Ex Landlord Sueing

What is the name of your state? Californina

Last yeararound March, I started receiving calls and letters stating that the house I was renting was in Pre- Forclosure I brought this up to the owners they assured me everything was fine. At the end of April there was a notice posted on the door that the house was up for auction at that time I stopped paying rent and started to look for a new place I did try to contact the owner to no avail.

In July I received a call from the owner asking when I would be vacating I told them I needed 30 daysdue to escrow, they said just let them know because they were giving up the house and wanted the refrigerator no mention was made about rent. When I moved, I delivered the Frige to their place of residence still nothing was said about the rent, about 2 weeks later I received a call asking about the dishwasher and a fountain in the backyard I explained that the dishwasher had broke and I had tried to contact them but could not find them so I bought one for $50. to replaced the old I they said it didn't match I told that since they were giving up the house I didn't think it mattered as for fountain it was there when I moved.

Two days ago I received papers, I am being sued for back rent and the dishwasher and fountain. Does any one know if I have a chance in court. They stated on the papers that they had aslked for money which they never did. Also at the time I stopped paying I did not have a written lease when I had asked about renewing at the beginning of the year they said we will go month to month this was done verbally will this halp at all.

Thanks

I don't know about the dishwasher or the fountain.

You stopped paying rent, didn't give proper move-out notice under your month-to-month lease, and continued to live there. I think the LL gets the rent, whatever else s/he may be entitled to under the lease, and court costs.

I see your statement that you didn't know how to contact the LL. That s generally not a believable claim. How did you pay your rent (when you did pay)?

At the time the owner was going back and forth from Mexico, I tried to reach them by Phone and went to both known addresses one was the parents of the owners. I left messages with them and also delivered the leteers to them. In my original lease which was written by them they did not state a time frame for vacating I still have a copy of the lease.

caleth said:

At the time the owner was going back and forth from Mexico, I tried to reach them by Phone and went to both known addresses one was the parents of the owners. I left messages with them and also delivered the leteers to them. In my original lease which was written by them they did not state a time frame for vacating I still have a copy of the lease.

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This is no excuse for not paying rent.

Based on the information posted, it is reasonable to think that a court would find some liability. As las365 points out, some information is omitted. The liability may be less than they are claiming (and we don’t know what that is), but some liability.

You say that you stopped paying rent at the end of April. In July, you asked to hold-over for 30 days. We don’t know when the 30 days began to run or when you actually left but, at the very least, there is no accounting for May and June.

Your post is not clear about whether you disposed of and replaced a non-working washer and whether you left one or both. The age of the washer and whether you asked that it be fixed and whether you have evidence of its condition are unknown.

The value of the fountain and whether the house stood vacant for any time are unknowns, but it doesn’t appear that there was a walk-thru when you left and that problems and conditions were documented.

Without questioning your statement, if you have a copy of the lease, you might want to look at it again. It would be extremely surprising if there were no provision concerning the time to vacate, once you “gave notice”. And, if you could deliver a letter to the owner’s parents, it is difficult to se why you could not also deliver rent, even if that was not the way that it had previously been paid.