3 Day Pay Or Quit Notice from landlord who accepted partial rent payments

[tenant23]

What is the name of your state? California

My husband and I have been living in our current residence for 42 months. We did so with a verbal agreement with the landlord in which his wife told me that the rent is 1700/month. The due date has been amended by them from the 1st of the month to the 10th of the month. This amendment was told to my husband over the phone by the landlord.
We have always lived here with that same agreement. We have never seen or signed or even had the landlord talk about a written lease.

We have always paid our rent on time but, this year has been really bad for us financially. We both got laid-off from our jobs and have been searching for work for several months. We are still trying to find work and currently completed our first credit counseling session as required to file Chapter 7. Like I said, we are beyond broke and our landlord knows this and always stated that they would work with us.

As a result of this unintended unemployment, we are behind in our rent (6300.00). Which breaks down as follows: May $0, June $700, July $1000, Aug. $1000, Sept. $1700, Oct. $1200. When we first realized that we were coming up short on the rent we spoke to the Landlord about it. They were very understanding and decided that we could pay what we could at that time and make up the balance later when we had the funds. A at at which we were expected to start paying the back due amount was never discussed.

That was until, with no warning, we received a 3 day Pay or Quit in our mail. This notice was sent regular post. Therefore, it was not served properly. Upon receiving it, my husband offered the landlord $1200 (all we had) for the Month of Oct. The landlord even said that was ok and we were left with the impression that we just needed to keep on with our previous agreement in which he was willing to work with us. Then 2 days later another 3 Day notice demanding we pay $6300.00 by 11/13/2006 as stated in our rental agreement.
What rental agreement? We don't and never have had one in writing. Also, there are liveability issues such as a trickle of hot water in the kitchen sink, no hot water in the bathroom sink. We told the landlord about the lack of hot water in the kitchen when we moved in 3 years and 7 months ago. We also informed him of The lack of hot water in the bathroom sink issue is over a year old. There is still trash from the previous tenant in the back yard and basement. I was told earlier this summer that the trash in the back yard would be taken away - some of it was - most of it remains. Other liveability issues include: Shower in bathroom leaks into the basement from a hole in the basement ceiling that was made when it was "repaired", our wall heater - the house's only source of heat, has a pilot light which tends to go out unless the heater is on full-blast. Most of the screens are missing from all the windows too. We informed him of all issues - nothing done to fix any of them.

We were told we could fix the bathroom sink ourselves and deduct it from our rent but, we can barely afford food and with all the money we have paid him over the last 3 years 7 months, we feel that he should be responsible to fix these things.

We thought we were getting back on track financially, things are starting to get a little better for us but, we do not have 6300.00 to give him on monday for a rental agreement that, according to what I read in the Civil Code, is unenforcable because verbal rental agreements are only allowed for tenancies of 1 year or less.

What can we do? We cannot afford to move, we gave our landlord all the cash we had.
With the current condition of our rental, We also feel we are being charged way too much for rent. Houses nicer than ours are currently renting in our neighborhood for 1300 to 1400/month.

Any advise would be helpful, up until now we thought we were going to be able to work things out with the landlord. They know all about our money situation and even accepted reduced payments from us with not mention of wanting to evict us. They said just a week previous that they didn't want us to move. I'm confused. This has really sideswiped us. If we get evicted we will have to live in our car.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by tenant23

What can we do? We cannot afford to move, we gave our landlord all the cash we had.

Pretty simple... start packing. There is nothing in your post to support your claim of paying any portion of the CURRENT overdue rent. The payment you did make goes against your arrearage!!!
Simply, this means you still MUST pay all of the overdue rent plus the current due... or you will be evicted.

With the current condition of our rental, We also feel we are being charged way too much for rent. Houses nicer than ours are currently renting in our neighborhood for 1300 to 1400/month.

Gee, then you shouldn't have any problem at all moving, huh??
You sound like the typical spoiled brat tenant... the house was just fine (even you admit you paid on time) until you have a problem... then you try to come up with any excuse you can to justify your failures by trying to blame someone else!!

If we get evicted we will have to live in our car.

So, why EXACTLY do you think the landlord should suffer for YOUR problems???
Why EXACTLY are YOUR problems any responsibility of the landlord??

This is really simple. Beg or borrow the money you already promised to pay the landlord... and pay him. Then, get off your fat ass and get a job and repay whoever you borrow or beg from. Or, you better hope the local gas station will let you use their bathroom.

[ipegleg]

That's pretty harsh, but probably the bottom line is you're going to have to move out sooner or later. The 3 day notice is the beginning of eviction. If you can't pay withing 3 days, then the LL takes it to the court for formal eviction.

Got any close friends with extra space? Ever thought of looking for work in another part of the country? Might be a good time. Monsterjobs ?

[Hot Topic]

You should have advised your landlord in writing of the problems with your apartment. Bringing them up now makes it look like you feel justified in not having paid what you owed.

What steps did you take to reduce your living expenses? Those savings could have gone toward paying your rent.

Did you try getting temporary jobs? Some of those lead to permanent ones if the client is looking for someone and impressed with the quality of your work.