Landlord Question and Answer Forum

I was late for my December rent and was served with eviction papers on January 3rd. In the eviction papers I was charged for December's rent, an unknown previous balance of $250, as well as the rent for January. My lease agreement states that rent is not late until the 4th day of the month, and again the eviction paperwork was served on the 3rd day of January and included January's rent. I have the following questions, which I also included in my response to the lawsuit. 1 - My landlord is incorrect in adding January rent as it wasn't late as of the filing of the eviction lawsuit correct? 2 - I have repeatedly asked what the previous balance of $250 was for and have never received an answer. So according to law, I am perfectly within my rights in asking what the previous balance was for and apparently she is required to give me an itemized list of the balances correct? 3 - The eviction papers were served to my 10 year old son who didn't realize what it was and sat them in a pile of papers that we didn't see for 2 days. We weren't actually home at the time so we weren't avoiding it at all as i've accepted any previous paperwork from my landlord. It appears according to Arizona law that they can't be served to a minor child. is this correct? I would also like to point out that I actually tried paying the December balance, late fees, AND the $250 on the evening of the 3rd as well before I even knew about the eviction but was locked out for "legal reasons" according to their online payment site. I then sent an email to my landlord asking why I was locked out and stating that I was trying to pay the balance including the $250 previous one. At this time I again asked what the $250 was for and got no response to the email at all. I waited until Saturday morning to hear and finally I called her home number and she replied to the email stating that I needed to pay the entire balance they were seeking in the eviction before they would accept anything. So in summary, she has refused to let me pay the December balance and late fees. She has refused to give me an explanation of the $250 previous balance, and now we have court this Friday for which I've already filed a response with all of the information including copies of emails and such. Common sense tells me that either this should be thrown out for numerous reasons, or we should just be expected to pay the December balance with late fees and nothing else until she explains the previous balance. Also, as I said the January rent wasn't late when she filed so that shouldn't be included as well right?

You really should not have avoided paying the December rent, which is what got you into trouble into the first place. But I would agree, if they are charging you $250, you should be told what it is for. Look at your lease again and see if that is for late fees.

Posted by Dawn A, WI on Wednesday, January 9, 2013