Q: My landlord took late fees and turned them into unpaid monthly rent even though I paid those months, is this legal?
My landlord served us with a 3 day eviction notice along with a court case date that was 7 days away. When we contacted our property manager he said the landlord wanted all his money or we had to get out, I asked why does it say I haven't paid my rent for 7 months when I have never missed a payment? He said because I had late fees that all those months are considered unpaid and it has already been filed in court by their lawyer. In panic mode and nowhere else to go we asked what we could do and he said pay $600.00 for attorney fees and $1000.00 extra every month until the balance of $9000.00 was paid in full, I told him that this didn't sound right, he said well then start packing and we'll see you in court. Reluctantly to say I agreed to pay his $600 lawyer fees and have been sending the extra $1000 payment for the past 7 months now but I still feel this is wrong. I have receipts for monthly payments including the ones stated on court documents stating unpaid.
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A: I am always amazed at the ingenuity of Landlord lawyers to come up with new tactics to get tenants evicted. This new scheme does not smell right to me. I will research this tactic more carefully thus afternoon, but my initial reaction is that it may not stand a court challenge. Best of luck.
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