I have lived at my current residence for 6 years. My roommate and I both have oral agreements-Roommate has a ten year agreement which is up next year and my agreement is month to month. Recently in march I was hospitalized for 10 days. 7 days after I was discharged the landlord came on the proerty without giving a written notice without a valid reason. While she was here my roommate told her I just got out of the hospital-I am a disabled vet.
Then on April 2, 2011 I received her letter dated March 28, 2011 that I have to move out by June 30, 2011. The noticed stated 13 reasons why I had to move out including “saying I am a unauthorized non-rent paying occupant” in her house.
I showed the letter to my doctors and they all concurred the landlord was commiting housing discrimination against me.
I live in San Diego, Ca. and tenant laws state if you live at your residence 2 years or longer the landlord has to give the tenant two notices- a 60 day notice and another notice stating the reason(s) why the tenant has to move out.
60 days is enough time to find a new place but when you are disabled it takes a little bit longer.
Guess my quest is can she evict me if I only received the 60 day notice? Can she evict me sooner if her reason is that I am a non rent paying tenant?
IANAL but what is the basis for discrimination? You’re on month-to-month and apparently not on the official lease and many leases do not allow subletting.
My understanding is that in CA, when you’re month to month, your not entitled to any more than a month notice. I live in So Cal and have been both a renter and a landlord.
You received 60 days notice.
I don’t see any discrimination.
Are you willing to stake your law license on it? Or am I correct in surmising that you don’t have one to put in jeopardy?
While this thread remains, momentarily, in ATMB, I think there should be some clarification on the rules. While I think it’s all right to have some discussion about basic legal doctrine, I think the rendering of a legal opinion—as the statement “I don’t see any discrimination” constitutes—ought to remain out of bounds. (And note, in conformity with this, my objection should not be construed as saying that I do think there was any actionable discrimination. I have no idea what the facts and circumstances at issue are, and it would be grossly premature to hold forth on the question in such ignorance.)
We know that the letter had 13 reasons expressed (the remaining 12 of which you never inquired about before declaring that you saw no discrimination). A real lawyer would have at least attempted to find out what those were, in case one of them were, say, “Landlord doesn’t want people with disabilities living on the premises.” I also put it to you that you don’t really know if by “non-rent paying” he means he is not paying rent to anyone, or instead, not paying rent to the landlord, but is paying rent to his roommate in whose name the unenforceable oral lease for a term of ten years might be. Which would bring up a question about the presence of a sublessor, which would require investigation about the lease agreement (even if it is only oral), its terms with respect to subleases, and any past approval of subleases, as well as possible modification or waiver.
So, as you can see, lawyering really is a full-time job, so let’s not go off half-cocked telling people that they don’t have a case based on a one-paragraph description of their issue.
Welcome to the SDMB, RADTENN. This message is divided into different forums for different kinds of discussions. Asking people for legal advice goes in IMHO (In My Humble Opinion). Keep in mind that the people answering may or may not know what they’re talking about.
You’re merely assuming that hidden in the unspoken 12 other reasons given for moving lies cause for a discrimination complaint. We have seen no such proof. In fact, I think I said “I see no discrimination” when referencing that very fact in an earlier post. You’re ignoring the fact that rent has not been paid. Failure to pay rent, without justification, is sufficient grounds for any tenant’s eviction.
Here Kimmy. The requirement that reasons must be given for tenants living in the property 2 or more years is a San Diego Municipal Code. It provides…
*
§98.0730 Termination of Tenancy
A residential tenancy of more than two years duration shall not be terminated, nor
shall its renewal be refused, except for one or more of the following reasons:
(a) Nonpayment of Rent.
. . .*
I’m not a lawyer of any kind, nor do I play one on TV. I’m currently on mat leave and have a lot of time to watch The People’s Court, Judge Judy, etc - this is based entirely on that.
Have you paid rent to anyone, ever since you’ve been living there? I believe (again, basing this on the People’s Court) that if you’rd landlord (lady) has accepted rent from you for 6 years, she can’t turn around and say you’re an unauthorized occupant, but
That may not make any difference - if you have a month to month lease you’re entitled to at least 30 days notice to move and I’m not sure any reason is required other than ‘I don’t want to rent to you anymore.’ If San Diego has a further stipulation that because of the duration of your stay, you’re entitled to 60 days notice, then there you go.
However, it looks like you got 60 days notice which it seems is as much as you’re entitled to and possibly more than you’re entitled to so you should probably start looking for a new place to live.
Now, with all that out of the way, if the list of 13 reasons for giving you the boot include anything like ‘He’s disabled’ or ‘He’s black’ or ‘He’s old’ you may have a chance to stay, but if it’s pretty well ‘Dude doesn’t pay the rent and I never wanted him here anyway.’ well, yah. Start looking for a new pad.
I’m not understanding this part - did you pay your last rent when it was due? Why not if not? Here in Calgary, you get your eviction notice if you don’t pay rent within 24 hours of when it’s due - that’s not discriminatory.
Not necessarily. It is true that in the province of Alberta, non-payment of rent on or before the due date can lead to eviction. But there can also be ways around this problem that are agreeable to both parties, in which case, non-payment on or before the due date does not provide a reason to evict.
To the OP: What were the 13 reasons? I don’t think we can have a discussion about them (including the disability question) until we know what they are.
First, I said I have lived here for six years. Not paying my rent is not what I said. If I had not been paying rent I would have been gone a long time ago, right? What I said and thought I said it very clearly was, “the landlord listed as one of her 13 reasons for me to move out was that I was a non-rent paying occupant in her house.”
Morgenstern said “I do not see any discrimination,” *not *“there is no discrimination”. That statement is equivalent to “You have failed to show any evidence of discrimination”. It does not make a claim to any facts not in evidence, it merely states the evidence presented so far is insufficient.
This statement is unclear. Do you have an agreement with the landlord to pay rent? With the other tenant? Did you fail to make a payment on time? Was the reason you didn’t pay on time that you were in the hospital for your disability? These are all conditions that would help people address your question properly.
Okay, why did she say that? Have you been paying rent to her? Do you have receipts or canceled checks for the rent? Or have you been paying rent to your roommate? Is your month-to-month oral agreement with the landlord or your roommate?
This isn’t nitpicking, it’s absolutely critical to deciding if you’re a subletter, which may change things a whole lot.
This iss Calif. The laws are loaded against landlords. (I know I will get flack for that). She sent you a letter saying move out on June 30. If you do not move out she will have to start eviction procedings. And if she makes any mistakes in the paperwork she will have to restart the whole thing all over again. If you lhave leagal help it can take a long time. I have heard some horror stories from landlords.
That is one of the reasons when I wanted to invest in real estate I did it in Nevada. Had one new tenant not pay their rent on the first of the month. On the 15th eviction papers were served and they were moved out the same day.
Housing discrimination here is based on refusing to sell or rent to someone because of their race, religious background, medical conditions, disabilities, etc…
Two major components important to determine if housing discrimination has been committed are: the timing and actions.
Someone in this thread said "unless the landlord wrote no whites allowed, no blacks allowed there would not be any housing discrimination. That statement is so far from the truth and they should not be giveng any advice based soley on their raw emotion about the subject.
Timing: Like I said I was hospitalized (12 days). After I was discharged 7 days later the landlord showed up at my house. She then mailed me a letter stating why I had to move out. Here are a few more of those reasons:
1. I put up a shelf in my bedroom 3 years ago.
2. I have firewood stacked on the property (the wood is both my roommates and mine)
3. There are problems with the yard and she states the problem is both my roommates and mine.
4. The landlord is allowing the roommate to correct this problem and still live here.
5. The landlord tells me to fix the problems also, but I have to move out.
6. The bathroom was damaged by water damage 5 years ago. My roommate and I fixed the bathroom. Now 5 years later she says I made cut outs in the wall. (There are no cut outs. Of cousre we had to remove the damaged sheetrock by cutting it out and replace it.)
There is a pattern here. The landlord is naming old problems as far back as 5 years ago as reason for me to move out. But she allows the roommate to still live here.
I did not know what to do that is why I took the letter to my doctors. They have seen hundreds of cases of housing discrimination. They all agreed the land lord was just looking for a reason to move me out after she found out why I was in the hospital. Had she given me these reasons and I had not been hospitalized they still are invalid reasons.
But, she did do this almost immediately after I was hospitalized, which now there is a reason to question her reason behind all this. My doctors contacted HUD on my behalf and HUD agreed after about a 45 minute to one hour intake to file the complaint. They are investigating the complaint right now.
I do not believe I have to list every reason in order for someone to believe me.