Tenant without a lease agreement

[ellengold]

Without a rental/lease agreement, am I required to pay past due rent? My landlord is in the process of wanting to hold me responsible for past due rent, and subsequently evict me for non-payment. But, we don't have a signed agreement, and I have not been notified of any "default" previously. Will I be held liable?

 

[djdj]

well do you have any reciepts to prove what you paid him?

Do you have any proof of what the rental price is? such as and ad from the newspaper?

Also he can supeona your electric and phone records to prove when you moved in.

So you will learn a very expensive lesson from this...pay your rent on time, and never have a verbal lease.

Now if he takes you to court and wins and gets a judgement against you it will show up on your credit report for the next 10 years which will make if very hard to rent another place or get credit...PLUS bill collectors will come after you..

Is THAT what you want? If NOT they pay up kiddo!

 

[ellengold]

Thank-you for your reply. No, I don't have receipts or cancelled checks. There was a formal lease agreement when I moved in 6 years ago, that expired after 4 years, and then, I guess you could say we've been on a verbal "month-to-month" agreement for the past two years. The checks go directly to a PO Box at a Bank... He has now called to let me know the bank has not sent him any copies of checks they've received from me.

We spoke, and he will leave a message with the month's he does not have a record of payment for. I then have to come up with the cancelled check... which, I obviously can't do... am I obligated to pay late charges? Or, is it possible to work out some arrangement here with him outside of court? Isn't the bank partly responsible for not notifying him sooner? And how is it he didn't notice sooner?
Besides past rent and late charges, would there be anything else I would be liable for, if I presumably "sent" the checks but they were not received/cashed? I think I know the answers here, just fishing for a break.....

I don't want this to get ugly.

 

[djdj]

Well this is weird.......

if you sent a check do you have a lot of extra money in your checking account? Did you pay by money order and you didnt save the reciept?

why not go to YOUR bank and ask them for a printout of the months needed...might cost ya a few bucks...

OH did you pay cash?..... something doesnt add up

 

[ellengold]

I appreciate your interest and response, however, I am somewhat reluctant to go into too much detail for fear s/he may read these bulletin boards as well. Is there any way we can talk or e-mail directly without the vehicle of an open forum? If not, perhaps I will retain my own attorney for help with this matter.

Thank-you again for your responses.