My wife and I made a verbal agreement as well as contract agreement on a rental, landlord isnt holding up verb

Question

He agreed to leave the utilities on in his name because he was having to run the pool 24/7 because of algy (green), but in vendictivenous he shut them off on us today. He wants more money from me, but he verbally agreed to clean up the place before move in and didnt do it, pool is still green, sinks still leaking, and neighbors told us he has been renting the house out and evicting the renters in 4-5 days after move in, and we just had the samething done to us, rented house on tuesday and got eviction notice on thurs night. house is in substandard leaving condtions still..I had no choice other than to move in, had no where else to go.

Answer 1

A contract such as a lease may be oral or written.  If a contract is oral, there may be at some future date, a problem agreeing on exactly what the terms of the contract were.  If there is a written contract, the written contract will always prevail; unless you have evidence in the form of a letter from the other party to the contract, where the other party admits that there was some modification  to the contrary.

Answer 2

Most likely the written contract that its the final authority and any changes must be in writing thus if the landlord agreed to verbal changes to the written it most likely will not be able to enforce the verbal if its contradicts the written

Answer 3

Written agreements always take precedence over verbal agreements, just to avoid this kind of conflict.

If you think he's running a scam, take him to small claims court to attempt to collect any money you've already paid him. If you can present witnesses that will testify about what the guy is doing (not merely give opinions), you have a chance.

Answer 4

Verbal agreements will not hold-up in small claims. Utlimately, it's your word versus the written agreement.  If the verbal agreement was so important to you, then you should have put it in writing.  

Your rental agreement determines who pays the utilities.  If the pool really does need to be on 24/7 for alge and it is a pre-existing condition, then you should not have to pay for its utilities until it is cleaned. Have a professional pool maintenance company check the pool.  

You accepted the condition of the house when you moved-in.  Take plenty of pictures and provide list of the house's condition to the landlord.  

I'm not sure how the landlord can 'evict' or demand more moeny if you've paid the rent as stated on the written agreement.  

Phone calls and verbal discussions are worthless.  Put all of your complaints in writing and send via Certified Mail.  If he isn't meeting the terms of the written agreement, then you may be able to take him to small claims for the cost of repairs.

Answer 5

A landlord can't just evict you four days after moving in.  There is a whole court process that he has to undergo.  This sounds like a big fat scam.  I would take him to court.