fair eviction

[xraysteph]

I aam 8 months preg. & put on disability 2 months ago.I am being evicted because my rent was late. I informed landlord that I was waiting for disablity to come, but she served 3day notice anyway. Is there anything I can do? I had rent before end of month but after notice exp. she would not accept.

 

[LL]

There is not really anything for you to do, except move.

You probably had some notice that you are supposed to have left already.

You can try to talk with your landlady, but if she doesn't want to accept, she doesn't have to. There is probably some reason why she doesn't want you anymore, more than just that you were a little late with the rent.

Inconvenient or not, you should use your responsibilities rather than your rights, and find another place to live.

Sure, there are some tricks by which you can wait for a law enforcement officer to put you and your belongings out on the street, but what happens to your own self-respect?

Don't stay where you are not supposed to be, find another place to live, and pick up your life based on your own self-respect.

 

[Jack Mevorach, Esq.]

Wherever you are, a judge may be sympathetic to your plight and may forestall an eviction based upon disability money that is coming. In all my years of practice in New York City, for instance, I can tell you that not one judge would permit the eviction of a pregnant woman (esp 8 months) at Christmas time, regardless of what the law said.

Most of all, do not panic and have anxiety - it's not good for the baby.

 

[LL]

We get a little more help in California for landlords.

I have usually gotten my rights to the extent that my right to have the property back is upheld, i.e., the tenant is found guilty of unlawful detainer, even under circumstances of hardship to the tenant.

The judge can depend on the sheriff to avoid the holidays for a hardship case.

The judge has always been sympathetic to a landlord who is worried that he will never get his money and needs his property back as soon as possible. In California, we have some ability to request rent to be deposited with the court before any delays can be had by the tenant.

Everyone cares about a pregnant woman, and even we Jews are cognizant of the holiday season, but there are lots of agencies to help someone like this, and it is not the landlord's responsibility to support the pregnant woman who got herself into both of these situations.

The argument of her own self-respect still stands. She will have to leave sooner or later, and she will still owe the rent (now called damages). What is the likelihood that she will spend her disability money on something other than paying back the landlord what she owes.

The landlord thus pays twice for her failure to leave when she should: once in the lost rent, and the second time for public agencies that are there to help such people, and do.