Evicting me with no contract or written notice. (lease, tenant, eviction)

[altorrent]

First off this is in California.

A little over a year ago I began renting a room in a town house. The guy that collects rent has 1-2 room renters at one time. None of us have ever signed any contract with him. He is a renter himself of the home as he pays rent to the propery management.

Two days ago my truck broke down, and I've been trying to fix it since. I've been occupied with it, so I over looked the fact that it was the 1st of the month. I realized on the 3rd rent was past due, and before I could get it to him that day he became irradic and evicted me.

I had him justify my eviction. He pointed out one reason was the minimal dirt on my shower wall. Well I own and operate a tree care service, and I often come home to a shower as a very diry man thus a dirty shower.

He said that he already clarified his policy about leaving articles in the living room that are mine. I had just bought some climbing gear for my job, and they were on the table in the living room. He went down there to show me this "inraction," and he threw the items on the floor as he yelled, "What's this? What's this?"

I know his tendency to never pay his room renters the deposit back. He either tells them he will pay them back later, or he tells them that they are in some made up violation, so he is not obligated to return the deposit. These deposits are never spent on remedying any problems due to tenants. I said to him that I had better get my deposit back, and he said I would not receive one because of the baseball sized, blue stain on the carpet. This carpet is a nasty carpet, and it should have been replaced long before I entered the home. The whole thing has stains from one side of the second floor to the other side, but he wants to charge me $350 for the the blue stain.

I put out there that he has a problem because he has no written agreement. He says that's right and says I have the problem now. Then asks what I'm doing here. He says he will have the police over in a moment to take me off the premises simply for fact that there is no writen proof validating my presence in the home. I wasn't sure about that at all.

He then declares that I may have 3 days to leave, and I won't have to pay the rent or I have 30 days to leave if I payed yesterday. Well, of course I paid right away. I had the money, I just fell behind payment 2 days because of the truck issues.

I've read the tenants rights, and I see nothing in regards to my situation: no written contract, no written notice, lodger that pays rent to a renter.

I have read about the issue of fixing the problem with the "landlord." I have payed the rent that was 2 days late. The shower is cleanable, and the things he was throwing around downstairs I moved to my room upstairs. All of these things are fixed, thus I cannot be evicted, right?

I think I should get all of my deposit back, but what is possible without anything in writing?

The bottom line is do I have 60 days to leave if I choose not to comply with the 30 day verbal notice?

BTW, this guy is a bit on the wierd side. He smokes a lot of pot, drinks a lot, never, I mean never, leaves his room, and has had a pot farm in his room for a time. There is no more pot farming in there now. He still comes home from work to his room to stay for good. There is a great living room down stairs with all of the accomodations as well as in the kitchen, but he has never used it. He eats out twice a day. Besides going to the drive thru he will leave that room to go to work, and that is the only time he will exit that room. He keeps no food in the kitchen or upstairs. He collects dishes in his room then sets them in the kitchen and never washes them. Dishes of his have been in the kitchen for over a month now. I don't love him. I don't wash his dishes you know.

[altorrent]

I appologize for such a long post. The short of it is that I am a lodger renting a room in a townhouse that is owned by propery management that leases to the person I pay rent to. I have only verbal contract and a verbal eviction notice.

The guy is evicting me because of trivial things he is trying to make issue out of to make it look like there is reason for the eviction, and he is evicting me because I was 2 days late on rent which I've payed as of the 3rd.

He says that he will not pay me my deposit because of a stain on a carpet that already had 101 significant stains on it the first day I entered the home.

What grounds do I have to stand on in this situation?

This post is the short of what I'm dealing with. I described it all in further detail in the top post.

I appreciate any advice.

[DowntownVentura]

al,

It might help if you listed your state.

Off the top of my head, without a lease, you may be able to show you were in fact leasing with canceled checks, things mailed in your name to that address, etc. That might show that even without the formal document, the landlord is still held to the terms of tenant law. I don't really know though, a lot of what this does depend on your state.

[altorrent]

Originally Posted by DowntownVentura

al,

It might help if you listed your state.

Off the top of my head, without a lease, you may be able to show you were in fact leasing with canceled checks, things mailed in your name to that address, etc. That might show that even without the formal document, the landlord is still held to the terms of tenant law. I don't really know though, a lot of what this does depend on your state.

Right, this is in California. I do have some articles that have the address as well as witness of my tenancy here.

[virgode]

Its a verbal contract in most states 30days.
Good Luck, sounds like another unstable LL.

[altorrent]

I think finding who is and speaking to the property management that this guy pays lease to would do some good. I could give them notice of the illegal horticulture that has occured in the home and how the home has been permanently modfied/damaged to accomodate his green house. I doubt they would be happy to oblige anything except an eviction for him when they find out these things. I suspect the guy is a computer hacker as well.

By the way, the garbage disposal has been broken, and the sink has been clogged for a few months now. I have asked him to rectify that facility, but he has neglected to do so. Does this constitute anything to my behalf in my case? The way I understand it that is neglect of duty as acting landlord if he holds that title to begin with.

[virgode]

Thats a tricky situation, he holds the lease on the unit, your subletting from
him. Your LL has to initiate any repairs.

[altorrent]

Originally Posted by virgode

Thats a tricky situation, he holds the lease on the unit, your subletting from
him. Your LL has to initiate any repairs.

What do you mean by initiate? He has to pay for them?

What about the deposit? Is it possible to have it returned if there is no written agreement depicting the transaction and what it was towards? I've heard that courts often can honor verbal contracts.

So the way I understand it is that he must pay for the repairs as he is the only person officially on the lease, yet I can't prove that I've submitted a deposit, therefore I have no right to a refund. How close am I?

[jdm2008]

Originally Posted by altorrent

What do you mean by initiate? He has to pay for them?

What about the deposit? Is it possible to have it returned if there is no written agreement depicting the transaction and what it was towards? I've heard that courts often can honor verbal contracts.

So the way I understand it is that he must pay for the repairs as he is the only person officially on the lease, yet I can't prove that I've submitted a deposit, therefore I have no right to a refund. How close am I?

How will him getting evicted help you though? You'll be evicted as well. And the above are correct. The property management won't do anything for you since they don't have a lease with you and don't have any obligations to you.

Do you have recipts/cancelled checks for your payment(s)? I believe that since he accepted your rent(he accepted it right?) that he can't evict you for non payment. Not sure though. Checks with rent in the memo are ussually enough to establish tenancy. If you paid cash your probably out of luck since he'll just say he never received it. If you have checks with blank memos you might be able to establish tenancy with your mail, witnesses, or any other collaborative evidence along with the checks. Then if you bring all of the checks( say you paid $1200 month 1 $600 month 2 $600 month 3) you can establish that there was a security deposit in month one. He might say he sold you something the first month, or it was a non refundable pet deposit or anything. Idk, it will be up to whether the judge believes it

If I were you I would accept his offer(get it in writing) to move in 3 days but demand your deposit back in exchange. I would make it so that he's asking you to move in 3 days and you are waiving your rights to thirty days notice(so that it is he who is breaching the agreement). It might be dicey the other way around since 30 days notice is usually required by law It's important thought that you get that in writing.
I don't think you'll have much trouble proving your tenancy in court provided you have receipts(or checks) for rent, and the deposit.

Not a lawyer or an expert though but thats what I would do.

[virgode]

Checks are proof of tenancy, however, they are not proof you paid on time.
Written dated receipts are the best form of proof. In a court a judge bases his
ruling on facts, the burden of proof is on you, his tenant. To protect your security deposit,
certain measures have to be taken on your part to insure that happens.

Stained carpet, unless you have pictures to prove the carpet was stained previous to your tenancy,
your out of luck. You could rent a steamer and purchase products to remove the stains if plan
to recover you deposit. Take photos as proof.

As far as repairs, hes the lease holder, its his duty to report to his LL,
so repairs can be made, unless the necessary repairs are due to tenant
negligence or damage, there should be no charge and is refered to as
normal wear and tear. Sinks get clogged all the time, at no fault of the tenant.

Hopefully your next renting experience will be better. Take the time and steps necessary to protect yourself.