Can a landlord make you pay legal fees?

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asked Jun 7, 2019 in Real Estate - Renting by rlgustafson (320 points)
Can a landlord make you pay legal fees?

1 Answer

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answered Jun 7, 2019 by Minty (132,850 points)
If you go to court for an eviction for not paying rent or for something else and the landlord wins the case against you in the court and is granted an eviction then yes the landlord and court can make you pay the landlords legal fees.

If you read in your lease or rental agreement it should state whether or not you're responsible for paying legal fees if you're evicted.

The best thing to do is try and work with your landlord if you're having trouble paying the payment and if you've been good at paying payments on time for your rent then most landlords will work with you to get caught up on the rental payments.

Landlords only want to use the eviction process as a last resort because it costs them money to go through court and is time consuming.

I've been a few months late before on my rent because I had lost my job and was looking for another job and I spoke with my landlord and he worked with me and allowed me to stay in the rental house for those few months until I found a job.

Then when I got paid from my new job I paid off those back rent payments and no eviction happened.

So if you're having trouble suddenly paying your rent you should let your landlord know about it as most decent landlords will work with you.

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