Sick and tired of my dishonest landlord.

[cannabis_flower]

I am sick and tired of dealing with my dishonest landlord. Today she put a notice on my door dated 12/1/16 saying that my lease expires 12/31/16 and that if I want to stay the rent for 1/1/17 (which I have already paid.) is going to go up $50 if I sign a new lease and $125 if I go month to month. Since she lied about the date of the notice it looks like I didn't sign a new lease and shorted them on the rent $125. I am not even sure if the lease actually expired because the last lease I signed was in March or April but since I was month to month for a couple of months she might have made the date to end 12/31/16 - unfortunately I can't find the lease and am having to go through all my paperwork and nooks and crannies in the house to find it since II can't be sure she didn't change the end date on her copy.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

[HeartachesNhangovers]

1. Don't tell your landlord you don't

have a copy of the lease. A lease is a contract, and a general provision of contract law is that if none of the parties to a contract have a copy of it, then it is no longer binding. If you didn't have a copy, and your crooked landlord didn't want to abide by it, they might consider "losing" their copy.

[R B Garr]

2. If you already paid at the old rate and it was

accepted and not rejected for being insufficient, then that is de facto proof that both parties agreed to that amount. In essence, that is your proof of your position and the baseline for you to address it further.

Sounds like you shouldn't be too confrontational with her. But, I would suggest getting at least something in a Certified letter type thing -- like suggesting the dates or amount may be wrong since she already accepted payment at the old rate and you didn't have sufficient notice to include the increase.

[cannabis_flower]

4. I paid but..

the office was closed and I put it in the mail slot. That's what I usually do because I hate that woman and I don't like having to deal with her. This happened the day after I put the rent in the mail slot in the door.

[R B Garr]

5. You can still do some kind of documentation letter, but without knowing all

the details, these are just general ideas of how to handle it. Can you go to a free legal clinic in your area or at least call them and see what they say about protecting your rights? Is there a corporate office she is accountable to that you can call, i.e., who is the management company and what is their reputation if you Google them. Maybe Google her or your complex and see what some of the reviews say. I've learned a lot that way! Did you pay on the 1st or was it past a 3-day grace period after hours when you dropped it off. That doesn't mean it's okay for her to blatantly lie about the lease renewal dates, but it might give you some insight into how to counteract her or where she is coming from to retroactively try and cover her tracks. Those may be options to help in getting her to be accountable. Although someone that sneaky who controls the paperwork flow is good to be cautious around as you are obviously aware of, though, with your distaste in dealing with her.

Maybe you signed a 9 or 10-month lease instead of a 12-month lease? I would really try to find the lease. If you can't find it, your letter can ask that they direct your attention to the relevant portions of the lease that support their actions.

I would definitely get something Certified out that at least says you didn't receive proper Notice of the lease renewal in time to include your increase. Proper Notice is a big part of landlord/tenant law, so you should try and find out what the laws are about that. It's a big term of art in that field. Say in the letter that you were not properly Noticed and that your payment was accepted and was sufficient. A company will Notice you that they will not accept your rent if they want to pursue further enforcement action, etc.

Just some general ideas, but good luck! She sounds like a real creep. Proceed with caution, but cover your own bases.

[Massacure]

3. I don't know what your state's law are, but as general advice...

I would send your landlord a letter by certified mail stating that you received your notice on 1/4/2017, denying that you received any notice in December of 2016, agreeing to the new lease terms, and stating that you will pay the new rent amount effective with February's rent.

If your landlord is logical, she will accept the higher rent value in February and take no further action for January's rent.