Landlord Threatens to Evict Subtenant

QUESTION: I live in a Silverlake apartment and I have a serious problem with my landlady. I moved into the place on Feb. 1, 1993, as a roommate with the existing tenant, who claimed that he had paid a full year’s rent in advance, through August of this year.

I gave him a rental application for the owner’s review, and was subsequently told, by the tenant, that I was approved for the apartment. Since he had paid rent in advance, the tenant had me pay six month’s in advance, $2,000 total.

One month into my tenancy, we were fighting an eviction, supposedly for having too many roommates. I know that’s not true. We just had a couple of friends who would stay over once in a while.

At any rate, the landlady didn’t show up at the court hearing, so we won the case by default.

Well, after the court papers came on April 12 saying that we had won the case, my roommate went to Thailand. On April 14 the landlady started a rumor in the building that the marshal was coming to throw me out within the next week. At the same time, she started a rumor that we had not paid the rent in six months.

Obviously concerned, I went to the marshal’s office to find out what was going on. They said they won’t get involved without a court order, which would involve a new trial.

Here’s where it gets tricky. On April 25 I came home to find the lock removed from the door. I had put my own lock on it, and the louvered windows in the apartment had been removed along with the window screen.

The landlady left a note saying that the legal occupant of the premises had vacated the apartment and that I was a trespasser and I had 24 hours to leave.

I called the landlady asking what was going on, and she said she had never heard of me. I know she heard of me because she called my job to verify my employment. She also said that the rent was four months in arrears.

I told her I was approved for the apartment and I have a lease until August and a paid receipt to prove it. I got off of the phone and went to the drawer where I kept the papers, but they had been stolen. I suspect the landlady, since she came into the apartment uninvited three times before I changed the locks, which is why I changed them. I don’t know where I stand or what to do. I’m stuck. Can you help?

ANSWER: Let’s answer the two most important questions asked in your letter. They appear to be:

1) What is my status? Am I a renter or a trespasser?

2) What is the status of the rent? Is it paid up or not?

In answer to the first question, while you may be an illegal subtenant at worst, you definitely are not a trespasser. Forget about those threats.

Now, let’s assume the worst, that your roommate’s rental agreement prohibits any roommates or added occupants whatsoever.

If that’s the case, and you have had no written or face-to-face contacts with the owner, or other witnesses to establish any owner consent for your occupancy, you could have been considered an illegal subtenant, that is, until the eviction lawsuit, assuming your tenancy rights were challenged there, too.

Because of that failed eviction attempt, it is now probably too late for the owner to claim that you are there illegally, even as an illegal subtenant. You can probably forget all of the eviction threats, too, unless the rent is not paid, which gets us to the second question, “Is the rent paid?”

Payment of rent to your roommate, even if you still have a receipt of payment from him, does not mean that the rent is paid if he didn’t give it to the owner. Even if you could recover the “stolen” rent receipt, if it were from your former roommate, it wouldn’t help without a similar receipt from the owner.

However, it also does not appear that you are facing a valid rent claim, since the owner keeps changing the number of months of rent claimed to be due.

With no rent receipts of any kind, and your roommate in Thailand, it is impossible to even hazard a guess about how much rent is paid or due, unless and until the owner gives you a pay rent or quit notice with an amount due and time frame for unpaid rent.

In another vein, you do have the right to sue the owner for harassment, if the two of you can’t work it out, which is the best solution, even though you cannot prove payment of rent. There are a number claims you can make, including unlawful entry, since the owner seems to be trying to engineer a “self-help” eviction, which is a No. 1 no-no for housing providers.

First, try talking to the owner again, even though she doesn’t sound too reasonable. Sometimes, if the owner knows that you are aware of your rights, and her responsibilities, she will get a lot more reasonable about resolving the problems.

If that doesn’t work, your best bet probably is to seek legal advice, since there are so many legal issues involved.