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To quash or not to quash

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PippiPalermo

Junior Member
I rented this apartment in CA 5 years ago and had a 6 month lease, then month-to-month thereafter. Last year, I decided to move out of state and I notified the LL that my boyfriend was planning to keep the apartment. I also said that I was not going to be financially responsible for the place anymore, and that my bf would need to get a new lease in his name. The LL agreed, and a new lease was put into effect in Feb 2014. I come back to visit fairly often, and sometimes stay for a while, but I am essentially a guest, and definitely not on the lease. If there was a maintenance issue, the on-site manager would not even take the complaint from me, because I am not on the lease.

Skip ahead to March of this year. The building is now �professionally managed�, and the new people sent a notice to ME informing me of the change, and where/how to pay rent. They did not send one to my boyfriend. No biggie at the time, but then they served us with a 60 termination of tenancy for overdue maintenance and major plumbing issues, stating that it would just be �easier for everyone if we moved out�. Whatever, nothing I can do about it. I am looking for a new place.

When we moved in, I paid more than the required move-in fees. I essentially paid first and last month�s rent, the partial month we were in then, an additional month, and the $500 security deposit. Our 60 days is up on May 17th, so I assumed that the �last month�s rent� I paid upon move in would apply. My deposits carried over to my bf�s lease with my blessing and the LL�s.) Apparently I was wrong. When informed of my error, I said I would happily pay the April rent, but could not do so now until my next payday on May 1. The mgmt. rep threw a fit. Hinted that I was a scam artist, etc. �What happened to the money, why can�t you pay it, what did you spend your rent money on?� Well, application fees to the countless places I am looking at, obviously. Anyway� this weekend I was served eviction papers.
I was served eviction paperwork. Not my boyfriend�the ONLY person on the current lease. He is not even mentioned by name. I assume he is �all other occupants�. While reading the papers, I noticed several other shady discrepancies that concern me. Like previous judgements on the same case # that I was unaware of. Hearings that have taken place of which I was not notified. And the fact that the first date listed of when they began this process is November of last year�I am pretty sure they didn�t know that I or my bf would not pay April�s rent back then. I don�t know what they are up to. The management company didn�t enter the picture until February. We have had no issues the entire time we have lived here, either individually or as a couple. The place is clean, we don�t make a lot of noise, we pay our rent, or did anyway, we get along with the neighbors, and we thought we were in good standing with the LL. This doesn�t sit well with me at all.
I am thinking this sounds like a motion to quash situation. At worst, I would like to annoy the hell out of these people and make them start over. At best, I would like to buy myself enough time to actually find a decent place to live AND annoy the hell out of them so they have to start over and possibly have nervous breakdowns.
Help me Obi-Wans of Legal land, you�re my only hope.
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
Seriously your best bet is to use the links above and speak to a atty who can give you the best advice possible since it appears that this whole thing is a huge mess now, (when you moved in feb 2014 did you keep a copy of your written notice & your postal receipt for certified or confirmed mail delivery ?
 

PippiPalermo

Junior Member
A huge mess to say the least. Our relationship with the LL was never that "formal", with written notices or certified letter procedures. When I moved last year, I enclosed a written notice with my rent payment, and then when he came by to pick up the checks for the building, I spoke to him personally and told him the situation. He was cheerful about it, and wished me luck, and agreed that my bf would need to sign a new lease. Everyone seemed content with the situation here.

My bf doesn't remember what he signed, but said that he DID sign a rental agreement of some sort. He is looking for a copy of it. The on-site manager, (who is no longer the manager since the management company took over) left him notes telling him to leave his signed papers on her door. We are hoping that she has whatever it was that he signed.

The latest update is that the LL has said he is still not willing to stop the eviction, because I don't have the money for his unnecessary legal fees, and the rent and the now doubled late fee. But apparently he was "willing to make me a deal"...that if I vacate before the 14 day notice in the eviction papers, (which would be May 8), then I don't have to pay him anything, and then I would be able to rent a new place before the eviction hits my record. This sounds like a good deal on the surface, but I know I could do better, seeing as how I DON'T REALLY LIVE HERE AND HE DIDN'T SERVE THE ONLY PERSON WHO IS ON THE LEASE.

I'd love to hire an atty, but I am still on a fixed income, and I might have mentioned that I have to move soon which is pretty expensive. Hence, forum.
 

PippiPalermo

Junior Member
Seriously your best bet is to use the links above and speak to a atty who can give you the best advice possible since it appears that this whole thing is a huge mess now, (when you moved in feb 2014 did you keep a copy of your written notice & your postal receipt for certified or confirmed mail delivery ?
I tried the above links as recommended, and unfortunately, the links claim there is no one available to help and said I should try the forum. Tomorrow is the 5 day deadline to file a response. What do I do? The papers I was served are from a different town, and that courthouse is hard to get to since I don't drive. Can I file in the courthouse in the town this *should* have been filed in, which is the town that the dispute is actually in or do I have to go to the court where they filed? Is there anyway that these things can be done online? Is there any other option to buy myself some time? Now that I know that the LL is up to something shady and only filed the eviction because his management people waited too long to issue the 60 day notice, I have tons of valid arguments...not to mention the extreme hardship clause. I just don't know which way to go with this, as my bf is having trouble locating his signed lease. (The LL came and took the only copy from the on site manager a few months back=SHADY)
 

FarmerJ

Senior Member
reply in the papers that you had given notice to (name ) and moved out 2014, and that your bf filled out a new agreement since he was going to stay on and you are not the tenant of record nor do you owe this (plan on going to court and bringing with you every thing you can to show the court your new address , like when your ID was changed to new address , records from utility changes for both of you like print out from them saying when you closed them and when bf started them. What makes this messy is that you have been around since you moved out so your going to have to be able to show the court that you did move away if they ask for the proofs. ( bring your canceled checks to show a time line as to when you ceased paying the rent , have bf bring with him his proofs of being the one to pay since then, its all little things but unless you can find a copy of your notice to vacate or his new rental agreement it may be a huge amount of other things that the court accepts ( make sure Bf is in court with you too)
 

latigo

Senior Member
Your postings are so loaded with contradictions and inconsistencies regard your status in this saga as to defy understanding and reason.

In some instances you claim you are but a "guest" of your boyfriend, that you "don't really live here" yet you admit having jointly occupied and enjoyed the use of the premises for some length of time post Feb '14 and "would happily pay rent for April". Reasonably suggesting that you have been contributing to rent in the past. Either that or boyfriend was foolishly allowing you to freeload.

Other inconsistencies with your self-proclaimed "guest status" are replete, including your negotiations with the landlord aimed at interdicting the eviction process to make you a "deal". And your expressed desire to contest and delay the eviction process.

So, a simple question. How do you justify claiming that as a "guest" you bear no obligation to the landlord - the eviction notice is of no legal consequences to you and in the same breath declare your intentions to resist the process with a "motion to quash" (totally inapplicable, incidentally), cause undue annoyance and frustration to the landlord, etc., ALL in order to allow you to "buy time until you can rent a new decent place" to live?

Lastly, do not be self-misled to think that just because there is no existing tenancy agreement (written or verbal) between you and the landlord that you cannot be held financially accountable for your use and occupancy of the premises. Or that you cannot be evicted.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Your postings are so loaded with contradictions and inconsistencies regard your status in this saga as to defy understanding and reason.

In some instances you claim you are but a "guest" of your boyfriend, that you "don't really live here" yet you admit having jointly occupied and enjoyed the use of the premises for some length of time post Feb '14 and "would happily pay rent for April". Reasonably suggesting that you have been contributing to rent in the past. Either that or boyfriend was foolishly allowing you to freeload.

Other inconsistencies with your self-proclaimed "guest status" are replete, including your negotiations with the landlord aimed at interdicting the eviction process to make you a "deal". And your expressed desire to contest and delay the eviction process.

So, a simple question. How do you justify claiming that as a "guest" you bear no obligation to the landlord - the eviction notice is of no legal consequences to you and in the same breath declare your intentions to resist the process with a "motion to quash" (totally inapplicable, incidentally), cause undue annoyance and frustration to the landlord, etc., ALL in order to allow you to "buy time until you can rent a new decent place" to live?

Lastly, do not be self-misled to think that just because there is no existing tenancy agreement (written or verbal) between you and the landlord that you cannot be held financially accountable for your use and occupancy of the premises. Or that you cannot be evicted.
I totally agree. Heck the OP straight-out admits that she is still living there:

The place is clean, we don�t make a lot of noise, we pay our rent, or did anyway, we get along with the neighbors, and we thought we were in good standing with the LL.
 

latigo

Senior Member
I totally agree. Heck the OP straight-out admits that she is still living there:
Recall Red Skelton's character "Freddy the Freeloader"? Perhaps not, but this is his sister "Freda".

Freda's philosophy seems to be such that if she were arrested for illegally using a firearm, she would claim innocence because the gun was registered in her boyfriend's name.
 

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