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[Navar]

Jurisdiction

Nevada

Earlier this year in April my then best friend and I signed a one year lease together. In June my father passed and left my whole family in shambles. Trying to cover my part of rent and help my mother with her house note didn't go so well. So that month I only paid $340 which is less then the $480 I'm supposed to pay. Her and I talked about it and she agreed I would pay her later. The following month I paid my full rent and lost my job. We talked again about how I was going to pay. I asked her to xover August full month and I would cover September on my own to pay her back. She agreed. About a week ago she puts a 5 day notice on my door. We are equal tenets here so what gives. I go to the court house and answer it back. Then she serves another one this morning and i confronted her. She tells me that the manager told her she could do this to me and evict me. Mind you the manager is technically our landlord but only for this apartment home complex. What can I do to protect myself. She hasn't given me until Sept to pay and its completely ruined our friendship. And I don't understand how the manager can give legal advice to a tenet if it's not affecting the lease agreement. Isn't this between my roommate and I if we haven't caused and issues to the community?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad news and my condolences. Let's put aside technicalities of landlord-tenant court for the moment. It's already September. So according to what you're telling me, the rent should be fully paid by today or, if it's the usual terms, no later than the fifth of the month. If that puts you back to paying the rent then I'm not sure what housing court is going to accomplish if you're current anyway. Most housing courts won't allow an eviction if the tenant can cure the breach quickly (at least not here in New York City and most courts seem to try to remedy the issue in residential landlord-tenant courts as opposed to commercial where it's much stricter.)

On a technical note, you've made a verbal agreement with your co-tenant and I'm not sure how the landlord can evict you if the landlord was paid in full. The co-tenant is not your landlord - unless you have a sublease agreement with your roommate, which you say is not the case. So to be completely honest, I don't know what is proceeding in court and unless you can explain further, it will be difficult to answer.

My guess is that while your circumstances are most unfortunate, something else might be going on. Either we don't know about it or maybe you don't. These roommate situations where tenants are joint and severally liable to the landlord without agreements between the tenants are usually rife with problems. Wish you luck.

 

[Navar]

Thank you for your response! Yes this morning I paid the rent in full. My roommate has no knowledge due to the fact she hasn't been here all week. If there is more going on It is not to my knowledge. Either way thanks. Enjoy the rest of your day.