Good morning, i am in a delema at this time, my landlord has included in my lease that "the monday after the fourth, his lawyer would file court procedings for eviction at which point i would be charged not only rent $550, but late fee (10%), filing fee ($27) and lawyer's fee ($150). This month (Nov.) i paid my rent on Wednesday, Nov.9th by money order. The next day when i arrived home, there was a notice that i was scheduled for court on November 28th. However, also attached was a copy of the money order with a note that i still owed $177. My problem is that since i had paid the rent (plus $55 late fee), that the court date should have been cancelled. I do know that the landlord has over 50 tenants (he sent me an email telling me that) and that the lawyer still had to show up for court with other tenants of the landlord so the lawyer was not there just to address my rent (which was paid). i received an email from the landlord this morning indicating that i now have to pay $194 (an additonal $17 for warant fee). and that an eviction was granted by the judge. what can i do. December is also the last month of this year's lease and i fear he might evict me if i fight this issue. What can I do?
Answer
Without seeing your lease, I can't tell if your rent was actually late. Some leases have grace periods. And if it was late, just because a lease calls for a late fee or attorneys fees/costs does not mean that these must be paid to avoid eviction. In order for that to be the case, the lease must specifically say that these types of charges are "additional rent." Without those specific words, the court won't compel those funds to be paid to avoid eviction (though you will still owe the money in general). If the eviction complaint was filed before the rent was actually late, then it should not have been filed. If it was filed after the rent was late, then it was appropriate. If the lease deems attorneys fees/costs as "additional rent," then your landlord is correct. The mere fact that you paid the regular rent does not end the matter. You still owed $177 as "additional rent." It is irrelevant that the landlord's attorney has multiple cases the same day and would have gone to court anyway. Furthermore, $150 is a very modest counsel fee and a lot less than could have been charged. Your mistake was not going to court on 11/28 as you should have in order to deal with the matter properly and at least make sure that nothing unexpected happened. It does not sound like your landlord represented to you that he was going to dismiss the case. You evidently just assumed that you could ignore it. Now the landlord has a judgment for eviction. He seems to be willing to accept the $194 from you to dismiss the case and get back on track. You may want to consider this. If he won't take the money, then you will have to file a request for an Order to Show Cause with the court and post the rent with the court. If you pay him, be sure that the case is actually dismissed. This is so he can't just keep the warrant of removal in his pocket for later use. Also, you don't want to be on a "bad tenant" list for the future when new landlords screen you. As a side note, you have the right to continue living there as a tenant regardless of the fact that the lease ends in December. A landlord cannot just non-renew a lease. Rather, in order to non-renew a lease, there must be legal grounds for eviction. I suggest that you familiarize yourself with what those grounds are. You should consider getting a tenant's handbook from the court's web site.
Note: Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, the response to questions posted does not constitute legal advice or legal representation of the person posting a question. The information provided is general. The poster should obtain specific legal advice from an attorney, and should not rely upon the response as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.
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