Texas Apartment will not waive late fees, no maintenance on apartment for months....

[janajames84]

I have been a tenet now for two years, I went into my office on the 3rd of this month because I knew my rent would be late to ask if I could make arrangements. The leasing agent suggested I sign an eviction hold off agreement for the 15th of the month. I did. The next day, there was a notice to vacate letter on my door. Since the 15th was a Sunday (the office was not open and i wanted to obtain a written reciept) so I made a payment on the 16th ... today, which is the 18th, I have been served with eviction papers that were filed on the 12th. (Even though I was told that I had until the 15th to make a payment)

There have been ongoing maintenance issues with the apartment since at least April that were not taken care of until the 3rd of this month (the day before the notice was placed on my door). I told them I did not feel comfortable paying late fees for an apartment that was never tended too. I had been asking for months for issues to be fixed. I pay my rent and any fees that have ever been on my account in the past, however when i asked for my late fees to be waived this month (for the first and only time in two years, due to the complex neglecting the apartment for so long,) it was denied, followed by a notice to vacate then an eviction.

Is there anything I can do to fight this? I make the remainder of my payment tomorrow however this is going to show on my credit regardless. Can I get the eviction removed and not just dismissed? Do I even have a case? I have pictures and eyewitnesses to support that the apartment was not maintenanced properly even after repeated requests. I also have copies of increased electric bills due to improper insulation in the home due to the neglect of the property. All with time and date stamps.

I really need some help. I do not think I am being treated fairly and I do not think they should get away with this. I do know what some of my rights are, but not all of them.

[AFFA]

Re: Texas Apartment will not waive late fees, no maintenance on apartment for months.

I wish to inform you that your lease agreement will govern your situation. If your lease agreement provides about late fees then you are liable. If there is huge late fees then you can contest this on the ground that late fees are in the nature of penalty and thus not enforceable. Further is facilities were not provided then you can have counter claim to seek relief for your grievance but you can deduct rent only if you had spent money on repair and renovation. You can also claim set off of late fees against your loss if you have suffered because of landlord.

AFF

[sandyclaus]

Re: Texas Apartment will not waive late fees, no maintenance on apartment for months.

I have been a tenet now for two years, I went into my office on the 3rd of this month because I knew my rent would be late to ask if I could make arrangements. The leasing agent suggested I sign an eviction hold off agreement for the 15th of the month. I did. The next day, there was a notice to vacate letter on my door. Since the 15th was a Sunday (the office was not open and i wanted to obtain a written reciept) so I made a payment on the 16th ... today, which is the 18th, I have been served with eviction papers that were filed on the 12th. (Even though I was told that I had until the 15th to make a payment)

There have been ongoing maintenance issues with the apartment since at least April that were not taken care of until the 3rd of this month (the day before the notice was placed on my door). I told them I did not feel comfortable paying late fees for an apartment that was never tended too. I had been asking for months for issues to be fixed. I pay my rent and any fees that have ever been on my account in the past, however when i asked for my late fees to be waived this month (for the first and only time in two years, due to the complex neglecting the apartment for so long,) it was denied, followed by a notice to vacate then an eviction.

Is there anything I can do to fight this? I make the remainder of my payment tomorrow however this is going to show on my credit regardless. Can I get the eviction removed and not just dismissed? Do I even have a case? I have pictures and eyewitnesses to support that the apartment was not maintenanced properly even after repeated requests. I also have copies of increased electric bills due to improper insulation in the home due to the neglect of the property. All with time and date stamps.

I really need some help. I do not think I am being treated fairly and I do not think they should get away with this. I do know what some of my rights are, but not all of them.

Lack of maintenance and payment of late fees are two entirely different issues. Your reasons for paying the rent late have absolutely nothing to do with why you've refused to pay the late fees you've earned. Why should the LL be penalized for it?

Texas has a "repair and deduct" remedy for significant issues involving health or safety which you could have employed to get the repairs completed. That same statute allows for you to end your lease legally as well if the issues were that bad. What I'm hearing from you, however, is that the conditions weren't bad enough that it forced you to repair yourself or end your lease. You would have been just fine staying there indefinitely - WITH the repair/maintenance issues - as long as you weren't assessed a consequence and penalized for late payment of rent. You only started complaining and took offense when the management refused to accept any further late payments from you and initiated the eviction process against you.

Understand that the LL has a right to take steps to evict you if your rent is late by even one day. They can agree to accept a payment later, but if you abuse the privilege (which, apparently, you have done MULTIPLE times over the past two years), that just increases the likelihood that they will refuse to do it anymore. That's the wall you hit, and you were told that it would no longer be tolerated.

The notice to terminate your tenancy is just the first step in the eviction process. If you choose not to comply by their deadline, they cannot just kick you out, change your locks, turn off utilities, and remove your personal property from the rented premises without a court order saying that they can, and they cannot obtain a court order without filing for eviction through the courts.

I'm a little confused by where you are in this process. Has the eviction hearing already taken place, or did you allow them to obtain a default judgment of eviction against you? Have they already received the court order to have the Sheriff/Marshall evict you? If so, there isn't a thing you can do about it. You can't have the eviction removed because you earned it.

[gail in georgia]

Re: Texas Apartment will not waive late fees, no maintenance on apartment for months.

You are dealing with several issues here, none of which have anything to do with each other.

1. If your lease states there are late fees if rent is not paid within a certain time period, you owe these late fees. Maintenance issues play NO part in any of this.

2. What you likely have been notified with is a notice from the court that the landlord/management has filed for an eviction through this system. These notices typically give a certain amount of time where you can respond to the court or perhaps give you a date when the court hearing will be held to determine whether the request for the eviction should be granted. If you do not wish for this request to be granted, respond as is noted in the notice.

3. Make certain all requests for repairs are in WRITING so you have documentation of this. You have not specified what your repair requests are but if you feel they have not been adequately addressed you can always contact your local Code Enforcement to discuss these issues with them.

Gail