Mother is in studio apartment in California, and my name is still on the lease.

[celtic7]

Hi,

A bit of background information...I had been living in a studio apartment, in California for 17 years with mother, who I supported financially all that time. In late 2009 I was laid off from a credit union I had worked for in California. In July 2010, I moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and lived with my father, whom I had not seen in 25 years, and his girlfriend for a year in order to find work and spend time with my father and his family. While collecting unemployment, I was still paying the rent on the studio apartment for my mother and giving her money for food. I told her this would not be able to last very long and that she would need to find another source of income. In July of 2011, I had to tell my mother I could no longer pay the rent because I needed to move to Oahu and find work there. I could not find a job on the Big Island....mostly farm land out there. I moved to Oahu and got a job through a temp agency and they found me work with good pay, still...half the income I made at the credit union in California, but it is helping pay down the debt that I acquired while being out of work for 2 years. I am living with a roommate right now, and I am paying 400.00 a month which is all I can afford right now because I have a huge Credit Card payment with American Express, and I owe IRS back taxes...IRS is almost paid off now. I told mother she would need to collect welfare if there was no other source of income for her. She refuses to apply for welfare. She started to trade stock options which helped her pay the rent until May of this year. She has not paid rent for May and June. Now she sent me a text message saying that I am being sued and so is she in Superior Court. Yes, my name is still on the lease agreement and I need to know how to handle this situation. I don't know what to do. I need advice. I am just starting to get back on my feet. I need to know what my options are in this situation. The rent for that apartment is 875.00 a month. So she, or I owe now 1750.00 and the month of July is just around the corner. Can someone please tell me what my legal obligation is in regards to the rent. Am I liable for half or all the rent? If my mother moves out of the apartment, can we or I make payment arrangements with the landlord and settle this out of court? Should I call the landlord and speak with them, and try to work something?

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that you may give a written notice to the landlord to terminate the lease. You may give a copy of the notice to your mother. You may work out a settlement with the landlord and your mother as to the amount to be paid to clear the past dues. If the matter is not resolved, you may inform the court about your situation. You may inform the court that you were unemployed and proceeded to Hawaii. You have just got employment and many past dues have to be cleared. The present wages are much lower. The court will consider all the facts and decide the matter.

AFF

After 17 years, did your lease agreement then become a month-to-month rental agreement?

You really needed to give notice to your LL in accordance with whatever written agreement you had, or what was considered "current" (even if annually renewed)--usually 30 to 60 days. Since you did not, and your mother and you are not able to pay rent, IF the lease/rental agreement was in YOUR NAME ONLY, then *YOU* are responsible for the rent. If the lease/rental agreement was in BOTH your names, then you are BOTH on the hook for the rent.

Usually, non-payment of rent will land you with a formal eviction notice, then you go to court, and then the judge will grant the eviction or some such thing.

THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE GOING ON HERE FOR YOUR MOM TO END UP IN SUPERIOR COURT IN CA. Back rent is not a superior court kind of thing.

If you and you alone are on the lease/rental agreement, and no rent was paid in May or June, then you're not in such deep doo-doo. I would suggest you call the LL and try to work out something but really, you need to GET YOUR MOTHER OUT. From a LL's perspective, the LL is not likely to entertain the suggestion of not going to court if she is still there and not paying rent.

Your legal obligation, because you are still on the lease/rental agreement, is to make sure the rent is paid. Even if your mother is also listed on the lease/rental agreement, there is probably a clause in it that says all occupants are jointly and separately responsible for the rent. This falls to you since she has no source of income, even though they will go after you both.

You are both legally responsible to pay all the rent IF BOTH YOUR NAMES ARE LISTED AS TENANT on the lease/rental agreement. If only you are listed, it's allllll on you. If your mom moves out and disappears, it's still alllllll on you. If your mom can't pay, she will be evicted through a court procedure.

Your mother, however, refusing to go on state help, is digging her own grave of homelessness and eviction.

I know it's your mom, and her decisions are affecting you. You need to cut your losses, protect your credit which you are building up with your current employment, and do what needs to be done. After 17 years, does she have any friends or church connections she can temporarily stay with until a state agency can step in and provide housing for her?

[celtic7]

Thanks to you both for your response to my question.

It has always been a month to month lease. My mother and I are both on the lease agreement. I talked with the apartment manager today, and asked if my mother were out by July, could I pay them 100.00 a month and avoid going to court. The landlord said that she would talk to the property management company and get back to me. My mother has a granddaughter and she is married. I am going to ask if they can take her in. Other than that she has no other friends or family. She is pretty much a recluse.

Hi, I'm glad your LL is willing to talk with the management company on your behalf.

Please be aware that if your mom hunkers down and refuses to move, all prior verbal discussions and possible solutions might be taken off the table. Your being out of state is a big factor too, as you won't be there in person making sure your mom does indeed move out.

You may want to have a Plan B in case the granddaughter is unable to take in your mom. It IS a lot to ask of a person. You may want to contact some agencies on aging and other agencies in your former city and ask what can be done if your mom refuses to move, what can be done to help her find housing, etc. This is not likely to happen quickly.

At best, things will work out with only a few bumps, but at the most drastic end of things is the possibility that you may have to have your mom committed for her own good. Often, people who are recluses and set in their ways and how they live their life and refuse changes of any kinds, often choose to end it all rather than face living in uncomfortable or unfamiliar circumstances. It's sad, but it happens so be aware of that also, please. I'm not saying this will happen, but unfortunately, I have seen it happen.

Best of luck, and please post again and let us know how things are going.

[celtic7]

I tried to negotiate with the property management company through the apartment manager, that if I paid 100.00 a month on the back rent and if I could get her out by the first of July, would they drop the court case. They had agreed. We had to extend the move out date to the 10th , and then the 15th, because my mother still did not have the funding to move. She has been trying to apply for SSI and now they are telling her that she can only receive 136.00 a month on top of the 341.00 that she receives from Social Security. That is not enough for her to move out and pay a deposit and rent somewhere else. The property management company does not want to give her more time to move, and so they said they will proceed with court. How should I handle this now? Should I go ahead a pay them 100.00 a month even though we do not have a new agreement, signed, or wait until this goes to court? The old agreement was never signed because we were trying to extend the move out date until the 1st of August so my mother could get enough money from SSI, but it seems that is not going to happen. What do you advise at this point?

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by celtic7 I tried to negotiate with the property management company through the apartment manager, that if I paid 100.00 a month on the back rent and if I could get her out by the first of July, would they drop the court case. They had agreed. We had to extend the move out date to the 10th , and then the 15th, because my mother still did not have the funding to move. She has been trying to apply for SSI and now they are telling her that she can only receive 136.00 a month on top of the 341.00 that she receives from Social Security. That is not enough for her to move out and pay a deposit and rent somewhere else. The property management company does not want to give her more time to move, and so they said they will proceed with court. How should I handle this now? Should I go ahead a pay them 100.00 a month even though we do not have a new agreement, signed, or wait until this goes to court? The old agreement was never signed because we were trying to extend the move out date until the 1st of August so my mother could get enough money from SSI, but it seems that is not going to happen. What do you advise at this point?

You are certainly welcome to start paying off the unpaid rent balance at a rate of $100 per month, but it's NOT going to get your mother the time she needs to move out.

You seriously need to make plans to move her out ASAP, or you are going to find an eviction on your record. Going to court will very likely result in a judgment, which will appear on a credit report against you, and an eviction that will show up on rental history for both you AND your mother. If you move her out before the court date and make a payment arrangement to pay off the rent balance, that would be the lesser of the two evils IMHO.

[celtic7]

I am requesting a copy of my rental agreement from my landlord and she is telling me she does not have it now, that it is with the attorney. Can they refuse to give me a copy of the agreement? Will I need an attorney to get me a copy of the rental agreement?

[sandyclaus]

Originally Posted by celtic7 I am requesting a copy of my rental agreement from my landlord and she is telling me she does not have it now, that it is with the attorney. Can they refuse to give me a copy of the agreement? Will I need an attorney to get me a copy of the rental agreement?

If the LL's attorney is the only one who possesses the original copy of the rental agreement, then you should be able to request a copy from them (expect that they may charge you for that).

Is there a reason you never obtained a copy when you signed it?

[celtic7]

This rental agreement was signed 20 years ago. I was 21 years old. My mother has a copy of the agreement and has packed it up since she is trying to move things into storage. I have not been living at the apartment for the past 2 years.