[overmanb]

I have a question dealing with a tenant/landlord situation in a mobile home park.
I had a mobile home parked in this park for over 20 years. In that time the property changed owners several times. The lot rents rose rapidly with the last owner. My mobile home sustained water damage but I wanted to repair it , so I paid full lot rent for over 3 years for a property that was so extensively damaged that it was uninhabitable. The water had been turned off to the house for over 3 years. As the lot rent got higher and higher I could no longer afford to pay the lot rent AND continue making the repairs. I called the landlord told her that I would be late with the rent this month. I received a warning that I would be evicted after being late 10 days. I paid the lot rent on the 24th of the month. and she told me she had dropped the eviction. On May 1, I found an eviction notice on the mobile home door. I went to the office and asked what this notice was all about. The landlord said that she had sent a letter to the lawyer and had cancelled the proceedings on the 26th, so I could just ignore the notice. She even showed me a copy of the letter informing the lawyer the eviction action was cancelled. She said do you want a copy? I said no because I thought that it wasn’t necessary… because I BELIEVED her. I gave the mobile home away and it was removed from the park on May 3. On May 30th I got a notice that I owed the lawyer 130.00 for the court costs, and 100.00 for the notice to be served. I knew that there was letter that had cancelled the proceedings, so I ignored the lawyer. I got a notice from the landlord that said my deposit was going to pay the lawyer fees. Again I thought, just keep the deposit, and leave me alone! But I do not owe a lawyer that decided to go ahead with an eviction notice that did not have a landlord backing him up!
My question…I know I need a lawyer, but I need to know…How do I legally get a copy of that letter the landlord wrote canceling the eviction papers? I refuse to pay the mobile home park’s lawyer because he made a mistake. It is not my financial responsibility for his mistakes. P.S. I keep getting bills for various things from this lawyer for what he did for this “eviction” proceeding…the eviction that had been canceled. I recently received a collection bill for this lawyer’s mistakes. So I would like to know someone’s idea of what my next steps are to make this lawyer BACK OFF>>>HE is in the wrong!!

[ScottGem]

First, you need to check what your lease states about late payment. I think its rare for a landlord to start eviction proceedings when someone is less than 30 days late. The lease may, in fact, prohibit that. If it does, then you are totally in the clear.

If it was legal for her to start eviction proceedings, and either the lease or tenant/landlord rules in your state allow for passing on the costs of eviction to the tenant, then you probably DO owe the money. It depends on when the paperwork was filed. If it was filed prior to 5/26 when the landlord wrote the cancelllation letter, then you own the money.

Let me try to explain the possible timeline

4/1: Rent is due
4/10: Rent is late
4/11: Landlord requests atty to start eviction
4/15: Landlord start proceedings
4/24: Rent is paid
4/26: Cancellation letter is sent
5/1: Eviction notice posted

Now 4/26 was a Wed so its possible the lawyer did not receive the letter until Friday and could not act on cancelling until Mon 5/1. At which point the notice was already out for posting.

So you see from this possible timeline, that the lawyer may not have acted AFTER the cancellation.

[Cvillecpm]

If attorney/MHP files against you, subpeona a copy of the letter... obviously, you should have taken a copy of the letter when it was offered.