Do you have to pay rent if you get evicted?

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asked Feb 10, 2022 in Real Estate - Renting by Christinecallender (1,450 points)
Do you have to pay rent if you get evicted?

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answered Feb 10, 2022 by Gazpacho (7,030 points)
If you're evicted you still have to pay rent for the time you occupied the home or apartment.

However once you're evicted you no longer need to pay any more rent except for the rent for the time you were living there.

When a landlord evicts a tenant the landlord will first pay the fees for eviction and then the landlord may spell it out in their contract that they require the tenant to pay the eviction fees.

If the eviction fees are not paid back to the landlord then you may be sued depending on the amount of fees if they are not paid.

A tenant lawyer usually costs from $185.00 to $240.00 per hour depending on the tenant lawyers experience.

It can get expensive for the landlord to hire a tenant lawyer to evict someone so most want to avoid it if possible.

A landlord cannot legally kick you out in 3 days unless a court ordered eviction has stated that you must be out in 3 days or less.

In order to legally be forced out the landlord must take you to court and then have the Judge issue a court order for you to be legally evicted.

The best way to avoid eviction is to pay up the rent if the eviction is due to non payment of rent.

If you can't pay your rent then you may qualify for some rental assistance.

Don't ignore your landlord but instead contact your landlord and speak with them and let them know what is going on.

If you've been a good tenant then the landlord may work with you if you can get caught up on the missed rent payments.

In some states, you may be protected from eviction while your application for federal emergency rental assistance is being processed.

In other states, you may be able to pause your eviction by filing an affidavit with the state or entering into a repayment plan with your landlord.

An uncontested eviction is when the tenant did not file an answer by the deadline that was established by the court when you filed for an eviction.

This means that you can go directly to the next step to file a “Default Judgment”, and your eviction will soon be complete.

You can sometimes go to jail for eviction if you do not comply with a court ordered eviction and leave.

If the court orders you out for an eviction then you must leave or the Sheriff will show up and forcefully evict you and then if you don't leave you can be arrested.

Even if you have no lease a landlord can evict you.

The landlord can still take you to court to evict you and then have you forced out.

In most places without a rental lease it's actually easier for the landlord to evict you than it would be if you had a lease.

If you are a tenant living in a flat or house or running your own business on a rented property without a rent agreement, your landlord can simply give you an eviction notice of a minimum of 30 days or as per tenancy laws.

If you stop paying rent then your landlord will start adding late fees and then usually after a few months of missed rent payments you'll get an eviction notice and be told to pay up the rent or you'll be evicted.

You can then leave the apartment or home at your own will when being evicted which is the best thing to do if you cannot pay the rent.

Or wait until the landlord takes you to court and then forces you out.

Just be aware that while a landlord legally has to take you to court to force you out of the rental place that it's not the best thing to happen to you.

Being evicted through court makes it harder for you to get a new place as some landlords won't want to rent to someone who has evictions on their record.

So the best thing to do is to pack up and leave before going to court.

Paying rent in cash is legal.

If you pay rent in cash just make sure you get a receipt for payment of rent.

Because without the receipt when you pay rent with cash there's no proof you paid the rent.

So always get a receipt when paying rent with cash.

I've paid rent with cash before and never had any issues as I always made sure to get a receipt in case something came up.

Other times I've paid rent with a check or money order.

But some landlords may only want cash for rent which okay.

If the landlord won't provide a receipt for the cash rent payment then I would look elsewhere for a place to rent.

Also always get a lease as well.

People have been paying rent in cash legally for a very long time.

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