No Receipt, No Money!!! Maryland

Maryland.
Hello, I need Advice.
So I’m living in a house 1Br basement apartment, all included in rent. Landlord is living upstairs with one of her Foster daughters. All of sudden, the Lady does NOT want to sign my Receipts!! & Does NOT accept any other form off Payment, but cash.
At the time my boyfriend signed 1 year lease, no one was living downstairs, where my apartment is leading to a small hallway, thru where is access to room – where shortly after me moving here, her son moved in also. In the small hallway is my electric room, washer/ dryer, second exit. (“electr” sometimes goes out, affecting my fridge etc. ) That still was ok, but one day I come from work & find out, that I can not use the dryer etc., because some young boy was moved IN THE SMALL HALLWAY, RIGHT AGAINST MY DOOR. “omg” ZERO PRIVACY FOR US. Even the light trough the door is visible, not to mention the paper thin walls. Well the Young boy got Deported back to his country, shortly after, the Landlord grandson moved in, then he left & now is there one off her another Foster son. (‘ he specifically does Not bothers me, but the privacy, W/D does.
As Not Enough, the Lady cut off ours Cable “we have basic TV”, and no Computer.
And of coarse Im tiered dealing with her not wanting sign the receipts. On February 20, I send my boyfriend to pay her, of coarse she did NOT signed, so we did Not give her money. That was It.!! She say Get out 30 Days. I want to move out so badly, but so unexpectedly without Computer, working 5-6 D/week, I just can not Do it in 30 days. Today she left some Home typed & signed Letter at my door: “be out April/01/10 (3 weeks & what ever is left on the Property belongs to the Landlord!!.
PLEEEEEEEEEASE Advice. The one thing Im scared off, that my Lease expired 3 moth’s ago & The Lady never renew, nor give my the Copy off the first year contract.
Also she is not paid for the last month as she would not sign it.

Since your lease has expired, you are now a month to month tenant. In Maryland, the LL can give you a 30 day notice to vacate the unit. If she has given you this notice, you must leave by the end of the 30 days. Alternately, she can file to evict you immediately for non-payment of rent and give you a 5 day notice to appear in court. If she wins because you didn't pay, you will have 4 days to move out. You can pay the rent and all court costs prior to the move out to stay.

Why didn't you just hand the LL a money order for the rent? You would have the money order receipt and you would have tendered payment. If she refused, you could bring the money order to court, made out to her, to show a judge that you attempted to pay the rent but she would not accept it.

Sounds to me that she is trying not to show that income. If you payed by check then she must deposit and her back will give her a statement at the end of the year for tax purposes. Also, I would look into calling your local Department of Buildings and report illegal apartments/rooms. It sounds to me that she is getting paid for every square inch of the house and again, not reporting the income. Here in NY we can call the city by dialing 311. Call your local city agency to discuss this matter. PS- are you living in legal apartment? If not, then you may be evicting yourself by bringing this matter to their attention. Howeverm on the flip side, if the apt is illegal she will be subject ot fines & penalties if she trys to evict you. DOUBLE WHAMMY! Just a mental note.

Hello again and thanks for replies.
That just is, LL is not accepting any other form of payment, only cash & refuses to give me receipt. I do have all personal receipts signed from her for the whole past year and 2 months, but now she does not want to sign no more. So I thing that this apartment is illegal and the app. Is in the basement of her house- she live upstairs. I wanted to put the money in the escrow account so the court can see, that I wanted to pay her, but as she said I have to move- I need the money for the new place. I mean that is a month of rent + month of deposit + big deposit for my big dog. So my only option is either I put the money in escrw. account, or for move. I don’t have money for both.
Now I’m totally losing my mind, because now I have only 3 weeks & little tuff time to find decent place to fit my budget. Also she left me a Home tipped letter, outside of my door signed only from her, not even in envelope, all wet from rain. DOES this count as an eviction, do I have to leave on Apr. 01 like she says, or does she have to take me to the court first?????????? I will type her letter and send it- true first class mail, about me leaving soon “ leave appartmt. In Great condition”, but I will not specify the day of leaving. Does it help any??? Sorry, I don’t know all this things, im from Europe and never had any problem like this before. Also I have heard from her nephew, that she already lost the Foster license, because the House is a mess. Please advice again. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Unregistered Sounds to me that she is trying not to show that income. If you payed by check then she must deposit and her back will give her a statement at the end of the year for tax purposes. Also, I would look into calling your local Department of Buildings and report illegal apartments/rooms. It sounds to me that she is getting paid for every square inch of the house and again, not reporting the income. Here in NY we can call the city by dialing 311. Call your local city agency to discuss this matter. PS- are you living in legal apartment? If not, then you may be evicting yourself by bringing this matter to their attention. Howeverm on the flip side, if the apt is illegal she will be subject ot fines & penalties if she trys to evict you. DOUBLE WHAMMY! Just a mental note.

You could have simply handed (or mailed) her an envelope with a money order in it and walked away. Or slid it under her door marked "rent". You would have had the receipt from the money order as proof of payment and she would have received her rent (whether she wanted it in cash or not). She would have had to bring the money order back to you and you could have refused to accept it. That way you would have paid your rent and had a receipt.

As it stands, you have no lease. (Someone that wants only cash for the rent isn't going to sign a lease.) You are a month to month tenant. That means she can give you 30 days notice to move out. She did this. Posting it to the door of the residence is a legal method of service in most places. If you don't move out in that time, she can file to evict you from the premises. Once filed, that will be on your court record and other LLs will deny you housing because of it. Don't let that happen, move out.

That said, you still owe her the rent for the period of time you live in the unit. Needing to save for another deposit on another place (and big $$$ for your dog) and for the first month's rent is your problem, not the LL's. Go pay the LL with a money order as stated above. Have a witness so if she refuses rent you can prove it.

Additionally, rent withholding (which is what depositing the money in an escrow account is called) is allowed only in cases of habitability problems. When the water or electric is out, or some other such emergency that affects habitability and the LL refuses to fix it, you can rent withhold. Just hand her the money order and walk away.

the LL can ask you to leave anytime they want. But to post a letter she worte on your door does not mean you HAVE to leave by that date. If you want to leave by that date then its up to you. But if you dont leave by that date, she HAS to file for eviction. Once that happens, you will have to appear in court. THATS when you tell the judge everything that is going on. Make sure you tell the judge that she is NOT accepting your money unless it CASH and she refuses to give you a receipt for payment.The judge will decide when you have to leave. Be completely honest with the judge about your finances and if he asks you if you want to move, be prepared to answer with yes or no and how much time you will need. Then the judge will decide how much time he believes is fair enough for you to find and relocate to a new place. Keep in mind that if you vacate due to a judges order, the eviction will be on your record, If you dont care about that then fine. I would also suggest you request a copy o the transcripts of your hearing this way, if you are asked by a new LL if you have ever been evicted, you can produce a copy of the transcript to explain why you had to leave. By no fault of your own apart from the LL not willing to give you a receipt for CASH.

Thank you everyone for replies. This last reply made me feel a little better.
Hopefully I find something in 3 weeks. At first, I did not want to take it to court, because I’m all about peace, also I don’t want have anything to do with her illegal activities.
I just thing, that the LL should also have some kind of punishment considering the stress she is causing me and that I was a good tenant. She would not even knew that I live here, except when I bring her rent every month & last summer doing yard work, cleaning basement etc. Is a shame, but such is life, yesterday one of her tenant moved out and next two leaving this month, no one of them want to live here as she is so controlling, and so money hungry. “shop a holick” to be precise.
She is already starting to panic, because that is 3 incomes less.

Originally Posted by Unregistered the LL can ask you to leave anytime they want. But to post a letter she worte on your door does not mean you HAVE to leave by that date. If you want to leave by that date then its up to you. But if you dont leave by that date, she HAS to file for eviction. Once that happens, you will have to appear in court. THATS when you tell the judge everything that is going on. Make sure you tell the judge that she is NOT accepting your money unless it CASH and she refuses to give you a receipt for payment.The judge will decide when you have to leave. Be completely honest with the judge about your finances and if he asks you if you want to move, be prepared to answer with yes or no and how much time you will need. Then the judge will decide how much time he believes is fair enough for you to find and relocate to a new place. Keep in mind that if you vacate due to a judges order, the eviction will be on your record, If you dont care about that then fine. I would also suggest you request a copy o the transcripts of your hearing this way, if you are asked by a new LL if you have ever been evicted, you can produce a copy of the transcript to explain why you had to leave. By no fault of your own apart from the LL not willing to give you a receipt for CASH.

You shouldn't feel better with that advice. It is poor advice. You want to be out BEFORE she files that eviction case with the court. If you are not out by the end date of that notice, she can file. Once it is filed, it becomes part of YOUR court records. It is a public record that anyone will be able to see (friends, family, employers, and any future LL). Once it is filed, you WILL be denied housing from future LLs. This is the one thing that nearly all LLs check and refuse for. It shows up on any background check. Even if you win that case in court, the record of an eviction filed against you remains on your record! Most LLs don't care if you won or lost. Just having an eviction filed will get you denied housing! Do not allow your court record to be soiled with this negative mark. Move out before that date.

It is very bad advice to allow an eviction case to be filed against you. That will get you denied from good housing for years to come. It won't matter that you won the case. Read through recent posts on here. A poster was just complaining that they were being denied housing because of an eviction case from years ago. Don't allow this to happen to you. Even if you are in the right, the stigma of an eviction filed against you will affect you and you will be denied housing. Good LLs with decent places never accept people who have evictions. They won't even give you the chance to produce a transcript of the case, nor would they take the time to read it. You just would never hear back from that LL or would just get a generic denial letter. Find someplace to go before that date and save your court record.