Complaint Review: Cabrales Apartments - Crown Point Indiana

Also this is an indiana case not Florida, in the lease it also states that the security deposit cannot be used for rent debt only for property damage. I had made repairs to the building while i had lived there and when I vacated the building the apartment was in far better condition than when i lived there. Of the 2 prior years i lived in the building the first year I paid a years rent in full and the second lease was signed by my roomate but I was one of the people inhabiting the apartment. After the second lease was up I had made a verbal agreement with the manager that I would stay month to month over the summer to se if the raise in rent would be sustainable, he said no problem and talked me out of really not leaving. I SIGNED NO LEASE . the last one was not even signed by me. I owed 1550 subtract 640 deposit from that balance and I owe 910.00 dollars. HE wants to charge me an extra months rent for aug-sep when i didn't even live there. wants me to pay a attorney feee for the vacate notice he filed when i told him i was leaving and aNother attorney fee for settling in court which adds to like $2500.00. I told him I did not want to sign another lease because the rent was jacked up and we were already paying late. I was just falling into more debt by staying in the building. when near the end of the lease we owed very little. im a young father in my mid 20'' trying to take care of my boys, I don't know the in's and out's of Indiana law but I took his word when he said yes after I proposed trying to stay month to month after he had already been fully aware of what the payment situation was. Then one day out of the blue we call and say we are gonna pay on this date as USUAL and he responds saying they can't wait that long anymore the building being owned by his in-laws he tells me of problems with the mortgage because other tenants not paying and which all boils down to we need all debts paid in 7 days or we will send it to the lawyer. i FEEL i am being ripped because I'am being charged for a month i did not even live there. I also agreed to vacate and was leaving on my own and Im being charged an attorney fee for a vacate notice and attorney fee's for settling in court, all on the grounds that i had assumed a lease but was told I was not protected by a lease and could be thrown out anytime????? The family that owns the building is very well off and im not hating that they are but it really hurts me that they are like this after i did all snow removal(free of charge), never complained once about not getting new carpet, put up with constant heat outages in the dead of a northern indiana winter near 0 degrees at night,all the smoking my asthmatic kids had to breathe every night in their non-smoking building,and the sess pool of a laundry room where who knows what was building up in the sinks and washing machine. Yah go ahead run me through the ringer, you can have my money but atleast I have a soul.

It may be true that the landlord and tenant VERBALLY agreed on a month-to-month arrangement. However, how can that be proven in court? It sounds like the landlord can change his tune and claim that they had VERBALLY agreed to a one-year lease, and in Florida that just might hold up. The tenant, in this case, has a lot of proving to do, seeing as though none of these "agreements" were ever put in writing. Ultimately it will be his word against the landlords ... and when you take into account nearly a full year of late payments, threats of eviction, and other issues, things will NOT be on the tenant's side if this is fought out in court.

And was surprised to find that in Florida, a verbal lease agreement is legal, though not recommended. It doesn't seem by the little that I read that Florida law is very tenant friendly. If I were the OP, I would consult with the agency regulating tenant-landlord issues, as it doesn't seem to me that the landlord can have it both ways.

Whether you agreed to rent for one year or month-to-month, there is a lease involved. You can't just get a verbal okay to rent a month at a time ... it has to be in writing. Read the lease that recently expired. Chances are there is a clause in there that states if you fail to vacate the property at the end of the lease, said lease is automatically renewed for another year. UNLESS of course you have a separate month-to-month agreement, which if signed after the expiration of your previous lease, would override said annual lease.