eviction

[khughes]

My roomate and I were evicted from our apartment because of my dogs. Several people has complained that the dogs barked when no one was home during the day and that it was becoming a habit. Well, the manager at the apartment told my roomate and I that we could get rid of the dogs (even though I paid the pet deposit and the animals were the legal weight for the apartments) or he would have to ask us to move. I told him that I would not give up my pets, so we agreed to move out. So to insure that we would leave the manager filed eviction papers through the courts. The day we got served our eviction papers we were already packing boxes and moving in two days. The manager at the apts. stated that he was sorry this happened and that if we just left quietly and did not make a full and was out within the next week or two that we would have no more dealings w/ the apt. complex. Well, yesterday I got a call from a collection agency stating that the apt complex was sueing us for $1500.00 for breach of contract. The manager that was running the place when we lived there is no longer employeed there and I am afraid that we might not have a leg to stand on. I reviewed our lease and it does not state anything about "evictions", just early termination of lease policies. Since we were evicted could we still be held resp. for the $1500.00 early termination policy? We were asked to leave or give up the dogs, we were never told we would be held resp. for breach of contract. The owner stated that he did not have to tell us that we were in violation of the lease because it was stated on the lease. Is it worth going to court over? I was under the impression that since we were asked to leave that we would not be resp. for the $1500.00 early termination fee. Please help

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I'm not sure how you could be evicted without court papers. You should have been served. If you didn't show up then they would likely sue you for the cost of eviction. It is likely written into your lease and stated that it could be "additional rent." What you should have done was argued:

1) The lease doesn't prohibit the dogs and you were not given adequate notice if there was a problem.

2) The manager, whether rightfully or wrongfully employed, had the apparent authority to permit you to keep the dogs. You relied upon him.

You need to challenge the court case and bring an order to show cause to reopen it.