Vanilla, there are several people talking about what he could do to you, and what the law is, but all that is irrelevant. As I said before, your landlord is a businessman. It’s strictly a money thing. For two months rent, it’s not worth it for him to go to court, and attempt to garnesh your wages. He knows this well, because he deals with this situation from time to time. You’ve indicated that you’re honest and want to pay but you don’t have the money right now. You can find a deal that will work.
Go forward with your current plan: pick an amount that you can afford right now, then send that amount every month till it’s payed off. With the first payment, send a note telling him you’re doing this and you appreciate his patience.
Believe me, he’ll threaten big things, but that’s just to try to scare you. At this point with you in a different state, he’s figuring he’ll get nothing. Getting money over time is much better for him than getting nothing and he knows that.
Typically leases revert to a month-to-month tenancy after the original term. Therefore, you are only liable for a couple months’ worth of back rent. I don’t know how much $$ you were paying on rent, but I’d imagine that the landlord will probably write it off as not collectable, and will gladly take anything you send. Yeah, he might sue you, but most landlords have a thing about throwing good money after bad. The worst that is likely to happen to you is that he’ll report it to all the credit agencies he can, and ding your credit.
Something just occurred to me: You say you were evicted. Eviction is a legal process, and the courts usually award $$ as part of it. Was there a judgment? Or are you using the term loosely, to mean you moved out because he’d initiated the eviction process?
ricepad: I went to court in May, told the lady I would be out by May 21st, which I was; so I didn’t have to appear befor any judge.
I was out by then, and they gave me a paper saying second hearing or something like that in July.
I will write to them and say I won’t be able to show as I am too far away.