3 day notice to pay rent or quit

[assu123]

[JRScott]

You would need to check the tenant landlord laws of your state.

You will need to most likely document the unhealthy/unsafe conditions with photographs etc. Perhaps write a letter disputing rent citing the mold etc and the relevant section of the law.

[junker]

after the 3 day notice to pay, you will get a30 day eviction notice. if you plan on fighting it, as Scott said, you MUST document it, with pictures, etc. but most likely it will only give cause to not pay rent, not to stop the eviction.. if the judge agrees that you are living in unhealthy conditions, he could forgive the past due rent, but most likely you would still have to move.Meaning you will not be able to continue to live in the apartment in unhealthy conditons and not pay rent....

[sdbird101]

This 3 day letter is standard and required in most states before they file eviction. (If you claim you never got notice directly from them they may grant a continuance) Depending on how fast your local small claims court works you may receive papers in the mail with your court date, which could be as soon as 2 weeks from now, and the judge would most likly give you 7 days to leave. From the time they give you this letter, it usually works out to about 30 days till you are court ordered out.

As far as the condition and health safety issues go, you would have a claim had you notified your landlord several time and at least once 30 days before you stopped paying rent via certified mail, and then moved out or fixed any problems and deducted them from the rent. the crucial part being this 30 day notice via certified mail.

Short of that, you can try taking pictures, proof, etc to court, but 99% of the time the judge will simply ask if you disagree to the statement "Have you paid your rent".

Now some localities allow a landlord to simply move your stuff out and change the locks after the judge grants possession, some however make them schedule an appointment with a moving company, which can take another 30 days, but you'll want to be sure about this as you don't want to come home and find your stuff on the curb.

[blankslate]

I think you may want to see if you can settle this with your landlord first. You're going to have a hard time getting back on your feet if both of you are out of work. If it goes to court, you will be evicted and there are companies who troll civil cases for evictions and make a list. Most landlords check this list when running a rental application. I've been on it myself and it really makes things difficult. If I'd known in hindsight, I would've gone a different route.

If you do get served with a summons for eviction, you must reply and do it within 7 days (14 if they are served via mail and not personally) If you don't reply, it will be a default judgment and you won't get a chance to plead your case to a judge.

Good luck and I hope you can work it out some how.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Not sure on this, but, in bk, they cannot throw you out of your house until the stay is lifted. Perhaps if you file, your stay will stop any action of eviction. It would not make your landlord too happy to have you stay free if this is the case, but it could be one answer as you are probably going to file anyway. I am out of town and don't have my bk7 book handy, perhaps others can chime in. 'Hub

[sdbird101]

Not sure on this, but, in bk, they cannot throw you out of your house until the stay is lifted. Perhaps if you file, your stay will stop any action of eviction. It would not make your landlord too happy to have you stay free if this is the case, but it could be one answer as you are probably going to file anyway. I am out of town and don't have my bk7 book handy, perhaps others can chime in. 'Hub

I just did some reading from NOLOS's "The New Bankruptcy: Will it work for you?" and discovered that as long as you file banckruptcy before the landlord gets a judgement against you, so before your first court date which maybe as little as 20-30 days away, the automatic stay protects you through your bankruptcy case so i believe 60-90 days or more, as long as they can't prove you are endangering the property or using illegal drugs.

[kornellred]

I don't see any connection between the substandard conditions in your living space and your inability to pay the rent. It's sort of like asking is it okay to live rent free in a moldy apartment with poor electrical service. Not according to your landlord, and probably not according to the local laws where you live.

Move out of that place and move in with relatives who will accept you while you try and straghten your financial lives out.

[Tbornetun]

If the place has substandard living conditions, you should have filed a complaint early on and put the rent money into an escrow account until the issue could be resolved. That would be the only way you could come out ahead in this situation. I would suggest you prepare to move. If you didn't pay the rent, you WILL get the eviction regardless of the situation. Your obligation to pay the back rent would be up to the judge.

[frogger]

Don't mean to rain on your mold parade here, but it's a common practice in court that tenants try to use against the landlord. Tenant tells judge that there is mold in the apartment, children are sick, landlord won't fix anything, no hot water, no heat or air, etc. Judge asks tenant if they have told landlord, the answer is we've been telling him for all of these months and he won't fix them.

Look at your lease. Most state that repair requests should be in writing. Can you document that you made requests for these to be repaired or that they were problems? If not, the judge probably won't give a rats rear end about your complaints. After all, you are still living there, so they can't be that bad.

And..... you haven't paid your rent too?

I don't mean for this to sound bad, but I've been a landlord for 20 years and I've seen it many times by the tenants. Got mold? Open the bathroom window when you shower and clean it with bleach!

[sigferl]

Thanks for your post assu. I am sorry for your situation but it looks like there is no easy way out.

I am a landlord and the owner of a double so I probably have a different opinion. From a landlords point of view, it would be hard for him to make the repairs if you are only making a partial rent payment.

On time rent payments are important for me because that is what I use to pay the mortgage and the mortgage company is not very forgiving if I am late.

I would suggest trying to find ways to earn more money or cut expenses. Good luck and I hope it works out for everyone.

God Bless America.

[sigferl]

Thanks for your post korn. I agree completely. Can not rent a place for long with no income.

I don't see any connection between the substandard conditions in your living space and your inability to pay the rent. It's sort of like asking is it okay to live rent free in a moldy apartment with poor electrical service. Not according to your landlord, and probably not according to the local laws where you live.

Move out of that place and move in with relatives who will accept you while you try and straghten your financial lives out.

[justbroke]

I'm getting late to this, but the Bankruptcy Court is very Eviction friendly. What I mean by that, is that it's easy for a landlord that has already started the proceedings, to get you out within 30 days... even with a Bankruptcy.

As stated, if you are having habitability issues, you need to get those documented immediately and perhaps consult some Legal Aid in your town/city.