doors padlockedw/o notice

[red22der]

Lease states rent due on 1st. After 7 days tenant in default. On or after the 8th, landlord can send certified letter giving 10 days to cure. On the 2nd I received a cert. letter giving 10 days to vacate. Since the letter was sent prior to the 8th I didn't respond. She filed an eviction suit with small claims court and postponed 2 trial dates. 2 days after the 2nd postponement she padlocked the doors and confiscated all my bank records, business docs and proceeded to sell $60K of my equipment to the new tenant.
I am filing a suit on my own as I can't afford an atty.
The contract is enforceable. Can anyone help with any other possible info that I may need. Is this a legitimate case?
Thanks

[annjd]

Did you eventually pay?

You needed to have paid as provided in the lease and if you did, you will prevail.

She also has to follow the lease.

[OHlandlord]

This was a lease on commercial property, correct? You have a couple of problems. One is that the rent was due on the first *as stated in the lease*. The 7 days period after the first is a grace period. Do not confuse grace periods with when the rent is actually due. If the lease says the rent is due on the first, it is. The grace period usually refers only to the date when late fees will be added. Your rent was due on the first, late on the second, and the LL agreed not to add late fees until the 8th. But your rent was still late on the second. One has nothing to do with the other. A grace period is only a temporary respite from the late fees, not an agreement to allow you to pay late each month unless it is mandated by state law.

The LL filed a pay or quit notice on the second because your rent was late. (This may be a quit notice only depending on your state law.) You should have responded to this notice. It is the initial notice of an eviction proceeding. It was a clear warning sign that you ignored. Just because the LL will not add late fees yet doesn't mean you don't still owe the rent. It was not wise to have ignored this notice. Had you responded to this notice, this could possibly have been avoided.

The LL then filed eviction since you didn't pay or vacate within the notice. Since rent was not paid when due, this is one posible step. Most states have few or no laws that govern commercial leases and rentals. What is in the lease is the law according to the court. You do not have the protections granted to tenants under residential LL-Tenant laws. In residential rental law, it would be illegal to padlock the unit. However, the LL may padlock the premises and seize possessions to seek repayment of monies owed in many states for commercial tenants. You would have to see what, if any, commercial lease laws there are in your state. Think of a commercial storage rental. Do they go through court and evict the belongings from the site? No, they padlock and seize belongings to sell. This is what your LL did.

The best I can tell you is to look up the law as I stated before, if there is any. Then to go back through your lease and read it carefully, looking for clauses that refer to defaulting on the lease. Next is to look at the date she filed the original eviction. Was it after the 8th or 10 days after her notice on the second? (Wasn't your rent paid by then?) Also, look at the notice itself, was it a pay or quit notice, or just a quit notice? Did you have a current lease, or had it expired? If it had expired, she needn't give you a chance to pay. The lease was up, she told you to leave, you didn't. Finally, how much money did you owe the LL? And what state are you in?

I hope this works out for you. Please let us know more info and we may possibly be able to give you some other help.