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Can a landlord sue if not on the lease?

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Jackknife

Junior Member
New Jersey

Can a landlord sue for unpaid rent if I was not on the lease?

There is absolutely no evidence proving I lived there (mail, checks, etc) and the landlord is continuously harrassing me for money. The rent agreed upon was verbal. Along with this, I had no privacy (lived in a loft), could not use laundry without being harassed, could not cook, and the house became moldy. The majority of the time (75% of the time) I did not even stay in the home because of these conditions.

Does he have any right to sue for compensation?
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
New Jersey

Can a landlord sue for unpaid rent if I was not on the lease?

There is absolutely no evidence proving I lived there (mail, checks, etc) and the landlord is continuously harrassing me for money. The rent agreed upon was verbal. Along with this, I had no privacy (lived in a loft), could not use laundry without being harassed, could not cook, and the house became moldy. The majority of the time (75% of the time) I did not even stay in the home because of these conditions.

Does he have any right to sue for compensation?
Anybody can sue for anything. The question is whether or not they can win. You would also have the right to countersue, based on the potential lack of habitability.
 

HRZ

Senior Member
THere most certainly seems to be an oral lease in place ...and you have a right to spend 99% of the time elsewhere ..but you still have a lease..and he has a right to chase you for rent , he needs to follow the due process steps. .

However you may have a number of defenses and counter claims ...and generally residential tenants get benefits of any doubts ...but a lot depends on credibility .

A loft.where in building, how many other tenants in that dwelling unit ?

IN general a LL who is renting a space which violates law/code/public policy to do so runs into a major problem to enforce anything if it violates public policy ...including fitness for purpose but you need to find the flaws and present same.

A little bit of mold and a debate over laundry doesn't get you anything
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Even if there is not a written lease there is still a valid tenancy , on a landlords end of things with a oral month to month agreement a landlord can prove to a court that a tenant knew they had to pay rent because they initially paid rent to move in and continued to pay as well as the tenant knew who to pay and how much, same idea with damage deposits , All else as to what a tenant can and cannot do or any other so called rules with out a written lease then need to be backed up via written notices to tenant. If you were in a shared space as in like roommates and your roommate to who you also paid rent your LL told you you cant use the laundry after 8pm and there is no written lease then that LL is just setting them selfs up for a dispute, if LL in that situation decided the one they rented too all the sudden cant use the kitchen its a fair argument to make that the LL is attempting to constructively evict -drive out the tenant. SO in all this mess what would you like to see happen ?
 

Jackknife

Junior Member
The tenant is now currently harassing my S/O, saying she better "watch out". Would this constitute as a threat or harassment? (My s/o was NOT involved at all with the living arrangement)
 

HRZ

Senior Member
Not every dumb comment is a legal call for action....if your S/O feels threatened...let her take it to any relevant law enforcement agency....
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
Your post is still a bit confusing to me at least , you wrote and the landlord is continuously harrassing me for money. The rent agreed upon was verbal. Along with this, I had no privacy (lived in a loft), could not use laundry without being harassed, could not cook, and the house became moldy.< so if your a tenant with out a written lease because your month to month then give proper notice and be done with the place and move! Then you write > Jackknife


The tenant is now currently harassing my S/O, saying she better "watch out". Would this constitute as a threat or harassment? (My s/o was NOT involved at all with the living arrangement) so I gotta ask did you make a mistake and mean to say

The >landlord< is now currently harassing my S/O, saying she better "watch out". Would this constitute as a threat or harassment? (My s/o was NOT involved at all with the living arrangement) ? If so the best thing to do is to plan on a move.
 
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HRZ

Senior Member
Is your S/O your sub tenant or what ? And you are a sub tenant to the master tenant?
 

quincy

Senior Member
New Jersey

Can a landlord sue for unpaid rent if I was not on the lease?
Yes. A landlord can sue for unpaid rent someone who lived in his rental and did not pay rent as agreed.

There is absolutely no evidence proving I lived there (mail, checks, etc) and the landlord is continuously harrassing me for money.
Did you live there? Do you owe rent for the time you lived there?

The rent agreed upon was verbal.
So you had an oral agreement with the landlord that you would pay X amount of dollars in rent. Did you pay X amount of dollars in rent to cover the time you lived in the rental?

Along with this, I had no privacy (lived in a loft), could not use laundry without being harassed, could not cook, and the house became moldy. The majority of the time (75% of the time) I did not even stay in the home because of these conditions.
And yet, despite these problems, you agreed orally to pay rent to the landlord to live in his rental.

Did you ever ask the landlord to fix the problems you found?

Does he have any right to sue for compensation?
Your landlord has as much right to sue for compensation as any landlord has when a tenant has not paid as agreed.

Here is a link to New Jersey landlord/tenant information: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/codes/offices/landlord_tenant_information.html

If you have evidence to support your contention that you do not owe the landlord money, gather it together so you can use it in court if you are sued.
 

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