Am I Liable? (evicting, house, record, landlords)

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by KingdomJan

So let me ask this. If they do ask me for money and I can't pay (note- I'm working a minimum wage job and basically living paycheck to paycheck at the moment), what happends? Jail?

Not a lawyer here...

Typically, what I have seen is the Landlord will send a letter itemizing charges and ask to be paid.

You will then have the opportunity to respond.

If you are not able to reach agreement, the Landlord's next move would most likely be a small claims court action where each side has a chance to explain their side...

If the landlord looses, that is the end of it.

If you loose, you often have the right of appeal.

If you loose once and don't appeal or loose twice on appeal... the landlord will have a monetary judgement and will attempt to collect.

Sometimes it is turned over to a collection agency and other times the judgment holder may try to garnish wages or something else of value.

If you have very little, you may be judgement proof... that is there is nothing to go after of what you have is protected.

Judgements are usually good for 10 years and can be renewed for successive 10 year periods...

Meanwhile, it will most likely show on your credit report and may drop your credit score...

As I said... I'm not a lawyer and not offering legal advice... just experience from years as a consumer arbitrator in California.

[greyesreilly]

I moved out of an apartment that i co leased. the lease ended and we paid month to month. I decided to move to another state and gave my co tenant and i mailed a written notice to the property manager. My co tenant continued to live there 4 more years and then ended up getting evicted. Now, i am being sued as well for a unlawful detainer. I didn't know this until i was about to be garnished. I moved to Arizona and resided there for 4 years and never got served or notified of this judgment.

[sunsprit]

Originally Posted by greyesreilly

I moved out of an apartment that i co leased. the lease ended and we paid month to month. I decided to move to another state and gave my co tenant and i mailed a written notice to the property manager. My co tenant continued to live there 4 more years and then ended up getting evicted. Now, i am being sued as well for a unlawful detainer. I didn't know this until i was about to be garnished. I moved to Arizona and resided there for 4 years and never got served or notified of this judgment.

Much, of course, depends upon the terms of the lease and the tenant/landlord laws of the state where the lease was out.

But the main thing is that if you were a party to the lease that gave the tenant that remained the leasehold, then you are a responsible party to that lease. Your written notice that you were leaving is no release from your lease obligations unless the landlord gave you that release ... in writing.

I've had similar situations as a landlord when a tenant group broke up and I had to go after all of them when several stayed over past the lease expiration, which automatically ... by law ... became a month-to-month tenancy extension of the original lease. For years, the remaining tenants paid, but when they stopped paying, then I had to evict them. To sue one required that I sue them all to recover my losses.

[Ms_Christina]

Jail, no. There is no debtor's prison in the US.

[greyesreilly]

Thank you for responding.. it was a month to month from the beginning of the lease. One co tenant went in and took himself off before I decided to move and the left behind 2 tenants to be responsible we did not get to re-sign or object to this. The lease only requires a written notice of 30 days. They accepted her rent for 4 years and raise the rent a couple of times and still no idea I was gone. One of the property manager supervisor lived in one of the 6 units and was close to the tenants. I believe it could have been resolved a long time before this eviction had they did their due diligence in keeping track of the tenants and their occupants. This is why I thought everything was good since i wasn't contacted by the manager or my ex co tenant. They seem to have turned the other cheek since they were getting the rent steadily from her. Once they found out they should have been a new contract for only her or telll her she would have to move now that the income and situation has changed drastically. It has been so frustrating and hard to find out what my rights our.

[nisha93]

if the company made a mistake and got me to sign a lease but my name was not on the lease someone ele's name was am I still liable to that lease(contract)?

[STT Resident]

Originally Posted by nisha93

if the company made a mistake and got me to sign a lease but my name was not on the lease someone ele's name was am I still liable to that lease(contract)?

On the face of it no but without a valid lease you're legally a month to month tent and are still required to abide by your state landlord tenant laws.

Not relevant but as far as "the company made a mistake" it seems that you didn't read the lease handed to you and this in itself is a big mistake. Before you sign any contract you should read it thoroughly.

[LOL_Whut]

Originally Posted by nisha93

if the company made a mistake and got me to sign a lease but my name was not on the lease someone ele's name was am I still liable to that lease(contract)?

Didn't you put your name on it when you signed it?

[wildkat2]

My partner and I think we will be evicted cuz the landlord has asked to inspect the property and my partners previous housemate did a lot of damage to the property that we can't financially afford to repair all at once is there anyway to stop the landlord evicting us if he decides to evict

[AZ Manager]

Originally Posted by wildkat2

My partner and I think we will be evicted cuz the landlord has asked to inspect the property and my partners previous housemate did a lot of damage to the property that we can't financially afford to repair all at once is there anyway to stop the landlord evicting us if he decides to evict

No