Last year I was in a really rough spot and in a position of being desperate. I had to move from one house to another very quickly so my husband , my brother and I all moved into a townhome together with a rent of 1000/month plus utilities. My brother ended up being kicked out, leaving my husband and I with a large debt to pay, but we did. Then we found out I was pregnant with our 2nd child and decided that since we couldn't afford all of our bills and my husbands grandmother was sick and needed help that we would move in with her. We paid rent for November and gave our 30 days notice to our landlord. We were to have all our stuff out and the place cleaned up by January 1st, which we did. We moved into his grandmothers house in the beginning of December, and were not even staying at the house, so we told him that we were not going to be paying the gas and electric or water bill for December, which he agreed was okay. He was a major slumlord and when we moved in the house had a severe rodent/bug problem, not to mention was very unclean, but we were desperate and needed a place immediately. When we moved out, we let him know that I was pregnant and that our finances were in a bad spot and we told him that as soon as we had the money to pay him that we would. He said that was fine and called every 2 days to ask us if we had anything, but we didn't... we moved out knowing that we owed him rent for the month of December, since we gave him the 30 days and 1 gas and electric bill which altogether totalled around $1300. We recently received a court summons to be sued by him. Which is understandable. BUT he is trying to sue us for rent for November, December and January!! And also for gas and electric for December which he agreed we didn't have to pay. And the water bill for December. And he is also trying for $300 for "cleaning fees". We CLEANED ALREADY! Altogether he is trying to get us for about $3000 and I am 9 m onths pregnmant with a 2 year old and broke as hell. I am sooo stressed out about this situatiuon right now and I need some advice, but can't afford a lawyer as you can tell, so I turned to the only thing I know for help... this website. Any advice would help.

It's hard to go back in time, but if you don't have any of his agreements in writing he will win. If you were required to finish out a lease he is entitled to the end of that lease. Generally when you leave a place you have a walk through so that you can sign off on what is missing and what is completed so that there are no surprises. Were you required to give a 30 day or 60 day notice? Did your lease run until the end of January? Just questions that would help answer some of the questions. Keep in mind that because he is asking the court for it, it doesn't mean that he will get it. If you don't show up in court to defend yourself he will automatically be awarded that amount and it will remain on your record. Make sure you show up for court to fight.

I was required to give a 30 day notice and my lease ran past January, but he told us that if we pay for December it was okay. Also, someone took a lot of valuables from the home while we were away, and there was no sign of anyone breaking in, so we believe that he stole a lot of our stuff, but we probably can't do anything about that.

Did you perform a walk-through inspection prior to vacating? Based on what you've said, I assume that you didn't. This is a very important step that a lot of people ignore. If you do the inspection and both parties sign it, it will be harder to argue in court about the condition that the apartment was left in.

Did he give you a receipt when you paid the November and December rent? If you paid by check, then that will count as a receipt. Has he deducted your security deposit from the amount he is trying to collect?

He didn't give us a receipt because we always paid in cash. And the security deposit was included in the rent we were paying. We didn't do a walk-through.

Doesn't sound like you have a lot to stand on. Number one, show up for all your court appointments b/cs if u are a no show he will win by default. Gather any paperwork you may have and pray the judge is sympathetic

I agree with shelly; things aren't looking to be in your favor very much. Usually it's required that the landlord give you a receipt if you pay in cash so that situations such as these can be avoided.