Landlord is threatening to sue for unpaid rent

[aer1984]

I gave the proper notice to move out. My landlord verbally asked me to move out early to accommodate a future tenant. I signed lease papers for a new apartment. My landlord called back to say "Nevermind, the future tenant backed out." I explained that I had already signed the new lease papers. He said "Oh man, I shouldn't have asked you to move out without getting a deposit from the other tenant." I moved out early. After the move, the landlord called back to say "By the way, you're still responsible for this apartment until your original move out date (about 37 days)." Because I'm a Christian, I argued but getting nowhere just agreed to pay the rent, even though I felt I was being taken advantage of. If I was paying rent, I wanted to keep my keys, but the landlord refused and took my keys. We've been arguing back and forth since. I agreed he could keep my deposit (one month's rent) and I mailed the check for the last 6 days of rent. He never got the check and is now threatening to sue (for a grand total of $165). What should I do? Now that I've been doing some reading on the tenant laws, I'm questioning. Did he illegally evict me? Should I write another check to be done with this jerk or do I have a case to counter sue? I was glad to get out of there, because the place is not kept up by the landlord, and the house ended up getting rats (not my fault), but he wouldn't do anything about it for over month. But I'm tired of dealing with this person, and I don't want anything on my record (which is perfectly clean).

He asked you to move out and you agreed. That is not an eviction.

You should have gotten it in writing to be allowed to terminate your lease early without penalty or further obligation. Without it, it is your word versus his. It would be up to a judge as to who to believe. You could take this to court and see what a judge says. If he sues you, countersue for this.

Since you agreed to pay the rest of the rent, you should have been permitted to keep possession of the unit. You could have continued to store items in the unit and moved slowly to your new place. He was wrong to have demanded your keys. If you paid rent, you should still have possession.

If he re-rents the place during those 37 days, you are due a refund of the rent you paid for that period. He cannot double- dip. That is, he is not allowed to collect 2 rents for the same period of time. Keep an eye on it. If it is re-rented, require a refund.

It is doubtful he would sue over only $165. It would cost him nearly that much for filing the case in small claims court, in lost wages and productivity, etc.

[aer1984]

Worst case scenario: He sues, I counter sue. I lose. I pay the $165. What would this do to me? Can he demand I pay his lawyer fees? Does this go on my record? If yes, how does this affect me?

If he sues, he gets a judgment for the $165. This does go on your credit report. As far as the attorney fees, most states say you cannot use an attorney in small claims, so there should be no attorney fees. There will be a filing fee and he can ask for that as part of the judgment. It is up to a judge to award these or not.

Have you checked out NoPayTenants.com?

Here's the link:

http://nopaytenants.com

[aer1984]

I'm not on there that I could find. My landlord is older (65ish), so I doubt he knows about this website.