Q: You I've been renting a room in a Utah home for a year and a half.
She increased the rent from $500/month to $650/month when me lease expired at 6 months. I never got a copy of the original lease. What rights to I have regarding being evicted for a late payment of the monthly rent.? The best proof I have of living here is a USPS Informed Delivery account they gave me based on receiving mail here for so long.
A:
Hi,
You have the same rights as any other tenant who defaults on the lease. You could ask for a copy of the lease. Have you tried to do that?
Basically, if you are defaulting for payment, the Landlord has the right to evict you because you are breaching the contract. If the Landlord does evict you, then they will need to provide a copy of the lease agreement, so if they won't give it to you when you ask or a at least a copy of it, then they will need to do so when they sue you.
The lease agreement should govern and there might be some language in there that gives you a right to cure the default (get current on lease payments).
Unless the lease states that the lease payment will be a certain amount for a certain period of time and that time hasn't expired, or sets a limit on how much the lease can increase on subsequent renewals, you will have no rights to a smaller lease payment.
I hope this helps.
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