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Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment

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  • 09-28-2018, 08:24 AM
    mlongwell1970
    Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Georgia

    My Landlord had me and my GF resign a lease on 7/3/18. The woman in the office showed us each page and asked us to sign . We signed and management also signed the lease. Two days later the manager sent me a copy of our signed lease stating it was the new lease going forward. At the time I didn’t pay any attention to the rent amount on the lease so I filed it away. My girlfriend did see the rent amount on the lease showed $0.00 lease payment due from 11/17/17 through 3/19/19.

    I am running late on my September lease payment and my land lord has filed a dispossession claim with the magistrate court seeking eviction due to unpaid rent. I pulled out my lease and realized the document states $0.00 due for the entire lease period and my GF commented that she didn’t know I had paid rent for July and August because our lease stated $0.00 due for the entire lease period. My question is: Can I enter the current binding lease signed on 7/3 into evidence at my dispossession hearing and counter sue for refund of all rent I’ve paid since 11/17/17 through August 2018 and not be charged rent from Sept 2018 through March 19. 2019 . The date the lease ends. The landlord has been very quick to. Push me out of my home of nearly 4 years when they have given other tenants in the complex well over 30 days to pay without eviction filings. :mad::mad::mad:

    I want to know if I can enforce the lease stating $0.00 due from 7/17/17 through 3/19/19 to get the land lord to refund all lease payment made up to sept of this year and also stay in the lease through its expiration on 3/19/19 with $0.00 rent per month?
  • 09-28-2018, 10:05 AM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    Quote:

    I want to know if I can enforce the lease stating $0.00 due from 7/17/17 through 3/19/19 to get the land lord to refund all lease payment made up to sept of this year and also stay in the lease through its expiration on 3/19/19 with $0.00 rent per month?
    You obviously know how much the rent is because you have been paying it and the landlord's been accepting it.

    All the judge will do is write in the amount.

    And if you want to claim you have no lease because there is no amount written in, then you are a month to month tenant with an oral agreement as to how much the rent is and you get evicted for non-payment anyway.

    Get it?
  • 09-28-2018, 10:36 AM
    mlongwell1970
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    Your response is ridiculous! If you make an error on a contract that costs your organization to lose money your organization is responsible for the loss. I can guarantee you the landlord would hold me to my signature on the binding contract had I signed the new lease with a ridiculous high payment. Typo’s aren’t clearly stated, reviewed and then signed by all parties as binding. A judge will not just write an amount into a lease that is binding. I absolutely have a lease and it states the payment is $0.00. I think I’ll take the advice of four attorneys who actually know contract law. When the landlord presented, reviewed and signed the lease as binding and then again confirmed via email the rent payment is clearly what is stated on the lease.

    Get it? LOL
  • 09-28-2018, 10:40 AM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    You paid the rent. You knew there was rent due and the judge is going to know that as well.
  • 09-28-2018, 11:17 AM
    mlongwell1970
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    The lease changed the rent amount to $0.00 when it was offered for resigning. The landlord did not disclose the change per the new lease via their website where payments are made so like I said. They changed the payment to $0.00 and back dated it to the lease begin date when they included the term in the lease. Clearly it was a mistake but it is also a mistake the landlord made AND they double confirmed it was correct with me the day of signing and 3 days later by sending it to me again stating it is the current binding lease. You must not have to face consequences for your errors. I am hearing from 5 attorneys now that my course of action is to hold the landlord to the contract they offered, signed and confirmed as binding with me.

    The document is legal and binding and the judge will be required to uphold it unless you are saying the judge will decide to rewrite law? Lol

    Are you an attorney in Georgia?
  • 09-28-2018, 11:47 AM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    Quote:

    Quoting mlongwell1970
    View Post

    The document is legal and binding and the judge will be required to uphold it unless you are saying the judge will decide to rewrite law? Lol

    No, he won't rewrite "law" he'll correct the mistake on the contract. The "law" allows him to do that.

    You were given an example of how that works on another site. If you didn't bother to read it, I suggest you read it now:

    https://scholar.google.com/scholar_c...17879312721130

    Believe what you want to believe but I don't think you will be LOLing when the sheriff puts you out on the street.

    Quote:

    Quoting mlongwell1970
    View Post

    Are you an attorney in Georgia?

    If you want an attorney in Georgia you are welcome to go pay one.

    From the notice at the bottom of this page:

    Quote:

    The legal help offered in this forum comes from volunteers who may not have any formal legal training or knowledge, and all information should be confirmed with a qualified legal professional.
    Quote:

    Quoting mlongwell1970
    View Post
    I am hearing from 5 attorneys now that my course of action is to hold the landlord to the contract they offered, signed and confirmed as binding with me.

    Did you actually pay those attorneys for that advice or just give them limited information over the phone?
  • 09-28-2018, 01:23 PM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    Quote:

    Quoting pg1067
    View Post
    The landlord might try, but if the least stated a monthly rent of $25,000 instead of $2,500, you can be damn sure you'd be arguing the opposite side. But the result would be exactly the same. The court would reform the contract to reflect what the actual agreement was.

    pg1067 is exactly right. When contract cases go to court, the objective of the court is to determine what the agreement between the parties was, and it is that agreement that is enforced. If a term in the written contract does not reflect what the real agreement was, and a term that says zero rent clearly would not reflect what the deal truly was, then the court reforms the written document to reflect what the real deal truly was. You know what the rent is and you've been paying it. That's pretty powerful evidence as to what the rental rate is. No court is going to say you get to live in your unit rent free.
  • 09-28-2018, 02:53 PM
    Lill1
    Re: Landlord Signed Binding Lease Stating $0.00 Lease Payment
    A scrivener's error in Georgia occurs when the intention of the parties is identical at the time they entered into the transaction, but the written agreement fails to express that intention because of the drafter's (scrivener's) error. The challenge with the facts you present is that it appears that neither party intended for the written contract to "pay zero rent." When a court has to reform or interpret a contract, it does so to achieve the parties' "intent."
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