Landlord/rent issues

Grundlestiltskin

So basically, my landlord called me on 4/2. This is noteworthy because I'm not the primary contact for the lease, one of my roommates is. He basically said that he was missing 3 rent checks for March (I was the only one who had paid), and more or less said in polite terms that if rent payment continued to be an issue not only would lease renewal not be an option to us when it's up in July, but that he would consider terminating the lease.

I informed my roommates of the conversation and rather than the reaction I was expecting ("hey, he's right, we really need to get better about paying our rent on time") they just went off on how this guy was being a huge @#$@#$ and had no right to threaten us etc etc. One of them went out of his way this morning to research MA tenant law just to prove that the landlord couldn't evict us for suchandsuch a period. I want to tell this guy to grow up, that paying the rent on time is something he's obligated to do and he needs to stop being a tough guy about it, but it would help if I had real consequences to point to.

So I guess my question is, what kinds of things can result from a lease being terminated, aside from eventual eviction? Bad credit? Bad renting history? Please share your advice/experience, any is appreciated.

RedDawn

I'm not sure about the credit part, but it a bad lease could cause problems down the road. If you get evicted and need a reference for a new place, you won't be able to give them them this landlord. Depending on the next place you go they may want a history of the places you've lived and any eviction is going to be a huge red flag.

Daenris

Your roommates are being kind of stupid. Rent should be paid on time. If it's not paid on time he can (and should) charge you a late fee (many places have limits on what percent of the rent a late fee can be though). It is entirely within the landlords rights to terminate your lease and evict you if you don't pay rent, because you are in violation of the terms of the lease. I'm not entirely sure whether he could affect your credit rating at all with this, but it would certainly result in a bad renting history. You wouldn't want to use that landlord as a previous apartment when you apply for another, because they may call him and he'll tell them that rent was late. Which means you either would need to omit time on your next application (which would arouse questions) or lie about where you lived. Neither good options.

Tell your roommates to stop being idiots and pay the rent on time as they agreed to do when they signed the lease with the landlord. If they're not officially on the lease then it's the responsibility of whoever is on the lease to either get the money from them or pay the rent in some other way.

And really the landlord is being lenient about it given that it's already April and he hasn't already kicked you out or threatened to do so when he didn't have all of March's rent.

Theungry

While its true that if he wanted to evict you, your landlord couldn't have you out legally before july 1st anyway unless you are in some state that has no tenant protection laws. Generally speaking he'd have to give a warning first giving you 30 days to pay, then if you didn't pay he could file for an eviction notice which would take a little while, and once the eviction was delivered, you would have 30 days to move out. This is generalized, and sates (and some cities) may have varied specifics. Its not like he can just change the locks on you when you have a lease. If he did, you would have him over a barrel with his pants down in court.

It's still stupid of your roommates not to pay rent on time, and they had better snap to if they ever want to rent a decent place or have good credit.

SatanIsMyMotor

Uh, no. If they are not paying the rent they are breaking the terms of the agreement on the lease. Any contract worth it's salt has a clause stating that if either party breaks the terms of the agreement the non-offending party has the grounds to terminate. That's why there's a contract in the first place.

Depending on where you are your eviction notice may vary but it would never be anything more than 30 days.

Grundlestiltskin

Due to Masachussetts tenant laws he has a few hoops to jump through first.

While non-payment of rent may be a legitimate reason for the landlord to attempt to evict you from the premises, he must first take certain steps. The landlord must send you a 14-day notice to quit, and if this is your first notice during the last 12 months he must give you at least 10 days to pay any back rent you owe. Even if you cannot to pay the back rent, the landlord cannot just throw your property into the street. In order to physically evict you, the landlord must go to court and obtain an order for eviction, and you should receive notice to appear at this hearing. After he gets and eviction order, the landlord may physically remove your belongings and place them into storage you (may also be responsible for the storage cost).

I'm not super worried about getting tossed before I can find my own place. I am, however, worried about taking a hit to my credit rating or getting a bad reference. My landlord loves me, I talked to him earlier and thanked him for being so understanding, etc etc. I'm just frustrated that my roommates (one in particular, who doesn't seem to care about any of this) is being such a d-bag.

Ruckus

Is your name actually on the lease, or is the lease under one of your roommate's names exclusively? Often this will determine who takes a hit due to a failure to fulfill contractual obligations.

For instance, if your roommate has the lease, and you sublet, then your roommate is responsible for fulfilling his side of the terms of the lease, and a seperate responsibility making sure you uphold your obligation to him in regards to your share. If you all cosigned, then you're all partially responsible for the lease, and any failure on any one of your parts is shared between all of you.

Theungry

SatanIsMyMotor wrote: »

Uh, no. If they are not paying the rent they are breaking the terms of the agreement on the lease. Any contract worth it's salt has a clause stating that if either party breaks the terms of the agreement the non-offending party has the grounds to terminate. That's why there's a contract in the first place.

Depending on where you are your eviction notice may vary but it would never be anything more than 30 days.

No contract agreement can supersede the law, and there are laws in place most everywhere in the U.S. that make it time intensive and difficult to evict a tenant. I've seen eviction proceedings take up to six months (from the time rent was due, to the time the tenant was forced out ) in Boston over failure to pay rent.

tsmvengy

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about getting evicted - that does take a while. If all four of you are on the lease, and have an agreement with your landlord that you are paying by separate checks, then he needs to be harassing THEM about the rent, not calling you (the only one who did pay) and making you be his bitch. He has powers he can use (usually a late fee) to convince them to pay on time next time.

What I would worry about is your ability to use this guy as a renting reference later on. Bottom line is, your roommates need to pay their rent. I think it was a little out of line for him to threaten to evict you (unless they've been regularly delinquent), but informing you that not paying is affecting is opinion in terms of renting to you again is fine.

MagicPrime

Grundlestiltskin wrote: »

Due to Masachussetts tenant laws he has a few hoops to jump through first.

While non-payment of rent may be a legitimate reason for the landlord to attempt to evict you from the premises, he must first take certain steps. The landlord must send you a 14-day notice to quit, and if this is your first notice during the last 12 months he must give you at least 10 days to pay any back rent you owe. Even if you cannot to pay the back rent, the landlord cannot just throw your property into the street. In order to physically evict you, the landlord must go to court and obtain an order for eviction, and you should receive notice to appear at this hearing. After he gets and eviction order, the landlord may physically remove your belongings and place them into storage you (may also be responsible for the storage cost).

I'm not super worried about getting tossed before I can find my own place. I am, however, worried about taking a hit to my credit rating or getting a bad reference. My landlord loves me, I talked to him earlier and thanked him for being so understanding, etc etc. I'm just frustrated that my roommates (one in particular, who doesn't seem to care about any of this) is being such a d-bag.

That might work to your advantage on a reference. Landlord: "Yeah the people he was living with were dicks and didn't pay the rent on time. But by god he had his rent in every month and tried his damnedest to get the other jerks to pay. If i had a single room apartment for him i'd give it to him in a second!"

Staxeon

Grundlestiltskin wrote: »

Due to Masachussetts tenant laws he has a few hoops to jump through first.

While non-payment of rent may be a legitimate reason for the landlord to attempt to evict you from the premises, he must first take certain steps. The landlord must send you a 14-day notice to quit, and if this is your first notice during the last 12 months he must give you at least 10 days to pay any back rent you owe. Even if you cannot to pay the back rent, the landlord cannot just throw your property into the street. In order to physically evict you, the landlord must go to court and obtain an order for eviction, and you should receive notice to appear at this hearing. After he gets and eviction order, the landlord may physically remove your belongings and place them into storage you (may also be responsible for the storage cost).

I'm not super worried about getting tossed before I can find my own place. I am, however, worried about taking a hit to my credit rating or getting a bad reference. My landlord loves me, I talked to him earlier and thanked him for being so understanding, etc etc. I'm just frustrated that my roommates (one in particular, who doesn't seem to care about any of this) is being such a d-bag.

Thats all well and good, and "fighting the system" might sound like a really swell thing to do, but more than likely your landlord has a lawyer. And not all courts and judges are exactly considerate to kids walking into court thinking they're know-it-alls on landlord tennant law.

If you or your roommates seriously plan on fighting this via the law, you're gonna need a lawyer to represent you. That in itself isn't cheap. Plus sometimes you might get stuck paying court fees. And after all that you still might lose and have to move, paying how much for a truck, deposit on a new place, etc. Hell, even if you do win you just made your landlord pay HIS lawyer and deal with court for weeks and weeks, so its not exactly going to be a great relationship with him from that point out.

No, your landlord can't legally just throw you or your stuff out. And obviously your views differ from your roommates. It may be worth talking to your landlord, tell him the situation that your roommates aren't cooperating, and ask him if maybe he has another property with a smaller 1 bedroom that he can slide you into. Yeah, you're throwning your friends under the bus this way, but they're not exactly helping you either by not paying their share of the current rent.

Blake T

If it's only one housemate I'd look at nipping this in the bud and tell him to get the hell out of your place.

Thanatos

When I first read this thread, I somehow managed to miss the "for March," and was thinking "man, that landlord is being a real dick about rent being one day late."

Your roommates are dickbags. They need to pay their rent. Your landlord is being fantastically considerate in not having already started evicting your asses, especially given the current rental market. Your roommates need to spend less time looking up ways to fight their landlord, and more time paying the goddamn rent.

On the bright side, it sounds like he likes you, so you'd probably have a good reference out of it. If all of your names are on the lease, you're all most likely responsible for your own individual portions of the rent (especially if you're all writing separate checks to the landlord). The eviction might not look good, but with a reference from the guy who evicted you, I suspect it wouldn't hurt much. As long as you pay your rent, your credit should be fine (you are not your roommates' keeper).