Eviction for money stolen by landlords cleaning crew

[mdriggers002]

Our landlord served us with eviction for rent that was paid to him. It was Jan 1st and we had our rent in cash and had paid him cash previously. We text him and asked him what he wanted us to do and see if he wanted to meet us or we could wait until the next day when the banks open and he advised us to put it in an envelope and drop it in his drop box at his office. It was a mail slot in the door and he owns the company and he said they were closed and he would go pick it up and to text him when we dropped it off. We did as he asked and an hour later he called and said the money was gone and that the cleaning person was there because she typed in her security code to enter and was only there for 13 minutes. He called the police and eventually charges were filed and she plead guilty and was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of the rent. Our landlord is telling us that we owe him rent for that month as he never received it from us and that for all he knows we were in on it with the cleaning person. I am wondering if he has grounds to evict us and if legally we are responsible the pay him again?

 

[army judge]

You don't have a receipt for the alleged cash payment.
You're responsible for paying him.
He says he never got it.
You can't prove you paid it.
If you fail to pay, he'll likely file an eviction action.
You don't have to leave because he asks you to leave.
Only a judge can order you to be evicted.



Dropping cash in a hole in the door was foolish.

You screwed yourself.

You don't have a receipt.


You should have waited for him to come and demanded a receipt before handing over the cash!!!

 

[mdriggers002]

Well the cleaning person was convicted and ordered to pay restitution for the said rent so why does he get that money as well? Wouldn't the restitution be paid to us then if he is claiming that the money was never his? He admitted in the police report that he told us to pay him that way and I understand that we screwed up big time by paying cash in the first place but it's not like it just disappeared. The person who stole it admitted to it by pleading guilty so there has to be some way that we don't loose out all around!

 

[mdriggers002]

Oh and he already filed an eviction with the court.

 

[mightymoose]

Even without a receipt, I would expect you to be covered as a result of the cleaning person's guilty plea and order for restitution. You paid your rent as agreed with the landlord. The landlord needs to recover that money from his cleaning person, not from you. He may still try to evict you, but you can raise the theft conviction as your defense which will prove that you did in fact pay your rent. The theft is not your responsibility. The landlord's problem is that he is extremely unlikely to ever see that restitution that was ordered.

That said, it still was not very bright to make such a payment with cash without being able to obtain a receipt. That is just begging for trouble.

Be prepared for the eviction hearing with the police report and conviction status. Don't simply show up and tell a story- bring proof of what happened. I wouldn't expect you to be ordered to pay with the cleaning person having pled guilty to the theft.

 

[mdriggers002]

Thanks for the advise. We have hired an attorney to represent us. We have the police report and all correspondence with the landlord and our attorney believes that we have a good case so hopefully this will go well.