Termination of Tenancy

[talulaspark]

we were served with a thirty day termination of tenancy yesterday on our door. i called the manager today to ask why and was told because our apartment is a mess. is this legal? at one point it was a mess but is no longer. she claims that various service workers have told her it was a mess, even some who did not enter the apartment. i am beside myself and do not know what to do.

 

[LL]

You bet it's legal.

Try talking to the landlord and show your best cleaned apartment. But then you have to abide by his decision.
If he isn't willing to rescind the notice, you have to find somewwhere else to live.

 

[talulaspark]

Okay I am in CA also. I just can't beleive this. She is not a very nice person, so I doubt anything would make her withdraw it. We have been here for over a year, have always paid our rent, communicate well with our neighbours, I just don't understand. She was here once in October, and yes it was a mess, because a pipe burst and we had major water damage, and stuff was everywhere. I just don't understand, is there nothing we can do?

 

[LL]

See my second paragraph of previous post.

Its not enough that We have been here for over a year, have always paid our rent, communicate well with our neighbours.

Remember that the manager's job is to protect the investment property of the owner. Evidently, she sees you as a threat to that responsibility.

 

[mary hartman]

Hold on a minute......

If you have a lease, then YOU have a right to face your accuser in a court of law, and to bring witneses, lots of pictures,or anything the will prove the landlord is harassing you.

BUT if you have.. No lease, then 30 days is all you get.

So was it a bright idea to live without a lease?

[Edited by mary hartman on 04-03-2001 at 06:45 PM]

 

[LL]

Ohmigod, here's that crazy "mary hartman" (aka dj, aka dj1) again.

He watches too much television, instead of seeing how the landlord business works.

Well, she can have her tenancy terminated even if she has a lease, if she kept the place a mess. She doesn't get all the amenities of a criminal trial, and if she wants the embarrassment of the cleaning lady and the manager and the next-door neighbor testifying in court that she had a mess, then she can, but not much proof is needed. The dominant need here is to protect the property, whose value is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. If the property is damaged beyond the tenant's ability to pay, then the tenants need need to find another place to live is small in comparison.

Crazy "mary" wants everyone to go to court against their landlord. You won't get anywhere with a harassment suit, either. The landlord just simply has a right to terminate the tenancy of a tenant who doesn't treat the property right. For that matter, the landlord didn't evict her, he terminated her tenancy. Its his right, and for good reason. Pictures, and witnesses and everything that crazy mary wants you to do won't help you at all. This is not an eviction, it is a termination of tenancy. If there is no lease, the landlord doesn't need a reason. If there is a lease, only the slightest reasons are needed.

 

[talulaspark]

OKay. I talked to her and asked her if she would be willing to rescend the notice, and she said she would talk to her supervisor and see. Thing is there is no proof, no pictures, and my neighnours can see that the apartment is not a mess. The time she came over it was, but like I said because of major water damage. Her main complaint is that there are roaches in our building, she is implying this is our fault, because she saw it a mess once. I have an appointment with legal aid just in case she is not willing to rescend. The pest control guys told me these were in the walls and this would never go away. Where we lived is a subsidized community, not Section 8, but a different section, to where basically you have to make within a certain bracket. We were on a waiting list for 6 months, and to put it bluntly do not have the cash to move in 1 month. If this happens my family will be homeless. We have not damaged any property, I even call and have the carpets cleaned every 6 months, I just don't understand.

 

[LL]

Don't worry about proof, picturees, etc. only crazy mary worries about that. That won't help you.

Your problem is to convince the LANDLORD, not a courtt that you will be a trouble-free tenant, even if there were problems in the past. Don't let a lawyer of crazy mary talk you into something.

You are already in a subsidized community. One result is that you will have dificulty renting elsewhere even if you could afford it. Another is that subsidized housing usually has requirements for the condition of the building. If roaches are in the walls, then there are ways of dealing with that problem, more than just spot application of roach treatment.

Spend your effort on convincing the manager and supervisor that you will be a trouble-free tenant now.

 

[talulaspark]

Okay. Will do. It is my only hope. I told her she would be free to come in and look around, and that we would even be willing to sign an agreement to where, with 24hr notice, she could come in monthly or bi-monthly and look around. If she does not agree pull the notice back, then we will seek legal alternatives, I don't want problems, if we could just move we would, but moving is expensive.

 

[LL]

This sounds like a better plan.

Keep in mind that, even if you pursue legal alternatives, they are at best temporary. As soon as she is able, she is sure to terminate your tenancy if you pursue any legal action. In the long run, you will still have to move, and with a bad recommendation.

I wouldn't take a tenant, knowing that a previous landlord wanted to terminate because of lack of cleanliness, and the tenant got legal aid to take legal steps to frustrate that.

 

[dj1]

ahhh LL im not crazy or want to sue every landlord insight....

BUT if the landlord has a valid reson for terminating the lease he The Landlord will win in civl court....if the landlord is harrasing her then the landlord will lose.

I dont see how that is wrong to demand a judge decide...

But without a lease she can be terminated for any reason or NONE at all in 30 days. But with a lease a landlord has to PROVE in court the tenat violated the lease...

You are acting like a tenant has no rights in America....and they do.