All Forum Posts by: Rebecca Chilton

To be frank, it's a slumlord situation. The property manager is a lawyer. He lives across the street. He let me move in and kept saying he would draw up a lease. The people that moved in above me a month after I moved in also had no lease. They pressed the issue and the property manager evicted them and kept their deposit. I decided not to push it because I have 3 kids and can't risk being evicted. He had me fill out an application and let me move in. I have crappy credit and was havimg a really hard time finding a place. The property manager knows I'm in no position to move. After 3mo he started pressing the issue of getting a lease drawn up but I am not wanting to sign a lease. The house is a dump. The gray water from the washer empties to the sump pump and clogs every 3-4 weeks so I can't do laundry and has been doing this for 7mo. The heat and ac does not blow in two of the bedrooms and if I plug in heaters in both rooms it trips the circuit breaker. The front part of my unit's electricity is on one of the other units and the rest are all on one circuit breaker. It is literally the worst home I've ever lived in but I am recovering from a bad split and have very few options. The property manager knows this and I feel, is taking advantage of my situation.

What if there is no lease?

I have been living in this unit for 7mo without a lease. The property manager has a due date on rent as the last day of the previous month. So June's rent was due on May 31st. My question is can he legally charge me late fees without a lease?  I paid rent on June 2nd and he is charging me $20 for the 1st day and $15 for the 2nd.