Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:01:24 GMT
My landlord wants to evict me so her sister and her kids can move in. Can she do this?
I moved into my current place about 2-3 months ago and things have been going well. Rent is paid on time, no problems at all, etc. I rent a room and my roommate is on the lease of the apt. About a month or so ago, I lost my job and have been having trouble paying the rent. My landlord has been working with me on this and hasn't complained about rent at all. I payed her $150 over the course of two weeks, and I also paid her $300 today, to make up for the past two weeks. I believe I'm still one week behind though.
She told me that I need to get out by the end of the month because her sister and her kids are moving in (they're having problems at their current place I guess), and it'll be helping them both out by doing so. I came home today and paid her that $300, when she told me that I needed to move by the end of the month. She would have told me that regardless I'm assuming, so I feel like I should have not had paid her (I realize it's the right thing to do, but I'm in a real tough spot right now) and had that money put toward something else. This is besides the whole point though. She also told me that she didn't want me to pay her for the rest of my time here, and that we were straight money-wise.
Now, this is a 3 bedroom apartment. I rent one room, my landlord lives in another and there's one more room which was vacated about a week ago by a previous roommate. He didn't come back for a while and his friend came by to pick up some of his things and told us he had been arrested or something. Most of his stuff is still here though. I guess he hadn't paid her in like a month, so she was kind of glad he was out but was unhappy about all of his stuff still being there. I think she was implying that my room was absolutely mandatory to vacate or something for her sister or the kids.
My question is this: What do I do in this situation? Do I comply with her wishes and leave by the end of this month or do I stick around and let her take me to court? I know the whole eviction process and what it actually takes to evict a tenant, but I never signed a lease or rental agreement of any kind. I also don't have rent receipts to show anyone. I've been living in a place before and the police have not been helpful in my situation at all, letting the landlord change the locks and straight up making me take all of my stuff out of the place right then and there. This really isn't a question of morals at all, so please don't take those into consideration. She is being cool about the whole thing, but is also putting me in a tight spot with little notice. I'm working right now, but it's a strictly commission job dealing with peoples debt, which is hard stuff and I really don't have the money or time to get enough money to move into a new place yet. I'm actively seeking a regular pay job, so hopefully something will come up with that soon.