I have a situation where I entered into an oral agreement in April 2007 to move into my friends house as a lodger on a month to month basis. At the time the agreement was made no fixed date was established for the start of the agreement as I had to return to the UK at the end of April for a visa transfer. On April 29 I moved my belongings into my friends garage for storage until I returned to the US. Half way through May, while I was in the UK, my friend emailed me and asked me to pay rent for May to which I said that this was not my understanding of the agreement and nothing more was said until my return to the US in mid-July. When I returned to the US I moved my belongings into the house (after my friends furniture had been moved out of the room) and took possession of a set of house keys. It became immediately apparent that we were not going to agree on the issue of May, June and July's "rent" so I moved out as soon as I found another apartment. My former roommate is now suing me for the 2 and a half months rent plus other incidentals (which she hasn't actually identified in the complaint). Where do I stand?

Hello tenant:

You're going to be standing in court talking to a judge. I don't know the details (apparently, the two of you don't either), so I couldn't tell you how it's going to turn out.

excon

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to excon again.


But excon appears correct. Sounds like a whole bunch of he said/she said and it will be all up to the judge to determine everything.

Too many factors and too many unknowns.

I think, since you were taking up space in the garage as of May 1, that could be construed as moving in. I would offer a compromise and pay a storage fee.