Owner of complex is trying to sue me for back rent when my boss put me in the apt. for free in CA.?

Question

In spring of 2007 friends of ours offered my fiance a job in their company. Then they asked me to come to their company, which i agreed to. Turns out they were in financial ruin. We stayed w/ my mother since we had moved back to CA for this job. The owner of the company (our friend) asked us when we were getting a place of our own since my mother lived in a complex that she managed on top of owning this company. We told her because her company could not pay us on time or in full ever, we could not afford a place right now. A month later, she shows us an empty apartment and says, here is your new place. She never gave us a lease, nothing in writing, no rental agreement. The owner of the complex found out 6 mos. later that there was an open unpaid apt. Around the time that we quit due to nonpayment of salary, and were on bad terms w/ our "landlord" and previous boss. now she told the owner that we had a verbal agreement and the owner is suing us for back rent. But we had NO agreement.

Answer 1

The one who showed you the apartment is libel not you. Your friend should have given you a lease, a verbal agreement will not hold in court. You could always say you asked for a lease and was told it's in the process.

Answer 2

You did live there and by default became a month to month tenant. Oral agreements in rentals are legal, hold up in court and are covered by your state's landlord tenant laws.

The owner has copies of your personal checks that were tendered for rent.

You are going to have to prove your case in front of the judge.

Answer 3

Where is the lease?  No lease no payment.

Answer 4

You're not in a world of hurt.  Verbal agreement wont hold up in court.  If you signed a lease agreement and didn't pay that's different.  But "he said" "she said"  will not be enough evidence for a ruling against you.  Move ahead with no worries.  Live and learn from this one.

Answer 5

First off, you are in a world of hurt, I understand.

Next, WHO owns the apartments? Your old boss, or this other lady you are calling the owner? It's not real clear.

a) I'm going to go off of my first impression, that your boss was the rental manager of the complex and not the owner/landlord. If the manager allowed you to live in the apartment for free, then the burden of proof is on you to prove that you had a verbal agreement to live there for free. If you can prove it, then she would be responsible to the owner/landlord for the money.

b) If your boss owned the property, then again the burden of proof is on you to show the agreement, but then she has only herself to blame for her loss of money.

Final note: It sounds like your friend/boss/apartment manager got pissed off about you quitting and decided to "stick it" to you. Good luck and Godspeed.