How To Deal With An Eviction Threat

An eviction notice can come for any number of reasons: violation of lease terms, creating a public safety hazard, or excessively disturbing other tenants. Eviction laws vary greatly from state to state and city to city, but by far the most common reason is non-payment of rent. The following text is not legal advice but rather a broad outline of how you might choose to approach an eviction situation. Please consult an attorney with any specific questions.

Non-Payment Of Rent

Most jurisdictions provide for an expedited eviction process for cases of non-payment of rent. The landlord typically must serve the tenant with a failure-to-pay notice and a deadline to pay in full. If the delinquent amount is not paid before the deadline, eviction proceedings can start. Here are some things you, as a tenant, can do to stall the process.

• Pay What You Can – You probably can’t afford to just pay the whole amount: if you could, you probably wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with. Instead, offer to pay as much as you can with a concrete schedule to pay off the rest, late charges included. If you can pay half now and the rest over the next two weeks from your paycheck, say so. Explain the situation to your landlord. Accommodating your special situation may be slightly less of a hassle than taking you to court. As an added bonus, most jurisdictions require landlords to start the entire eviction process over after accepting even partial payment. Theoretically, you could pay a dollar a day and drag the process on forever if your landlord was willing to put up with it. I wouldn’t push it, though.
• Do Not Attempt To Withhold Rent For Unfinished Repairs – You may feel as though you shouldn’t have to pay rent until that promised repair is finished, but the judge won’t see it that way. If this is an issue, you can set up an escrow account to pay the rent into that won’t be released to the landlord until after needed repairs are completed. It is absolutely crucial you follow court procedures to the letter. Consult an attorney to make sure you get it right.
• Let Your Landlord Know It’s In Her Best Interests To Cooperate – Let’s be clear: your landlord doesn’t care about you. You aren’t going to win any points with a sob story. Your landlord is in it for the money. Use that to your advantage. Call or visit your landlord and, nicely, explain what a good tenant you’ve been in the past. Explain why you’re short this month and the steps you’re taking to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Empty excuses won’t work here: be genuine and honest. If you aren’t willing to make a plan and stick to it, don’t even bother; however, if you are genuinely working to turn your finances around your landlord just might cut you some slack, if only to avoid costly legal proceedings.
• Check Applicable Law – Did you recently make a complaint to your community’s health board, housing authority, or other government agency regarding the condition of your rental? If so, you may have a good counter-claim against your landlord based on the so-called “retaliatory eviction” law. This must be done very early in the proceedings and probably won’t work in a non-payment of rent scenario, but it’s worth a try.
• Get Your Documentation In Order – If you decide to fight the eviction in court, make sure all your documentation is in order including signed lease, photographic evidence of the apartment in cases of public health or disrepair counter-claims, and any signed affidavits from relevant witnesses.