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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Posts
    1

    Question Landlord Gave Less Than 24 Hours to Move - Handwritten Termination of Lease

    My partner and I moved from Florida to California and decided the hollywood area would be a great area.
    We searched for weeks for a place and found one at the last min. Neither one of us really have a great credit score because of student loan debt ratio... After the landlord of this particular building we were interested in, approved us and our credit for the building, needless to say we signed a year lease... she continually harassed us about making sure we paid on time, and it hadn't even been a full month. I wasn't sure why she was so rude to my partner and I at the time. she was also constantly asking why we only moved one bed into the place when there were two of us living there, and made faces about it when i let her know that we were partners. A week after being in the unit , i noticed that the pipes were leaking behind the shower and onto the floors and into the wall behind the cabinets. I tried to contact the landlord that evening to let her know of the situation, so she could get it fixed, but no answer. The next day after coming home from work, the landlords were on the property and asked me why we were taking showers without a shower curtain (without even looking in our apartment to see that we had a shower curtain and use it every time.) After making the landlords aware that i had tried to contact them about the issue of the water leak, he told me it was leaking into the ceiling of the unit below us. He took a look at the pipes and said he would have to replace the pipes and they would be fine...but when I asked him about mold and if it would be an issue and he told me, yes... we would need to move asap, because he couldn't have us living there. They offered us no kind of temporary housing and only gave us 24 hours to have our belongings out. Also told us we couldn't even stay there that night. we had to find a place to go for the night and meet with them to get all the money back the next day. The landlord was not willing to type up a termination of lease and copy it for me... instead she tried to take my copy of the lease and handed me a HAND WRITTEN copy of HER HAND WRITTEN termination of lease. She gave me the full amount of rent & security back and also another $200 for the hassle of renting another uhaul. Needless to say, my partner and i had less than 24 hours to find a place to go and move all of our things. We had to call out of work the next day and move all of our things.
    Meanwhile in the transition of the move... I was having a lot of a major medical family issues back on the east coast, so the company i work for offered to help me out money-wise to fly home for some time if i could provide proof of having to move and why. I contacted the landlord who told me she wasn't the owner (which i found out later was not true), and that she would have to get approval and she would contact me back... she never contacted me back and may have been the cause of me not getting approved for the assistance at work to fly home during that time. She really put alot of stress and pain on us, making us move in less than 24 hours. Since she was unwilling to provide me the papers and hung up on me when i did finally get ahold of her again. I was thinking about taking her to court for the way she has treated us, making us move at the last min, and not providing the proof i needed for my work assistance.
    Does anyone know if i have any grounds to stand on? also if so , can anyone suggest a good attorney in Los Angeles?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: Landlord Gave Less Than 24 Hours to Move - Handwritten Termination of Lease

    Regardless of the fact that she refunded you the rent and deposit, the lease is a legally binding contract, and she stands in breach of it.

    Take her to court for breach of contract. You can get an attorney referral through the California State Bar Association.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Cinnaminson, New Jersey, United States
    Posts
    205

    Default Re: Landlord Gave Less Than 24 Hours to Move - Handwritten Termination of Lease

    The hand-written portion doesn't matter. However, there is a very specific protocol for evicting a tenant and if they didn't follow it, you would have been allowed to stay there through your lease term.

    You definitely didn't have to move and now can sue them for breach of contract.

    There is a list of real estate attorneys on this site (you can search by state): http://www.ezlandlordforms.com/attorneys/

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