Have to show up to court for late payment

[derived]

Hello - I was filed with a late payment court paper recently. I was away for a week, and my roommate decided to ignore the landlord's late payment notice and we ended up getting the court thing. The rent was paid full -- is it still necessary to show up to court, and what happens from now?

[OHlandlord]

Again, we must know where you live to tell you about the court procedures for that area. But generally, if you have received a summons to court for an eviction hearing, you should show up. You may want to call the court ahead of time and see if the case has been dismissed since you have paid your rent. But if not, show up with proof of payment of rent. Failure to show up usually means you lose by default and the LL wins. I hope this is not an eviction summons for your sake, but it sounds as if it is. Courts do not usually issue summons for a late rent hearing, they issue them for evictions.

In some states, (generally called "no second chances" states) the LL can evict simply because you didn't pay on time. In other states, he must allow you to stay because you did pay up. But your roommate really made a very poor choice and has done you a great disservice. By ignoring the late rent notice and not paying the rent when due, this caused your LL to file eviction against you. Even if it is dismissed, this eviction filing will now show up on your court record. Any future LL or employer (or anyone else) can look you up on the public record search and see that you have had this filed against you. Future LLs will deny you an apartment because of this. Most don't look beyond the filing to see if it was upheld or dismissed. Just the fact that the LL had to file it will be enough to get denied. You will have to thank your roommate for this. It was a very dumb choice IMO.

[derived]

Originally Posted by OHlandlord

Again, we must know where you live to tell you about the court procedures for that area. But generally, if you have received a summons to court for an eviction hearing, you should show up. You may want to call the court ahead of time and see if the case has been dismissed since you have paid your rent. But if not, show up with proof of payment of rent. Failure to show up usually means you lose by default and the LL wins. I hope this is not an eviction summons for your sake, but it sounds as if it is. Courts do not usually issue summons for a late rent hearing, they issue them for evictions.

In some states, (generally called "no second chances" states) the LL can evict simply because you didn't pay on time. In other states, he must allow you to stay because you did pay up. But your roommate really made a very poor choice and has done you a great disservice. By ignoring the late rent notice and not paying the rent when due, this caused your LL to file eviction against you. Even if it is dismissed, this eviction filing will now show up on your court record. Any future LL or employer (or anyone else) can look you up on the public record search and see that you have had this filed against you. Future LLs will deny you an apartment because of this. Most don't look beyond the filing to see if it was upheld or dismissed. Just the fact that the LL had to file it will be enough to get denied. You will have to thank your roommate for this. It was a very dumb choice IMO.

Thanks for the input. We're located in Baltimore, Maryland, and our lease has already terminated at this point (lease is over before the court date), so eviction is irrelevant. I just want to clear this up and close everything off. It's difficult to get to the court because I don't know where it is at the moment, and I have no transportation there.

If you say I will always be denied an apartment in the future, how does anyone who gets this kind of notice ever get an apartment then? And how does someone remove it from the public records, if it was unintentional (since I mentioned the reason beforehand). Also would like to mention that I'm moving to another state after this.

Thanks.

Was your lease terminated by the LL? Have you returned possession of the unit (given the keys) back to the LL? Did you get a written agreement from them that states you are no longer liable under that lease? If the above things have not happened yet, the eviction case is NOT irrelevant. You may still be evicted as long as you retain possession of the unit. Unless you return possession of the unit prior to the court date, the eviction can proceed.

Fortunately, Maryland is a tenant friendly state and you can reinstate tenancy even after an eviction by paying court costs and rent before the physical set out.

To answer the next question, how does someone with this get another unit? They find a private LL who does not check court records, they settle for a lower class unit, or they pay a higher deposit to make up for the increased risk the LL perceives from renting to someone with a prior eviction filing. It will be more difficult to get into a nice complex. Those management companies routinely check court records nationwide. This filing will come up on those checks. Even many small LLs (like myself) check these records since a check of public records is free.

The only way to remove this from the court records is to petition the court to do so. Otherwise, it will remain on the records for many years to come.

[derived]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Was your lease terminated by the LL? Have you returned possession of the unit (given the keys) back to the LL? Did you get a written agreement from them that states you are no longer liable under that lease? If the above things have not happened yet, the eviction case is NOT irrelevant. You may still be evicted as long as you retain possession of the unit. Unless you return possession of the unit prior to the court date, the eviction can proceed.

Fortunately, Maryland is a tenant friendly state and you can reinstate tenancy even after an eviction by paying court costs and rent before the physical set out.

To answer the next question, how does someone with this get another unit? They find a private LL who does not check court records, they settle for a lower class unit, or they pay a higher deposit to make up for the increased risk the LL perceives from renting to someone with a prior eviction filing. It will be more difficult to get into a nice complex. Those management companies routinely check court records nationwide. This filing will come up on those checks. Even many small LLs (like myself) check these records since a check of public records is free.

The only way to remove this from the court records is to petition the court to do so. Otherwise, it will remain on the records for many years to come.

So our lease officially ends June 30 and I already notified the landlord that we are moving out on that date. I spoke with them about it today and they said since I already made the full payment for everything, the court case is dismissed and so I don't need to go to court, but all of our names are still in the public records.

Whenever I submit an application to apply for an apartment, can I just let the landlord know my situation? My current landlord said if whatever housing I apply to calls them and asks about it, my record is fine and they won't say anything bad.

How do I petition the court - will this cost money and will I have to show up in court? Though I am in Maryland right now, I'm going to move to another state soon.

First, call the court and be SURE the case is dismissed and you don't have to show up. Don't take your LL's word for it. Even if the LL is telling you the truth and asked to dismiss the case, I have seen the clerk forget to remove it and the case is still called before the judge on that day. You do not want an eviction by default because you didn't show up. (That will be even harder to remove.)

To have it removed, you need to contact the clerk of court and ask for their procedures to have the record expunged. Each court has a slightly different procedure, but it usually entails a written request (probably signed by the filing party also) to remove the record. Call and ask.

You can explain to the next LL what happened. But it would be better to also have them call your current LL and have him explain too. Provide your explanation and the current LL's name and phone number on your application to help persuade the next LL of this mistake. Be aware that some may not believe you. They may still decide not to accept you because of that record. You did pay late enough that it had to be filed.