Need advice - help - Landlord Forum thread

Need advice - help by Cindy on November 3, 2009 @13:22

My Name is Cindy. I am in need of some legal information. My fiancé and I along with our 2 yr old daughter moved into the 2nd floor of a 2 family house on Sept 1, 2008. The lease we signed was a month to month lease for the first six months and then we were to discuss with the landlords about signing a 1-2 year lease. We’ve been there for 1 yr and 2 months and never signed another lease. This past Sunday (11/01/09) they collected their rent and later that day we got a call giving us a 30 day notice. Someone told us that we basically signed away our rights with the month to month lease. Is it worth going to court to try to extend our stay, so we could save money to move out again? What are the chances that the judge will grant us a few more months without paying rent?
Thank You
Cindy

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Re: Need advice - help by MassLL (MA) on November 3, 2009 @13:28

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No judge will let you stay without paying rent - "no pay, no stay".

In many parts of the country, winte is best time to be looking for a new apartment as rents are lower. Start looking. Borrow the money from someone if need be.

Re: Need advice - help by Micah on November 3, 2009 @13:52	[ Reply ]
You are on month to month... They have given you one months notice to vacate... What don't you get? Just find another place and move within the month.

Re: Need advice - help by Anonymous on November 3, 2009 @13:59

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Move out within the month or else get evicted. No one is going to let you stay longer when you are on a month to month lease, that is the point of the lease. Go ahead and try to stay without paying, but be prepared to be evicted and sued. In most states not only would you be sued for unpaid rent, but pay court costs, and could be liable for holdover rent at 2-3 times the normal rental amount. Then of course that will really hurt your credit and good luck finding a good place to rent in the furture with bad credit and an eviction on your record.

Re: Need advice - help by Anonymous on November 3, 2009 @14:06	[ Reply ]
If you were initially on a year lease, by now it would have converted to a M2M by now anyway. A 30 day notice is what the LL is legally obligated to do. No judge is going to actually grant you more time to leave. If you were to stay there past the 30 days, you can be evicted and will have a hard time renting in your futre because it will end up on your record.

Re: Need advice - help by OK-LL on November 3, 2009 @14:46

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Cindy, you should be saving a portion of your monthly income already, so you have money available for this type of thing, or a flat tire, or an emergency room visit. You've been there 14 months already and should have been putting money away all along, knowing you rent and will have to move one day.

In your next rental, get something that is no more than 30% of your income and put 10-15% in savings every month. The remaining 55% of your income should cover everything else -- utilities, car payments, insurance, gas, food. If it doesn't, you're living too high. Try not to get caught up in "buy it now and pay for it later". You'll never get ahead with that.

Good luck.

Re: Need advice - help

Re: Need advice - help by Anonymous on November 3, 2009 @16:41

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This is not a basis to deny you tenancy; it's just my own observation.

If you have a two year old daughter with this man, why is he still your fiance?

Something is not being told here.

Re: Need advice - help

Re: Need advice - help by 574-Brad (IN) on November 3, 2009 @21:25

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You signed a month to month lease... it doesn't have a six month time frame or any time frame, except "MONTH TO MONTH", hence the name. You did not "sign any rights away", you agreed to this month to month lease upfront, otherwise you wouldn't have signed it, payed, and moved in. No one feels sorry for you. You agreed to a contract in which you or the landlord can give thirty days notice to move out. It doesn't say anything about not paying rent so you can save for a new place. If you don't pay, and the landlord sues you, it will go on your public record, for not paying rent, and no landlord with decent property will rent to you. My advice - pay your rent and move out peacefully, just liked you agreed to when you signed the ---> month to month lease.