Paying For A Move-Out Date

By: Anonymous Watcher

This rent escrow case was initiated in April 2018, and an inspector had come out in mid-April. In today’s hearing, they had found that prior violations had been fixed, but new threats to life, health, and safety still existed in the rental home. The transcript of the proceeding, below, shows how the Rent Escrow Law is applied narrowly in court, often without any monetary or equitable relief to the renter.

Judge: Alright, so the re-inspection was done, still (inaudible) violations?

Inspector: Yes.

Landlord Agent: Your Honor, if I could just briefly be heard.

Judge: Sure.

LL Agent: It looks like these are actually new violations from–.

Inspector: Yes.

LL Agent: From the time that we were here, um–. (inaudible).

Inspector: The first three notices were abated. This was done by the Inspector on April 17th. She issued four more notices, another notice with four more threats.

Tenant: She also issued another one that said they had ten days to fix it. And nobody ever came out.

The tenant’s house ends up flooded as a result.

Judge: Where’s the water coming from?

Tenant: My house flooded on the 9th, of last month.

Judge: How?

Tenant: The pipe in the bathroom from when they first inspected, I had told ‘em that it was, when they fixed it, it was leaking. I’ve been calling, too, I’ve called multiple times and said I’ve had multiple issues and nothing was ever taken care of. The toilet was also consistently running, consistently running until eventually the toilet overflowed and the pipe bust, and I wasn’t even gone out the house for about an hour.

The judge lets the landlord’s agent talk for a while without interruption. The landlord claims that they’ve repaired most of the damage, they just need the tenant’s furniture out so they can fix the carpet. The judge doesn’t ask for evidence that the home has been repaired. (What about the remaining 4 violations that the inspector saw?) Landlords also are usually given 30 days to fix issues—but the judge agrees with the agent’s argument that it was too hard to reach the tenant, and ignores the fact that the house was flooded over a month ago and has had water damage since. He doesn’t ask the tenant if attempts were made to reach her, even though she tries to interject that she wasn’t actually contacted. Instead, he starts asking the tenant about what rent she’s paid.

LL Agent: We do have work orders from this year, prior to this escrow matter in which we did address the complaint of prior issues that the tenant had complained about and reported. When we got the report about the pipe and the water issue in her unit in April in connection with this escrow matter, they went in and did the work. It looks like the last bit of work that needs to be done after the water intrusion from the pipe in her unit, it looks like the floor, the carpet needs to be done. We did attempt several times to get into her unit to get the carpet repaired. On April 16th, or actually, April 16th, correct. We went in, we attempted to go in and get it done and the–, just requested that the bulk furniture be removed from the property, I mean from the floors that wasn’t done. We then sent another notice back on, hand delivered notice, on April 20th, 21st, thank you, that we would be going back in on the 24th to get the carpet done, and her unit was not prepared, and we didn’t know if we had access in the unit that time. And then we went in subsequent after the 24th to get the carpet done, tenant was not prepared. We are more than able and willing to get in there, get the carpet done, so that we have this matter closed out. If, Your Honor is willing, if we can even set a date in court today, we can go in, get the carpet repaired and agreed upon by the tenant. We can get that done so we can get back in court and have this issue resolved.

Judge: When was the last time rent was paid?

Tenant: April.

LL Agent: She paid April rent, May, I believe, is the only month outstanding.

Tenant: If you don’t mind, Your Honor. They said it was several attempts, but I’ve also talked to (inaudible).

Judge: Well, let’s not worry about that, let’s just set a date to have them come.

Next, the tenant reveals that she has been unable to live in the house for the past month (April) and has been staying in a hotel. There is also a hint that both the tenant and her insurance company have been trying to get in contact with the landlord. Again, the judge disregards this, instead trying to figure out how much the tenant owes. Considering that the tenant has been unable to live in the house for the past month, the judge could have reduced or waived the rent that the tenant owes for May. The landlord doesn’t have a legal basis to charge rent if the home is inhabitable. Instead, the judge refuses to hear the rest of the tenant’s complaint until she pays rent for the whole month of May.

Tenant: Well, the date has been set up today because, as my insurance right now, I’ve been living in a hotel. I’ve been living in a hotel for a month. So, I don’t stop past the house to check my mail regularly, because when I leave from work the hotel is around the corner from my job. So I haven’t been able to check the mail and I also–.

Judge: What does that have to do with setting up a date to have them come in and repair the carpet?

Tenant: Because right now, the insurance had officially set up a date now, because they were the only people that were able to get in touch with the leasing office. So, they’ll be coming in tomorrow to pack up my bulk, and Thursday was the date that they set to come and put down the carpet.

Unknown: Is that date what you guys have on the books?

LL Agent: Yes, she called me this morning. The insurance company called me on Friday. So we were finally able to set up a date. She was actually supposed to have had the items removed today and I scheduled it for tomorrow to the carpet repaired. But then she called me this morning and said that the items are gonna be removed tomorrow, so I rescheduled it for the day after tomorrow.

Judge: Alright, how much is rent?

Tenant: $911.95.

Judge: $911.95, alright? Do you have that with you today?

Tenant: No, I don’t.

Judge: For May’s rent, you haven’t paid May’s rent yet?

Tenant: No.

Judge: Okay, do you wanna go down and pay that now so that we can continue this? Otherwise, we’ll have to dismiss it?

Tenant: Um, I have half of it, I don’t have–.

Judge: You’ve gotta pay the whole $995 or $911.95 into escrow.

Tenant: Today?

The judge explains that since the previous violations have been fixed, the escrow case will be closed if the tenant doesn’t pay today. The tenant tries to ask about the four new violations in the house that the inspector saw in mid-April. The landlord says that those have been fixed, but no new inspector has come out since to see if that is true. The judge waves this away, saying that the tenant could go through the whole process again and open up a new case about those violations, or she could pay the full rent today, for a house that she hasn’t stayed in for a month.

Judge: Mm-hmm. Because what I’m gonna find is that all the things you complained about before have been abated. There’s no reason to keep this case open. You’d have to file a new case for June, really, if you wanna continue this. However, if you have the $911.95 today, I’ll let you continue it for May. But if you don’t, I’ll have to dismiss it because all the complaints have been rectified that you complained about in–.

Tenant: But all the complaints from the previous escrow case was not rectified.

Judge: Well, they have been because the inspector came out and found they had been, these are all new.

Tenant: The thermostat, that was another one that she issued out, it’s actually still posted on my door.

Judge: Okay, it’s not on here, the inspector didn’t find it. So, so you want to go run to the bank and come back or you can open up, go downstairs tomorrow and open it up for June?

Tenant: So, I would have to resubmit an application?

Judge: Mm-hmm, yeah. I mean, it should have been set up last time, I don’t know why it wasn’t set up last time? Maybe because you paid right at the day of court or something? I don’t know.

Tenant: Yeah, because it was paid before I came to court. I came to court on the 6th, it was paid before the 4th.

Judge: Okay, so that’s probably why. But these are all new things?

LL Agent: Yes, Your Honor. I do have the abatement records for the court if you would like them as well?

Judge: No, I mean, the inspector has said that everything was abated.

The tenant then asks if there’s any way she can get out of this lease. She wants to move, and the judge has the power under the Rent Escrow Law to terminate the lease. Rather than doing so, he instead tells the tenant that she will have to work that out with the landlord, and that she will still need to pay full rent for the month of May. It’s unclear if he is telling her to just keep staying in the hotel and paying rent, or if the judge is suggesting that she go back to a house that had 4 violations when last inspected. 

Tenant: So, even still with, can I ask you a question, is there any way that I can break the lease?

Judge: By consent of the parties.

Tenant: Because there’s a clause in my lease that–.

Judge: You can by consent of the parties.

LL Agent: That’s something I would have to get approval from, if you would like to call me, contact my office, we could–.

Judge: You’re not the landlord?

Unknown: She is a representative. But I would have to talk to some other personnel with the property to get that approval but, um–.

Judge: My guess is since you’ve paid up through last week, they might be willing to do that (inaudible).

LL Agent: (inaudible) That’s a new request on the table, that’s something we can most certainly talk about after court. I think for these particular proceedings, Your Honor, we do believe that the court should dismiss this action, let the new violations, unless the tenant is able to–.

Judge: Can’t you go make a call right now so that she knows one way or the other?

LL Agent: If I can step back, I can do that.

Judge: Yeah, might as well try to get this resolved today, if we can.

LL Agent: Sure.

Unknown: I mean, yeah–.

Judge: So, when could you be out by, next Friday?

Tenant: Um–.

Here the judge is talking over the tenant. The case concludes with the assumption that the tenant will be paying full rent for the house for the next month.

Judge: Or do you want to go to the end of the month and pay this month’s rent?

Tenant: I was about to say, if I (inaudible) get like thirty days, so that way–.

LL Agent: I would do that.

Judge: So, you can pay May’s rent?

Tenant: (inaudible) I’m about to say, so I can get time to pay, because like I said I had–.

Judge: That probably helps them because that gives them time to look for a new tenant.

LL Agent: Sir, I request for May 31st, if she would, if we could get approval for that?

Judge: That’ll probably work, yeah.