Two Weeks To Pay Or Get Out

[anellah]

I live in Fort Wayne, IN in Allen County. I'm about 3 1/2 months behind in my rent and the landlord has told me that I have two weeks to pay in full or get out. They also added in about $300.00 in late fees. I'm working as much overtime as I can and have started paying the money back every time I get paid which is every two weeks. There's no way I can pay back the money in the time allotted though. I've written them a letter asking them if they can give me until the end of October to pay it in full by giving them $400-$500 every two weeks. My question is if I'm actively trying to pay the money back as quickly as I can can they still have me evicted? No legal proceedings have taken place at this point. They've only verbally told me to leave.

 

[jacksgal]

Rent is sue on date your lease documents. Late fees can and usually apply to late rent again per your rental agreement and local laws. Not paying rent on time can cause Landlord to issue pay rent or quit notices and/or begin eviction process. I would urge you to borrow money or do something otherwise you face consequences. By the way the verbal notice may not be enough to begin eviction process. Your state's law "probably" require written notice. Just to note I have not looked up your states laws. You can do so by using any search engine

 

[Gail_in_Georgia]

What your landlord hasn't told you is that while they can issue a "Pay or Quit" notice (and this typically needs to be in writing, not verbal) to you setting a time limit for you to pay up or get out they cannot actual evict you.

It is only after a court has granted the landlord an eviction can the actual removal take place. And in order to get such an order, a landlord would need to file through your local court system. All this takes some time to process.

Think of the "Pay or Quit" notice as a "boot" in a certain body part that gets some tenants (like you) moving toward paying rent owed. Other tenants ignore such notices, leaving the landlord little option except to proceed with the eviction.

Most landlords really do not like to have to evict someone. It costs money to file in court (even small claims court which is where many of these cases end up), even if an attorney is not involved. There is no guarantee they will get any back rent owed since an eviction is ONLY for that; it is not a judgement for owed rent.

It would appear that you are certainly making an honest effort to pay the back rent and even if the landlord were to go ahead and file for an eviction, you would be notified of this move and could answer it in court, showing the judge that yes, you are making a very honest effort to pay the back rent owed.

Good luck...

Gail