I have two other questions that I
want you to answer. Hopefully you will have a chance to read my next
question. Which is:
1. According to the law of the Disctric of Columiba, can the decision
of one roommate bind another to that decision? For example, if a
roommate says, "you may stay as a guest." Does another rommate have
the right to request rent for your time there or disallow you to stay?
AND who is the burden on to if the roommate does request rent, the
first roommate or the guest OR does the one roommate's invitation
simply bind the other?
2. Is there a law about rent rolling over from month to month until a
lease is signed? For example, if I did not live in an apratment for a
given amount of time, but I had not provided a written notice that I
was leaving can I be charged rent for that time period? In other
words, if my lease explicitly states that my it expires on day X and I
am not living there after day X, and HAVE NOT provided the landlord
with written notice that I left, can the landlord charge me rent until
the next lease is signed? Who is accountable for the rent if the
tenant fails to leave and there is no lease?
Thank you for taking on this question and again, I realize you are not
a lawyer, BUT PLEASE do as best you can citing specific law and
proving the link to it.
Thank you. If this is not enough for this question, let me know and I
will raise it.
Thanks! |
Request for Question Clarification by
serenata-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 16:39 PDT
Hi again, Elpresidente ~
As a former resident of Washington DC, and being fully cognizant of
the housing situation there, I cannot conceive of anyone moving into a
rental unit without some type of rental agreement, either on a
month-to-month basis or a lease for a given period of time.
It's not too hard to figure out what's happening from your last
question and this one, so it would help to have some more details if
you want your question answered.
For instance:
1. Who had the agreement, either oral or written, with the landlord?
If oral, how long had it been in effect?
2. Did you have any agreements with either the landlord or the
tenants, either in writing or orally? If so, what was the agreement,
and do you have witnesses to that agreement?
3. Did you pay any rents at all? If so, for how long a period?
Lastly, refer to Google's Pricing Guidelines,
http://answers.google.com/answers/help.html#C ... then you decide what
type of answer you want or need.
Regards,
Serenata
|
Clarification of Question by
elpresidente-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 16:52 PDT
I am excited to tell you the current situation, especially since you
have some DC background, but before I do I want to make sure that you
do not currently live or go to school in Washington, DC. I want no
information on where you live, a simple no will do.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
serenata-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 18:02 PDT
Now, *that* made me laugh!
I live smack in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, not too far north of
the International border with Mexico.
Does that work?
Serenata
|
Request for Question Clarification by
serenata-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 18:05 PDT
By the way ... Google Answers are not a closed forum. The questions
and their answers often end up in Google's search results.
So if you have any qualms about what you post and how public this is,
perhaps this isn't the right venue for your information.
Serenata
|
Clarification of Question by
elpresidente-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 18:08 PDT
Ok, this is the situation and I want to know what legal recourse I
have.
First, I lived in an apartment for 1 year. The lease explicitly
states it expires on mid-night of March30th 2003.
After March30, 2003 I had a verbal agreement that was conveyed through
my roommate (we will call him Tom) to stay in the apartment for one
more month ending April 30th, 2003). The only hard proof I have that
the landlord was aware of this is a copy of my phone bill that
indicates a call to him (we will call him Mike) about 3 weeks before I
moved out. There is no proof of what we discussed on the phone and I
do not know what he will say in a court room. He did however cash my
last rent check; which I mailed to him on about March30th. He never
called to question anything and he never mailed my security deposit
back. Instead he recommended I get it from the next tenant, while I
found that odd, I did not complain because the next tenant was an
acquaintance of mine (his name is Jon).
In early April I called Tom to tell him I was moving out and he said
that neither he nor Jon will be in the apartment until April 24th, so
I should feel free to stay there as long as I want for free, as his
guest. Because my employer at the time allowed me to continue to work
the extra week, I took Tom up on his offer to stay as a guest, rent
free. Tom will admit this in court, but also feels compelled to say
that he did not check with Jon and Tom MAY say he assumed that I had
checked with Jon, but acknowledges he never asked me.
Additionally, Jon told me I could stay as long as I needed. He just
asked if I could be out of his room by April 24th and I was welcome to
sleep on the couch. I suspect Jon may admit this in court.
Because I am a neat freak, I had the apartment cleaned and my stuff
boxed up. Additionally, I did not like my bed, so I slept on the
couch from April 30 to April 21.
Because we were all friends the entire situation after March30th 2003
was a verbal agreement between Tom, Jon, the landlord and myself. It
is now a disaster.
What has happened since is that Jon claims he ASSUMED I thought I
meant I would pay the rent for the time I stayed. Therefore, he did
not pay 1/4th of the rent for his first month living there. He
figured I was there for a week and a week is 1/4 fourth of a month. I
was actually there 5 days and April has more than 28 days so that is
not quite right either.
To complicate matters further, I did not have a written lease with my
landlord. He claims that EVEN THOUGH MY LEASE EXPLICITLY STATES IT
EXPIRED ON MIDNIGHT OF MARCH30, 2003 that it continued to roll over
and I WAS RESPONSILBE FOR RENT ON A MONTH TO MONTH BASIS UNTIL ONE OF
TWO CONDITIONS WERE MET:
1. I gave 30 day written notice
2. A new lease was signed
To complicate matters further, Jon and Tom did not sign the new lease
until September 1, 2003, BUT Jon did pay for the rent beginning April
24, 2003 (the day he moved in).
Again to summarize, it was understood by all parties that I was to
move out on April 30th and no longer be responsible for rent, but this
was not in writing anywhere. I can get Tom to acknowledge that was
the case. I suspect I will not be able to get the landlord to
acknowledge that and IT WAS NEVER PUT IN WRITING TO ANYONE.
So, it is my believe that if:
1. My lease did in fact expire on March30, 2003
2. One roommate’s word binds the other
then I am in the clear.
Because I can both prove I did not live there and that I had the
proper permission to stay as a guest.
To prove these two things, I need to know:
1. Without a written thirty day notice if a lease rolls over from
month to month EVEN IF the lease explicitly states otherwise.
2. If the word of one roommate binds the other.
So, if I could prove that my lease was expired and Tom said it was ok
for me to stay as a guest I could then win.
I would like to pay a lawyer but I do not have the money so I am doing
everything I can to get good information.
PLEASE HELP :)
***AND PLEASE*** provide as much SPECIFIC law as you can and please
provide the source.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I have upgraded the money
because you did a great job with the first question. Additionally, I
will consider doing it again on a real easy follow up if I get a
really good and clear answer.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
serenata-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 19:30 PDT
One other question, which you didn't mention, so I think you need to
clarify:
What does the lease say? It is not uncommon for leases to expire on a
certain date, but also contain a clause about month-to-month and the
required time and method for notice.
So what does that clause in your particular lease say? It seems, from
what you have said, that the lease is the contract, and the answer
depends on what is contained in the contract, especially if there were
no written subsequent agreements. Anything else is conjecture.
What are the terms of the contract?
Serenata
|
Clarification of Question by
elpresidente-ga
on
10 Oct 2003 20:59 PDT
I read it very closely and as best I could tell it only said the lease
exprires on March 30th, I will read it again and try to clarify in the
morning, but perhaps you could answer the question under both
cirsumtances? i.e. 1. assuming the lease does not mention anything
other than it expiring on March 30 2. Assuming the lease turns into a
month to month agreement after it expires.
|
Clarification of Question by
elpresidente-ga
on
11 Oct 2003 09:15 PDT
I re-read the lease and it does say that it takes over on a month to
month basis after it expires until written notice is provided. So
prehaps you could pursue that track. For starters, it would be nice
to know EXACTLY how "written notice" is defined - becasue I did
provide verbal notice, but not written. I certainly apprecaite all of
your help so far, and I am not in a major rush or anything, but if you
are not going to answer this question please let me know.
Thank you.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
serenata-ga
on
11 Oct 2003 10:46 PDT
Hi Elpresidente ~
The District of Columbia Code relevant to Landlord-Tenant relationship
can be found in §42-3201, et seq.
"§42-3201. Notice to quit--Unnecessary with lease for certain term;
landlord's right to immediate possession."
- http://dccode.westgroup.com/Find/Default.wl?DocName=DCCODES42-3201&FindType=W&DB=DC-TOC-WEB%3BSTADCTOC&RS=WLW2%2E07&VR=2%2E0
"§42-3202. Notice to quit--Month to month or quarter to quarter
tenancy; expiration of notice."
- http://dccode.westgroup.com/Find/Default.wl?DocName=DCCODES42-3202&FindType=W&DB=DC-TOC-WEB%3BSTADCTOC&RS=WLW2%2E07&VR=2%2E0
The entire portion of the Code relating to landlord-tenant matters,
District of Columbia Code, Division VII. Property, Title 42. Real
Property, Subtitle VII. Rental Housing, Chapter 32. Landlord and
Tenant, is available online here:
- http://dccode.westgroup.com/toc/default.wl?RLT=CLID%5FTOCRLT1891110&oFindType=V&oDocName=DC010482837&oDB=DC%2DST%2DWEB%3BSTADC&DocName=DC010482837&FindType=X&DB=DC-TOC-WEB%3BSTADCTOC&RS=WLW2%2E07&VR=2%2E0
That is all I can offer for information and your review.
Perhaps some other Google Answers Researcher will be able to provide
more information about the terms of your lease relative to notice, but
I think the wording within the Code is pretty straight forward.
Good luck in your endeavors,
Serenata
|
Clarification of Question by
elpresidente-ga
on
12 Oct 2003 07:45 PDT
Your third link does not work. I would like to read what it says
before I rate your answer.
|
Clarification of Question by
elpresidente-ga
on
12 Oct 2003 08:32 PDT
The other thing is, that you never indicated if the decision of one
roommate may bind the other and if not, what recourse the other has
and against who.
In other words, if Tom said I could stay as a guest, and Jon objects
after I stayed, then does Jon have recourse and if so, against who?
|
