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We rented a house for about 15 years. Had a month to month lease. Paid for about first year and last months rent up front, including a security deposit.
In July we got word that the landlord died and the children are taking over and they might be selling the home ... August comes around and we receive a 30 day eviction notice. We end up rushing out in September. Then we get a notice to pay for September rent which was adjusted cause we left mid September or we'll be taken to small claims court. Court comes up and we lose that claim .. Now We needed to appeal by or on 1/14/2017 which was Saturday. Go there Friday after work to appeal because we weren't given 60 day notice we had paid first and last months rent and shes keeping deposit plus we have to pay for junk it truck to pick up everything we left cause we were hurried to get the F out basically.. So friday the appeals office closed at 2 pm and Saturday there closed and its martin luther king weekend... I'm hoping to go in tomorrow and they accept my appeal.. If not then could i sue her for evicting us without proper notice ? Also we cant find the lease and landlord cannot either. It was over 10 years ago but we no we paid first and last months rent... Are we pretty much screwed here ? should we pay and just be done with it ? I have so many questions and so much info i left out . Anyone with some knowledge about the court system and legal process/renting rights able to help me out maybe give me some pointers ...
The court system is so screwed up ... The law in california is 60 day notice if you lived there for more then 1 year .. We clearly only got a 30 day notice. Then harassed to leave. How can a small claim be awarded to landlord when the courts are suppose to follow the law.. . Should we not have left and since we left now we have to pay rent . If we stayed then that would have forced her to go through the system and give us a true 60 day notice. If the appeal is denied can we sue landlord. This all would be fine if we had money but we lilve paycheck to pay check.. We also had to give a dog away to move .. could we fight this ? Thanks for reading.
We rented a house for about 15 years. Had a month to month lease. Paid for about first year and last months rent up front, including a security deposit.
In July we got word that the landlord died and the children are taking over and they might be selling the home ... August comes around and we receive a 30 day eviction notice. We end up rushing out in September. Then we get a notice to pay for September rent which was adjusted cause we left mid September or we'll be taken to small claims court. Court comes up and we lose that claim .. Now We needed to appeal by or on 1/14/2017 which was Saturday. Go there Friday after work to appeal because we weren't given 60 day notice we had paid first and last months rent and shes keeping deposit plus we have to pay for junk it truck to pick up everything we left cause we were hurried to get the F out basically.. So friday the appeals office closed at 2 pm and Saturday there closed and its martin luther king weekend... I'm hoping to go in tomorrow and they accept my appeal.. If not then could i sue her for evicting us without proper notice ? Also we cant find the lease and landlord cannot either. It was over 10 years ago but we no we paid first and last months rent... Are we pretty much screwed here ? should we pay and just be done with it ? I have so many questions and so much info i left out . Anyone with some knowledge about the court system and legal process/renting rights able to help me out maybe give me some pointers ...
The court system is so screwed up ... The law in california is 60 day notice if you lived there for more then 1 year .. We clearly only got a 30 day notice. Then harassed to leave. How can a small claim be awarded to landlord when the courts are suppose to follow the law.. . Should we not have left and since we left now we have to pay rent . If we stayed then that would have forced her to go through the system and give us a true 60 day notice. If the appeal is denied can we sue landlord. This all would be fine if we had money but we lilve paycheck to pay check.. We also had to give a dog away to move .. could we fight this ? Thanks for reading.
Unfortunately for you, the only thing that matters here is that you needed to appeal by 1/14/2017. So, you will have to pay the judgment the judge ordered. What you can still do, I believe, is ask the clerk at the courthouse about getting a stipulated payment agreement. I'm not sure of the details of how to do that, but basically, the court lets you make payments on the judgment. So, call or go to the clerk's office and find out how to do that.
My experience with judges in small claims court, is that they are very fair. So, odds are that you would have also lost the appeal anyway. Plus, at the appeal, both sides can bring lawyers, so they probably would have shown up with a lawyer and you'd be there without one, or you'd have to pay one - and if you lost, you'd have to probably pay their lawyer's fees, too.
Better go see about the stipulated payment agreement with the court.
So you paid last month and a security deposit up front (presumably equal to 2 month's worth of rent), and when you moved out, you owed for a partial month worth of rent and that was all? And the courts ruled that you owe the owner money? I'm missing something here. Even without a lease for review, it is generally assumed that there is some sort of security deposit paid.
How much did they claim you had in security deposit when you went to court? Did they send you an itemized breakdown of how that deposit was used? Did they claim a bunch of damage/cleaning? I just can't imagine how the math ended up that you owe them anything at all.
I agree that you likely have missed the deadline to appeal. But that doesn't mean you don't have options. They sued you for a partial month rent. That probably doesn't prevent you from suing them for return of security deposit. You'll still have to pay them in the meantime, though.
But without a copy of the lease, or any sort of receipt showing what you paid at move in, I don't know that you would win that fight.
I have to say that I hear from vacating tenants all the time "I already paid final month rent when I moved in". Except that we never charge last month rent up front, so I know they didn't. And I have a copy of their lease, which says that we don't charge last month up front. Or they say "You charged me $1500 deposit", except I have a copy of the lease which says we charged $1250. Most of them aren't doing it on purpose, they really think they remember things happening that way. People don't always remember things correctly, which is just human nature. Even for things that happened 5 minutes ago, let alone 15 years ago. So the judge isn't going to just take your word for it. You need proof or it is just a waste of time.
We rented a house for about 15 years. Had a month to month lease. Paid for about first year and last months rent up front, including a security deposit.
In July we got word that the landlord died and the children are taking over and they might be selling the home ... August comes around and we receive a 30 day eviction notice. We end up rushing out in September. Then we get a notice to pay for September rent which was adjusted cause we left mid September or we'll be taken to small claims court. Court comes up and we lose that claim .. Now We needed to appeal by or on 1/14/2017 which was Saturday. Go there Friday after work to appeal because we weren't given 60 day notice we had paid first and last months rent and shes keeping deposit plus we have to pay for junk it truck to pick up everything we left cause we were hurried to get the F out basically.. So friday the appeals office closed at 2 pm and Saturday there closed and its martin luther king weekend... I'm hoping to go in tomorrow and they accept my appeal.. If not then could i sue her for evicting us without proper notice ? Also we cant find the lease and landlord cannot either. It was over 10 years ago but we no we paid first and last months rent... Are we pretty much screwed here ? should we pay and just be done with it ? I have so many questions and so much info i left out . Anyone with some knowledge about the court system and legal process/renting rights able to help me out maybe give me some pointers ...
The court system is so screwed up ... The law in california is 60 day notice if you lived there for more then 1 year .. We clearly only got a 30 day notice. Then harassed to leave. How can a small claim be awarded to landlord when the courts are suppose to follow the law.. . Should we not have left and since we left now we have to pay rent . If we stayed then that would have forced her to go through the system and give us a true 60 day notice. If the appeal is denied can we sue landlord. This all would be fine if we had money but we lilve paycheck to pay check.. We also had to give a dog away to move .. could we fight this ? Thanks for reading.
Wait a second.....did they ever issue you a notice to vacate? Normally when a landlord wants to get rid of their month to month tenants, they issue a notice to vacate. Eviction will follow if the tenant doesn't leave within that timeframe.
You missed your deadline and unless you out of the country, in the hospital or dead..you should've filed that appeal weeks ago. You will likely owe what was awarded, but you can get legal counsel and see if you have any recourse.
You had plenty of time to move. Plenty of time to find a new unit, (that took pets; getting rid of the dog was your choice), plenty of time to make sure the unit was left empty and clean. I doubt your deposit will be returned if you left the unit full of stuff and dirty.
Good luck...maybe you can recoup some of your money based on their short notice...find your lease or least receipts showing what you paid. Keep us posted on this...it's nice to know the outcome of situations like this.
Wait a second.....did they ever issue you a notice to vacate? Normally when a landlord wants to get rid of their month to month tenants, they issue a notice to vacate. Eviction will follow if the tenant doesn't leave within that timeframe.
I would guess that the "30 day eviction notice" is the notice to vacate. A lot of people equate being told to move by their landlord with "getting evicted." My fiance kept telling people "we're getting evicted!" after our building sold and we got the notice to vacate as they intended to knock it down and redevelop it.
You know, when you are asked to leave and you leave a truck full of junk that has to be hauled away, you are going to be charged for that, no matter what your excuse is.
15 years ago, you remember paying first and last month's rent. Do you have proof in writing, not only that you paid that but also that it was never used for rent at any point during those 15 years?
The court ruled against you and you didn't appeal. I don't know what you think anyone here can do for you. You were out in September and you are complaining about missing the appeals deadline in the middle of January. The only advice I can give you is to pay closer attention next time.
Thanks for everyone post .. i just want to say that before i even start reading ... I do want to tell you all this whole case i got brewing.. its a good one.. i do have more questions and really appreciate everyone's reply .. give me couple hours , this case just got good lol..
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" after our building sold and we got the notice to vacate as they intended to knock it down and redevelop it.
