Q: We are half a months rent behind and got a 3day notice, we only had half of that at the time now they want to evict us.
we have always paid our rent even with late fees, and have always spoke to the landlord of any set backs we were having. We had a verbal agreement that we could pay as we got money as long as we always communicated with him. But now when we tried paying him he told us he was not going to accept the money. Now he has completely avoided our calls and text, and put an eviction notice on our door. We've never had any problems with him or other tenants. We follow the rules, and have never complained of problems in the apartment, we would always fix it ourselves. When it was something we couldn't fix and mentioned it to the landlord he always had an issue and would take a week or more to fix. Can we fight this eviction?
A:
The three (3) day notice, excluding the weekends and legal holidays gives you that amount of time to deliver the full amount of rent that you are behind or vacate the premises. Since you are only a half month behind if you pay that half amount to the landlord within the three day time period, the landlord would be estopped from filing an eviction in court. Pay the back rent by check or money order and via written certified mail return receipt if time permits. This will show a court not only an attempt by you to tender payment of the back rent but also a voluntary refusal to accept the back rent on the part of the landlord should the landlord elect to take that route.
If the landlord refuses to accept the back rent you will need to respond to the complaint for eviction within five (5) days towards the count for eviction and twenty (20) days towards the second count, if any for damages. Your response should include the defense of payment or attempted payment within the prescribed five (5) day time period thus the eviction complaint fails to state a claim for relief and should be dismissed. Hope this helps and good luck.
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