Need help FAST with eviction issues please!!!

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Lasseter09

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In December, I received a late notice for the rent and I paid it. My house is in need of many repairs from removing kitchen CARPET, to mold issues in the bathroom and basement after the floods in September in a basement that has had previous flooding issues, to paint to exterior wood rotting, and many other smaller issues. When I paid it I included the list of repairs needed and the landlord said he would only repair if I paid the rent on time. My husband and I were both laid off in 2009 and have had a hard time keeping up, but are doing better now that we are both employed. He gave me til the 15th of Jan to be completely caught up then he would begin repairs. Is he allowed to repair based on my payment history?

So I paid December and money was fraudulently withdrawn from my checking account and the rent check bounced, it took over a week to get a notice from the bank and we had snow here in GA that prohibited me from knowing about the overdraft issue until I was served eviction papers by tack and mail. NO phone call about the check or anything, no late notice for January either. I have started a fraud investigation with my bank, but will not have the results until after the time I need to answer to the court, but the landlord seems not to want to work with me. Can I claim retaliatory eviction here since he received notice of repairs and suddenly I have been served with papers?

How can I proceed? I can refuse to answer and owe him nothing according to my research but when do I have to move if I do that? How does his obvious neglect of this home affect my case and my rights? Can I file an answer regarding his neglect here in this case and get some of my rent charges discounted? Some of these issues I have been requesting on for over a year and they have never even been in this house in the almost 5 years we have lived here.

I need help, I can't afford to move or pay an attorney and need the best advice on how I should proceed.

Thank you so much!!!
 
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I was hoping for a response by now...so I have another question to simplify things. Is there any way I can not answer the dispossession and NOT have to move? In Georgia, it states that I was not served personally, no judgement can be awarded against me...so could I just send him a letter stating I am doing nothing, will owe him nothing and have enough evidence to take him to court for being a "slum lord" if he proceeds with the eviction process before I have the time to find a new place to live on my own?

Thanks for ANY response in this matter :)
 
In Georgia, a dispossessory notice is presented via the exact method you received it; i.e., "tack and mail". You do not need to be served personally.

If you do not respond by the required time period, the landlord simply has to go back to the clerk of court and request the writ of possession which places the rental unit back under his control.

However, he still cannot actually evict you without a representative of the court (i.e., typically a Marshall) present to oversee the eviction. Once a judgement has been reached by the court, the next step is for the landlord to file for such an actual eviction with law enforcement. Depending on their schedule it may take several weeks for the actual eviction to occur.

The court date IS your chance to present your side of the case as to why you should not be evicted. Although it is pretty hard to argue why someone who owes rent should not be evicted, Georgia does allow the tenant a "one chance" deal to avoid such if they now have the rent money (plus late fees and court costs) to present at the hearing. I've attached some easy to read information on this:

http://www.dca.state.ga.us/housing/housingdevelopment/programs/downloads/landlord/evictdisposs.html

These type of hearings are held in Georgia's Civil/Magistrates court (our version of Small Claims) and you do not need an attorney to attend this; most folks represent themselves.

I hope this answers your questions.

Gail
 
Thanks so much. This is all so confusing.

I was not given a demand to vacate by the landlord before the court papers appeared at my door as the information in your link states is required. I got a late notice in mid December stating to pay or be out by noon on a specific date that has already passed with no action taken. I talked to him and made payment arrangements and paid the rent before this pending fraud case came up with my bank account that caused the check to bounce...but nothing recent. Should he have sent another notice before filing dispossession papers? I got no notice from the landlord about the check to give me the option to rectify the problem either.
 
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No; since the rent was never paid for December, another "pay or quit" notice was not needed. The landlord went on to file for eviction through the court system.

Your landlord did not have to notify you that your check bounced.

Gail
 
Thanks Gail!! The info you provided also states that if I was served by tack and mail, no judgement could be awarded against me. Is the information current? Because of the fraud case on my bank account, I don't have all the money I need now to pay him current, but would have had this not happened. So I am trying to determine all my options to find the best way to proceed so that I don't find my belongings in the street. Funny how a landlord can put you off forever over important structural repairs that need to be dealt with, yet not forgive a simple mistake I didn't even make and give me time to fix it.
 
Lasseter09

You have been a long standing resident of 5 years and that's a long time for most people to occupy one space. Ask yourself what relationship have you had with your landlord up this point. I would tend to think so since you have kept his property occupied and leased he is happy to have you as a resident and does not want to put you out on the street. You have to remember if you don't pay the rent he can't pay his mortgage, taxes, etc if applicable and make repairs to the property, which may be very costly. He cannot relatiate against you for making requests to repair the property, as you are within your right to do so, and he has an obligation to make repairs that are reasonable and just. Rent is due and payable even if you have outstanding repairs that need to be done on the property. If a tenant is current and in good standing with rent then you have many other options you can take to get those repairs completed, but that is best for another thread on what you could do.

In order for him to file the eviction request through the JP court he would have to have to have provided the clerk a copy of the pay or quite notice and likely a copy of the lease if you have one and pay the court costs, which you will have to pay at some point. You can claim in court that you never recieved a copy, but it may be a moot arguement at this point. It would be best to make an appearance in court and focus more on trying to retain your occupancy than disputing lack of proper notice.

Non payment of rent evictions are pretty quick so you want to be prepared with money in hand, bring what you have, if you have all or even part of the rent. The judge will ask you "have you paid your rent or not" If not, then the plaintiff will get the judgement and most judges do not spend much time haggling over other disputes you and a landlord may have going. If you want an opportunity to plead your case don't miss the court date. Just go and say you are ready to pay all that is due, if you want to stay.

You can pay the landlord directly in full (outside of courtroom) and ask him to formally dismiss the judgement so it comes off your record, or you can pay the clerk and they can show the judgement as paid. All is not lost for you here and he still can't throw you out right awy. You have the right to appeal the courts decision, but be prepared to know the appeal process. If you don't appeal within the allotted time (typically 5 days) allowed in your state, don't vacate, and don't pay the judgement then your landlord can file a writ of possession in which a marshall/constable will serve you papers and can quickly have you physically removed from the property. If the landlord wanted to he could then turn you over to collections...it just piles up.

You don't want a judgement or eviction on your record as a renter it too can cause you problems with other landlords and prevent you from finding a decent place to continue living.

The district clerk can also provide you will documentation on evictions/appeals etc. They can be very helpful if you ask.

You still have time to pay up and work it out so we hope to see you back here with a happy ending.
 
Lasseter 09

You need to be clear on one issue. While a judgement for owed rent or damages cannot be achieved using the "tack and mail" approach (you would need to be personally served), a judgement for eviction can be in Georgia.

In other words, the landlord has filed to have you removed from the property due to failure to pay rent and is currently not suing you for owed rent. This lawsuit may come later and for that, you would need to be personally served notice of the lawsuit.

Gail
 
After speaking with the landlord yesterday, he told me he didn't want me to move, he just wanted the money and was sure that everything would work out fine...so if I pay the rent on the court date can he say that I can stay or is this out of his control now? He really seems kinda clueless about all this to be a landlord over an apartment community and rental homes.

I filed my answer, not denying that I owe, but explaining the circumstances and the need for more time due to the banking mishap that wasn't my fault. I also asked for a counter claim for lack of repair to offset the balance if the court found it appropriate...we have an extensive list of work needing to be done here and some are possible code violations(roof leaks and electrical issues). The landlord has actually never even been in this home since we have lived here for any reason...in 5 years and has no idea how bad things really are, even though I have made several requests in writing he has never seen the need to inspect or attempt to repair anything. Not sure if I did it right and though my landlord said the people there would help me, they wouldn't even answer questions I had about the form I was filling out. So we will see how this ends up.

I appreciate all the answers and if there is anything else that can be added that would be helpful, please keep responding.
 
After speaking with the landlord yesterday, he told me he didn't want me to move, he just wanted the money and was sure that everything would work out fine...so if I pay the rent on the court date can he say that I can stay or is this out of his control now? He really seems kinda clueless about all this to be a landlord over an apartment community and rental homes.
Yes, you can always cure the problem, by paying the back rent.
Courts will usually work with you, if you offer to cure the debt.
The LL seems amenable to working things out and getting his money.
It even seems as if he wishes to keep you as a tenant.
If you owe $1,000, and offer to pay the $1,000; the problem gets resolved.
If you owe $1,000 and offer $500 in court and the other $500 within 72 hours; you'll most likely prevail.
I suggest you get the money and make a deal with the LL.
You recite that deal in open court,and the judge will rule on it.
You still have a chance.
The court is going to want to know, what you did with the rent money from December and now January?
Saying that your bank account was compromised, without proof, will not work.
You need proof from the bank that this happened.
You need proof that the bank will replace the missing funds into your account or pay the LL directly.
The court and your LL need to know when the payments will be made!
You have to be able to pay and state when you can pay.
Then you must keep your word and promises.
Otherwise, maybe you should just vacate the premises, voluntarily.

One final thing: Gail has given you some excellent advice form a person that practices in your state. You should do everything she says. You also need to do the research that she gave you. You must be prepared, or else you will be evicted. Courts do not like excuses. You need to perform.
 
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Bring the money (plus court fees) to the hearing so that the judge can see you present it to the landlord.

Unless you've actually paid for some of these repairs, you have no claim to the court for being reimbursed for the landlord failing to do this. Georgia does allow a tenant (after notifying the landlord and giving them an adequate amount of time to address repairs) to do what is known as the "repair and deduct", i.e., get the repairs done yourself and deduct the amount of doing so from the rent.

Gail
 
I have researched SO much and some of the questions I am asking are based on info received from Gail and the link I was given, and after reading about the implied warranty of habitability and reading a document which looks to be instructions for a judge presiding in an eviction case in Georgia. It seems I can ask for reduced rent/judgement for repairs that haven't been done if I have requested in writing as many times as I have. I am talking about a leaking roof, mold growth and electricity cutting off at the breaker box when it rains very hard. The shower leaks into the basement and the kitchen is carpeted and absolutely disgusting after so many years of use. We had a flood in GA in September and the basement flooded with 4-5 inches of water, there is carpet and paneling that surely must have mold growing. I reported it and he did nothing. I felt like since for the past couple of years the landlord has been so kind to let us pay as we could without even charging a late fee most of the time that I could be patient about repairs, but he never has even bothered to stop by and see with his own eyes. Because of our lay offs, we haven't been in a position to move out or we already would have because of the lack of upkeep/repair on this home.

As for the money, I have all of it that is not tied up in this fraud claim with my bank, but didn't get a response/repayment in time for the answer to be filed by paying in full. I told the landlord I had it and he wouldn't take it, so I figured I'd just pay it when I go to court because by then I should have the rest and the bank issue resolved I HOPE!!!
 
You do need to understand that the issue of habitability could result in a code inspection of the home, possibly resulting in the home being condemned in which case you would be forced to vacate the residence.

Gail
 
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As I stated in the previous post, we haven't been in a position to move due to lay offs for both of us in 2009 and he has always been very nice about making payment arrangements with us when needed. It's a big house for the money and we have 5 kids, it's located close to our jobs and schools and we like living here. We'd just like to live in a home we feel safe in and if he expects us to pay our rent on time, why can't we expect repairs done in a timely fashion(or at all) when we request them? Seems fair enough to me, but maybe I am wrong for thinking that way.

Thanks again for your responses, you have been very helpful.
 
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My last post on this topic,

Sounds like you are going to figure it with your LL and court. May I ask you one question and hopefully you will read my post.

You keep going back to maintenance in your posts wishing for something different, but will probably continue to put up with mold, floods, electrical, etc. may I ask why you want to stay in place for 5 years if it so horrible?

last advise to you, like it not...

1) get current on your rent...
2) when is your lease up, hopefully soon...
3) give proper written notice 30 days/60 days and do a walk through with your landlord present and get a written release in writing...
4) MOVE YOUR FAMILY of 6 or 7 away from there ASAP....


Last option: 5) ask your landlord if he is willing to sell the house to you if you like it so much and fix it up yourself since he clearly has no interest in doing it.
 
Most of the problems with mold, electrical and flooding surfaced in September 2009 when we had floods here in GA. The carpet issue and some of the outside rotting wood has been addressed for quite some time, but as I said, since he was being patient with us regarding payment, I thought I could offer him the same courtesy with those repairs. Through reading about how to proceed it seems that some of my rights may have been violated by the landlord and I was not aware of it until now as I try to figure out a way to proceed without getting evicted and have to move until I have the proper time to find a place and move on my own terms. Finding a home large enough at a price affordable when we have both started new jobs at half the pay we use to make is not very easy. But hey, at least we aren't sitting home collecting the unemployment we are entitled to!! We will certainly be moving at our first opportunity if repairs aren't made. I just wanted advice here and to make sure I understood what I was reading and didn't waive any of my own rights as a tenant in the process. It seems I am well within my rights to complain in my response to the court order, so I am exercising that and maybe we'll get results for a change. I just hope I understood and answered well enough on my own to do that.

Thank you for your help.
 
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