.
There are also the ethical considerations around failing to meet your obligations, which I will leave to you.
Just because you don’t have a lease doesn’t mean you can just not pay.
Just the same way you don’t have a lease and they can’t just change the locks on you.
You’re in the hook for the last months’s lease except in very specific situations that vary by jurisdiction.
She’d have to take you to court. Could you get away without paying? Maybe, but it’s not because you don’t have a legal obligation to pay it.
Punctuation, paragraphs and grammar would help.
You could conceivably make an argument that the place was not habitable in which case you do not owe rent for that time. That is dependent on state law though. However you would also have to show that conditions deteriorated from when you were paying rent. Or that you were paying rent but complaining about the conditions.
Personally I would be more concerned about your “roommate.” After you have moved out you need to call Adult Protective Services and report this situation. It’s entirely possible the “landlord” is trying to scam him out of his house, or that she already has. That would also explain why she is trying to keep him in the house, because if he moves into a nursing facility and needs Medicaid, after he passes Medicaid can take the house. Regardless of what is going on, this does not sound like someone who is truly trying to help him. It sounds like someone who is trying to take advantage of him. Whether or not you pay the rent you have a duty to report the situation.
They can take you to court for anything, but no lease means they’d probably not win. A compromise on the rent would be to withhold your rent, keep the money for rent separate in case the court says you do owe it. Then it’s withholding rent instead of not paying. That’s what you’re supposed to do in cases like this where you do have a lease and the landlord isn’t holding up their end for a livable unit.
It takes 0 effort to do the right thing. He doesn’t want to pay it and you staying with someone who doesn’t want to keep their word will eventually influence you to do the same.
Pay the rent. Learn from this and you will have nothing to worry about.
What’s your bf’s rationalization for withholding rent? Do you have heat, water, working plumbing, mold or pest problems? An unrepaired fence and crap landscaping don’t sound like they affect habitability.
I’m also not seeing the mistreatment. Maybe he was manipulated or misled into moving into a decrepit house but he’s stayed a year and even moved you in with him when it would have been more sensible to move out immediately when the house conditions were unacceptable.
You are a month to month tenant. If you have receipts for repairs you made that the landlord should have done, you should be able to get that money back. Otherwise give whatever notice is required, pay your rent and move on.
You owe at least that months rent, even without a written lease. You are effectively month to month tenants, depending your location you owe some amount of notice to the landlord (typically 30 days) and owe all rent through the end of that notice.
They might not choose to sue you, but if they do your boyfriend has not established any reasons he would not owe them.
The condition of the house *could* be relevant, but nothing you described is uninhabitable (covered holes in the walls, messy yard) AND he has been living there paying for a year so it was habitable to him.
Call adult protective services on behalf of the older man living in bad conditions and pay your rent.
It’s VERY possible you 100% owe all the rent, or you 100% owe none of the rent. What’s most likely is something in between, either owing some rent, or different percentages. Check around for free legal resources in your area, it’s very common for tenant help, if your income is low enough to qualify.
General laws if this is the U.S.:
1) A contract does not have to be written down in most circumstances to be enforceable, including month-to-month leases. Under the verbal contract, you likely owe money for the time you’re there, unless something else supercedes that.
2) There is generally a warranty of habitability requirement when you’re living somewhere. If that is breached by the landlord, you may not owe some or all of rent for some period. There may be notification requirements to trigger that. You also could have your own lawsuit against the landlord. All of this depends largely on the state you’re in, and the actual condition of the property. These laws are generally focused on access to: water. hot water, heat (in cold climates), AC (in hot climates), and/or mold-free space. They vary widely though.
Start documenting everything.
NAL: Check out the local county/city/providence/prefecture laws around escrow for rent. In my state, the current living conditions would allow you to go to escrow (you still pay rent, but not to the landlord). Once the ruling is in place, then they are required to bring the home to local regulated guidelines for tenant dwellings before the money for back rent is paid to them. Just mentioning this to the “landlord” might scare her off enough to just let you leave. It’ll be a lot less for her to let you two leave than to fix the property if it is in as bad of shape as it sounds like it is.
I know you are leaving, but mentioning it may help cool her down some.
Also, pay your bills. If she doesn’t back down, just take the loss, and think of it as a final good deed you bestowed to these horrible people. Leave with a clean conscience.
You are the ones that have to sleep tonight
NAL.
She is getting the rent in cash because she isn’t declaring it in her taxes. There is no formal agreement so therefore no proof that you were ever arenter.
Document and take pictures of everything. If she tries to take you to court, Im sure you would have more then enough evidence to show a judge. Be thorough.
This is a case where what is right and what is legal diverge.
Legally, you don’t have a lease. There’s no way but anybody can hold you to make payment. I mean, you can sue anybody for anything, but it’ll cost more filing fees than they’ll ever see in recovery.
Morally? You paid the month before and nothing’s really changed except you’re leaving.
Ethically? You should have a duty of care when you observe an elderly possibly incompetent person being abused. Drop the dime to adult protective services.
Also ethically? If the place is really such a s***hole that it should be condemned, you shouldn’t allow somebody else to put themselves in that position and you should drop the dime to code compliance.
You should do the right thing….
NAL – Google “tenant advocate” or “tenant union” plus your city/state. They’ll have more info than strangers on the internet. Just because there’s no lease doesn’t mean you aren’t legally situated in a tenant-landlord relationship.
I’d have a hard time feeling good about not paying if I’m staying there, personally, but it doesn’t sound like they’re doing their duties to you as landlord.
the owner of the property can take you to court. you basically have a month to month lease. if you try and scam your way out of the last month you could be taken to court and be ordered to pay not only the last months rent but legal fees as well.
Your BF is being a scumbag by considering skipping the last months rent.
I am a lawyer, not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
You could probably get away with it. But, doing this would probably really hurt your elderly housemate more than anyone. So it will be unconscionable and unethical to not pay the rent.
No lease? No proof.. pay out of moral courtesy and respect…for the old man……
Even without a written lease, you’re a renter. You just have a verbal contract to pay rent. It’s likely considered month to month. Your state will have specific laws as to how much notice you have to give. It may be 30 days. 60 days. Whatehaveyou that will vary from state to state. If you just leave, you could likely be sued. And would very possibly lose. Breaking the lease due to the state of the house is possible, but generally requires you to follow certain steps (sending certified notice of repairs that have to be made, etc) that will again vary from state to state. If the guy is fine with you leaving and just paying the last month rent, I’d do that. Is it possible, perhaps even likely that the guy won’t do anything if you just leave one day? Very possible. For peace of mind though, and because you are adults and not children, pay what you owe. Then leave with a clear conscience.
Do you, a 21 year old fresh face in the wide world want to be the kind of person who only handles their obligations because the law will enforce them doing so? If you lived somewhere you owe them for it. The amenities may not have been acceptable in general but they were acceptable enough to stay another month.
This is not a legal question. This is purely ethical and the fact you came here to ask shows you already know what you need to do. Congrats on the new place and I hope it works out for ya.
Not a lawyer but I’d walk right out. 💃🏼
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