landlord wants a lease

[jockey_00789]

MA,

Here is the situation.

My friend starting living this guy in his house with him since june 2007,no lease and no security deposit was asked.Now suddenly this year his landlord who also lives in the same house in a separate room is asking him to sign up a lease and put down one months rent as security deposit.firstly can he do that? is he doing this just to harrass my friend so he will just leave on his own ,saving the landlord a legal wrangle?I am not very clear any thoughts?

thanks

 

[moburkes]

MA,

Here is the situation.

My friend starting living this guy in his house with him since june 2007,no lease and no security deposit was asked.Now suddenly this year his landlord who also lives in the same house in a separate room is asking him to sign up a lease and put down one months rent as security deposit.firstly can he do that? is he doing this just to harrass my friend so he will just leave on his own ,saving the landlord a legal wrangle?I am not very clear any thoughts?

thanks

Yes, he can do that. Yes, he can start eviction proceedings if your friend doesn't agree. Your friend is a month-to-month tenant.

 

[jockey_00789]

Yes, he can do that. Yes, he can start eviction proceedings if your friend doesn't agree. Your friend is a month-to-month tenant.

so even my friend is paying the rent he can start eviction proceedings? my friend has never evaded "rent".

 

[moburkes]

so even my friend is paying the rent he can start eviction proceedings? my friend has never evaded "rent".

He is a month-to-month tenant. A month-to-month lease can be ended with 1 months' notice by either party. Apparently, the LL wants a more formal arrangement or wants your friend to leave. Either option is available for the LL.

 

[Mrs. D]

Your friend currently has a verbal month-to-month agreement with his LL. With a month-to-month, the LL can request a conversion to a written lease of a specified period at the end of any rental period (the end of the month). Listen, your friend's LL probably just talked to someone with some sense, and they told LL to get a lease...STAT. LL is just trying to protect herself if anything should happen.

I don't know if LL could *evict* your friend, but she could give him 30-days notice of non-renewal, so he'd be on the street in a month regardless. What's so wrong with a lease and SD? Anywhere else in MA (yes, I have lived there before) your friend would likely have to put down first, last, security, possibly pay a real estate broker to handle the transaction, and sign a lease. Now, if he has a good relationship with his LL and he really wants to stay a month-to-month tenant, he could always ask her. She might be okay with a written month-to-month lease.

 

[jockey_00789]

Your friend currently has a verbal month-to-month agreement with his LL. With a month-to-month, the LL can request a conversion to a written lease of a specified period at the end of any rental period (the end of the month). Listen, your friend's LL probably just talked to someone with some sense, and they told LL to get a lease...STAT. LL is just trying to protect herself if anything should happen.

I don't know if LL could *evict* your friend, but she could give him 30-days notice of non-renewal, so he'd be on the street in a month regardless. What's so wrong with a lease and SD? Anywhere else in MA (yes, I have lived there before) your friend would likely have to put down first, last, security, possibly pay a real estate broker to handle the transaction, and sign a lease. Now, if he has a good relationship with his LL and he really wants to stay a month-to-month tenant, he could always ask her. She might be okay with a written month-to-month lease.

yeah she is asking for a month to month lease only.mostl likey she does not like my friend i guess ,and is trying to find a good legit way to evict him.I think it is best from your prognosis that my friend should not sign a lease and should tell her to wait two months and he will leave.If she wants to go to court i would say let her.I mean my friend justs wants two months anyways.

 

[Mrs. D]

I really doubt that it has anything to do with the LL "not liking your friend," but you know him, and so I guess you know better than I do if there is something not to like about him. But, now that he's gotten himself all worked up about signing a piece of paper making official the terms he has been living under, I would want him out if he were my tenant, too. Tenants who won't sign a lease (or, in my opinion, those who want to go month-to-month without a good reason such as being in a temporary duty assignment or buying a house shortly) generally appear to be up to no good. You might want to check MA law, LL might be able to get rid of your friend with 30 days notice on a month-to-month, not 60, so he may be out sooner than he hopes for. I just hopes he's not looking to rent somewhere else, because nearly all LLs require a lease and SD, and many in MA require the long list of monies upfront I mentioned before.

 

[jockey_00789]

I really doubt that it has anything to do with the LL "not liking your friend," but you know him, and so I guess you know better than I do if there is something not to like about him. But, now that he's gotten himself all worked up about signing a piece of paper making official the terms he has been living under, I would want him out if he were my tenant, too. Tenants who won't sign a lease (or, in my opinion, those who want to go month-to-month without a good reason such as being in a temporary duty assignment or buying a house shortly) generally appear to be up to no good. You might want to check MA law, LL might be able to get rid of your friend with 30 days notice on a month-to-month, not 60, so he may be out sooner than he hopes for. I just hopes he's not looking to rent somewhere else, because nearly all LLs require a lease and SD, and many in MA require the long list of monies upfront I mentioned before.

yeah but my friend is living here for more than a year now.never late on his payments etc.
why a security deposit all of a sudden? eviction is easy if the tenant is not paying rent in my opinion,i have no expirience of it personally but logically why would a court order eviction?
based on what? personal dislikes? is that a reason?

 

[moburkes]

The eviction would be based on the fact that the LL wants to end the tenancy, and the tenant hasn't moved yet. This is really very simple. I'm not sure why you have such a hard time understanding.

 

[jockey_00789]

I see

The eviction would be based on the fact that the LL wants to end the tenancy, and the tenant hasn't moved yet. This is really very simple. I'm not sure why you have such a hard time understanding.

I see ,so best would be that my friend negotiates another 30 days with his LL.Otherwise let the landlord go to court and watch the fun if that buy's him time then why not..

anyways thanks a lot.

 

[OHlandlord]

Jockey, you don't seem to understand. The LL can terminate a month to month agreement for no reason at all other than s/he wants to end the tenancy. All s/he has to do if give the tenant a written notice of 30 days to be out. If the tenant isn't out, a judge will order the eviction because the LL asked the tenant to leave and he didn't. That is all that is required. In court, all the LL has to do to get the eviction is to show that the tenant was given notice to leave. It doesn't matter if rent was paid on time. Month to month tenants have no security in this.

If the friend waits until it is filed with the court, it will show up on his court records from then on. If doesn't even have to get to the hearing to show up on his record, it only has to be filed with the court. This will mean that future LLs will automatically deny him housing because he had an eviction filed against him. In addition, if he fails to pay for the last month or any damages, the LL will receive a judgment for that amount. That will show up on his credit report and ruin his credit. His score will drop dramatically. It will stay on these records for years. (My state allows it to stay on there for 10 years, then be renewed for another 10!) All of this is unnecessary.

The LL only wants a paper showing that the tenant is renting from him/her just as he is doing right now. (Just to formalize things and avoid misunderstandings.) Unless there is some other change than asking for a deposit, I don't see what's the harm. The freind could still give notice to leave just as before. The only change is that he needs to pay a deposit, which he'll have to do on any other apartment he tries to rent anyways. And since it is refundable (and probably gets interest paid on it), what's the big deal?

 

[moburkes]

I see ,so best would be that my friend negotiates another 30 days with his LL.Otherwise let the landlord go to court and watch the fun if that buy's him time then why not..

anyways thanks a lot.

For the life of me I can't figure out the fun in this. Your friend will have an eviction on his credit report which means that he'll have a hard time renting in the future - or buying too for that matter. He'll pay court costs and he'll look like an idiot.

How fun. He won't be the only idiot.