Moving, Movers can't come up with last month all at once, worried about being sued

[dlmiller]

My husband, myself and our two young boys live in Buffalo, ny. We have been renting from the same landlord for three years, occupying the same residence for all three years. We signed two leases, but this last year we have been on a month to month verbal agreement. We are now moving because our family has outgrown this small apartment and the tenants upstairs harass us from time to time, even going as far as swearing at our two year old and his 6 year old sister. The landlord told us that due to the harassment, he would not be renewing their lease. He ended up renewing their lease anyway, so that is another reason why we are moving. The apartment we are moving to, the landlord is working with us on paying her the security deposit a little at a time so we can move in without financial struggle. I am a stay at home mom, we are not receiving government help and we are having problems coming up with our last month's rent for the apartment we will be moving out of. My question to you is, can our landlord sue us for that last month's rent if we have been in a month to month oral agreement with him? Can he still sue us if we pay him a little bit over time? What are the chances that he could get more than just that last month's rent in a judgement? We have almost no food in the house and have to worry about feeding our children first and foremost, along with having to buy them some sort of winter coats since the temps are dropping into the 30's now, on top of paying for diapers and formula out of pocket the rest of this month. I have never been on bad terms with a landlord so I am unaware of what this may mean for our future financial stability.

 

[Proserpina]

Yes, he can sue.

Yes, even if you're paying $1/month he can still sue.

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

Of course he can sue. And he is very likely to because, frankly, why would he believe a tenant is going to pay "little by little" what they owe once they have moved out?

Gail