3 Day pay or quit/trasspassing

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ctanke

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This site has helped me with questions on a 3 day pay or quit I received in Dec. but the probelms don't seem to end. The people who gave us the notice(are not the property owners) have moved out of house we were sharing with them. We are not on the lease with the property owner and don't even know who he/she is. We were told by the people we were renting the room from that the property owner knew we were living there, but I have a feeling this isn't true(we always paid the people we rented the room from). When the people we rented from left, they said nothing to us and didn't even ask for the keys they had given us to the house back. We are still living at the house and are looking for another place, but was just informed via a phone message from the police that we are trasspassing. I am very confused by how this could be true. We have not been formally evicted by the courts(and don't want to be) and haven't even been given a 30 day notice from the people we had our agreement with. Are we really trasspassing right now? Any advise/help is greatly appreciated.:confused:
 
You're in a bit of a pickle. If the police do show up, how are you going to prove that you are not trespassing? You don't have any documentation that anyone (either the actual owner or the folks who used to live there) have actually given you permission to be there, correct?

The trespassing contention is a criminal, not civil situation.

You guys really do need to find another place to live ASAP.

Gail
 
You know... I seriously doubt the validity of the phone message from the police. I would expect someone at the door, not a phone call.
 
You are NOT trespassing though. Don't worry about that one.

You are moved in, have been ther e afew months, have keys to the residence... all signs point to you being there legitimately.

With the story you give, any investigating officer should refer the owner to the court to have you evicted. If any officer shows up and threatens to forcibly remove you make sure you get his supervisor out there and you get the names of every person involved. If you are tossed out under these circumstances each one of those officers will be in a jam, and any expense you incur as a result of the illegal eviction can be recovered from the police department.

The owner may not agree with how you got into the house- but at this point he has only one legal method of getting you out- eviction.

Well, the other is voluntarily.... and hopefully you do leave voluntarily before he evicts.

Just curious... if you were paying your rent to the other roommates and they are now gone, who are you paying rent to now?
 
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The police in our area know that we are living there with permission from the people we were renting the room from. They had called the police on us several times with false claims (we were never cited) and when I spoke with the police dept just before Christmas I was told by the officer that I spoke with that they were all aware of what was going on at the house since they all work the same area. I haven't paid rent for January due to not having anyone to pay it to. I am more than willing and ready to give it to the property owner. The officers that we have been working with have been really nice to us and seemed to understand what is going on, so I that's why I was suprised to get the voice mail from the officer stating we were trasspassing.
 
Did the message you received give a name? If so, call back and talk to that person.

If you got a generic "This is XYZ PD" message, then don't count on it being legit.
 
Who gave you the three day notice in December? The REAL landlords? Someone else?
 
The former roommates, who the OP paid rent to, gave the 3 day notice. The OP has had no contact with owner and does not know the owner's identity.
 
Okay, I didn't comprehend the first part in its entirety ... had to run out on a call.

For the OP's sake I hope he finds a new place to stay before the actual owner of the property gets involved or it could become a rather sticky situation.
 
The message I recieved from the police was an actual officer. We called him back but he had the day off so we left a message for him. The people we were paying the rent to have turned off our water now. They had done it once before, but at the house and we were able to turn it back on(when they did it the 1st time they also turned off the power, but just at the breaker). This time they turned the water off where the water meter is. They actually took the meter off and put some type of cap on it. I know this is illegal for them to do this(I don't think it's the actual property owner that's doing it), but I don't know what to do about it. We have yet to be able to speak with the property owner. We are trying our best to get out of there, but it's not gong to happen today or tomorrow and I'd really like to get this resolved with the property owner.
 
Contact the police about the water being shut off. This is illegal and you can sue the landlord over it. Keep track of any expenses you incur as a result of power/water shutoffs or lockouts. This includes having to eat out at restaurants (reasonably) groceries, hotels, etc. You can sue later and recover these costs (plus penalties, I believe).
I realize you don't have a written lease... you don't need one. You are in the residence legally.

You might be able to contact the water company and advise them that you are still in the residence and being illegally evicted with the water shutoff. You might get them to turn it back on... especially if you offer to pay for the water you are using. Also, if the meter was removed without their knowledge they might be very interested to find out where it went...
 
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Have you though about researching public records to learn who the owner is? And maybe if you are willing to pay rent to him, he would be willing to sign a lease with you or at least work with you to agree on a solution.
 
Yes, we have and we are trying to get a hold of them. I think I know the name of the owner but am not 100% that it is. I didn't think to try public records for it, so I will do so. I also took your advise and called the Water Dept. and am working on getting that issue solved.
 
How are you going to sue the landlord if 1. you have no idea who this person is and 2. the landlord isn't the one who did this. The original tenants did this. You know, those folks who allowed you to live there with not a one of you bothering to notify the owner additional tenants had moved in.

In fact, it sounds as if the actual landlord doesn't even know you exist.

As previous suggested, it is EXTREMELY important that you find out who is the landlord and begin working with them.

Quite frankly, one begins to get the idea that you simply planned on remaining in the rental unit as long as you could manage without paying rent and this plan has come to bite you in the rear end.

Gail
 
The person he is referring to as "landlord" is actually the former roommate who sublet the apartment. He does know the identity of that person, who apparently is the one causing the trouble.
The "owner" he has had no contact with... and so far as we know, has no problem with.
 
Actually Gail, we were told by the people that we were renting from that the property owners knew we were living there. We had asked for the owner's information several times and they refused. I now think that maybe the owners didn't know we were there. This is my first time renting a room from someone that was not the property owner and did not know it was my responsibility to contact them when I moved in. I am extremely offended that you would even suggest that we have no intent to pay rent. Further more, if you even bothered to read the posts, I never once indicated that I was planning on suing anyone. Suing was what was stated I could do based on what is being done to me. My objective on this site was for guidance on what my rights are and hopefully work things out with the owner with this information.
 
ctanke said:
This is my first time renting a room from someone that was not the property owner and did not know it was my responsibility to contact them when I moved in.
Click to expand...

It wasn't your responsibility. That responsibility was with the other tenants that invited you in.
 
I just found out who the property owner really is and also found that the property is in forclosure. Is it true that I can be locked out at any time due to this?:eek:
 
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