I live in an apartment complex near campus that I believe is using scare tactics to demand rent.

So here are the facts of the situation:

-Rent is due on the 5th, but I couldn't pay until ~7th
-Around noon on the 6th management places a "Demand or Quit" notice on the door demanding rent+5% by midnight on the 10th or paperwork will be filed for eviction and I would incur court costs and other fees, based on what I thought i knew about NC eviction laws I found this to be a lie and decided to test their policy.
-On the 11th I receive a phone call stating pay by the 12th or papers will be filed and I'll have to pay rent+5%+court costs
-On the 12th I get a phone call that says pay by the 13th or I'll have to pay rent+5%+court costs
-on the 13th I get an email that says the same things as the phone calls.
-on the 14th I get fed up and write a very polite but informed email stating the facts as I knew them; summary of facts follows:
1)If rent is late a "demand or quit" must be issued to tenant
3)If rent is late, the lessor is allowed to add $15 or 5% of rent owed as a late fee
2)NC law requires lessor to wait 10 days after "demand or Quit" before filing any paperwork for eviction

Thus based on 1) & 2) above, I know that the demand or quit was issued on the 6th, thus giving me until noon on the 16th to pay my rent+late fee and not have to deal with eviction.

-on the 15th I present my rent+fee to management and they accept it
-On the 19th I receive a letter for the apartment complex's lawyer stating my assumptions were false and and in the future eviction will be filed on the 10th. The lawyer said the following to me:

"... It is safe to assume that in your email when you were discussing a ten day demand period,
you were referring to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-3. In your email, you concluded that because you were
given notice to pay on the sixth of the month, that ****(omitted) could not file a Summary
Ejectment (eviction) action against you until the sixteenth of the month. According to your lease
and prevailing North Carolina case law, that is incorrect.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held in Stanley v. Harvey, 90 N.C. App. 535 (1988),
that N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-3 does not apply to leases that specifically allow the landlord to terminate the lease upon the tenant's nonpayment of rent. According to Paragraph 3 of your lease agreement, the Tenant's failure to pay rent shall constitute a default of the lease agreement and in the event of such a default, ******* has the right to, with or without notice to you: (a) terminate the lease; (b) terminate your right to possession of the apartment without terminating the lease; (c) re-enter and retake possession of the apartment; or (d) institute an eviction action against you. Therefore, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-3 does not apply.

Furthermore, your lease agreement states that rent is due on or before the first calendar day
of each month and that payment shall be remitted without demand or notice. As previously stated,
Paragraph 3 grants ********* the right to file, with or without notice, an eviction action against
you upon your default. Prevailing case law has held that in the event of a default where re-entry is
allowed, the notice period in the lease controls, even if the notice is zero days. Cherry v. Whitehurst, 216 N.C. 340 (1939). Therefore, ******** is not required to give you notice before filing an eviction lawsuit against you."


So what I got out of that lawyer mumbo jumo is that I have signed away my tenant's rights granted by the state of NC, which I was under the assumption was not possible. I am now left to assume all of the following which I thought (and still believe) is not allowed:
-Demand of rent is does not need to occur b/c I signed away that right
-Rent is late after the 5th and I can be evicted on the 6th
-The apartment complex can repossess all of the apartment's contents if I don't pay my rent by the 5th


I don't have a specific case to cite, but my understanding was that even if the lease states otherwise I as a tenant in the state of NC am still entitled to my Notice of rent being late and having 10 days from notice before suit can be filed. AAAAAnd since rent is accepted until the 5th w/o fee, then the first day rent is late is the 6th, thus giving me until the 16th to pay my rent+fee safely.

Also, is it now fair that they have slapped my with some "lawyer fees" to cover their time spent dealing with me, which they have given me until next month's rent due date to pay?

Should I pony up to fight back or can I arm chair lawyer this for a while or should I just cut my losses?

[Edited on April 19, 2010 at 7:56 PM. Reason : ?]

[Edited on April 19, 2010 at 7:58 PM. Reason : ?2]

4/19/2010 7:52:53 PM

How about you stop being a fucking douche and pay your rent on time?

[Edited on April 19, 2010 at 8:06 PM. Reason : *]

4/19/2010 8:06:42 PM

My opinion is that you cut your losses--you were a dick, they wanted their money. Why didn't you pay on the 7th when you were able?

But if you want a legal opinion, email student legal services, they should be able to answer your questions, and they won't charge you anything if you're a student.

Here are your statutes for reference: http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByArticle/Chapter_42/Article_1.html

If you want to go look this up on your own, you can search for cases that have dealt with this stuff. And here's a good website to get you started: http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/

4/19/2010 8:10:10 PM

you don't have a leg to stand on - they sound a little aggressive but in today's economy it probably pays off for them to be

rent is due on the 1st - however they are giving you a 5 day grace period which is pretty standard - the 5 day grace period doesn't mean that the due date has changed from what is stated in your lease

4/19/2010 8:10:28 PM

I suppose I misinterpreted when rent was due; I assumed that since rent is accepted from the 1st-5th w/o fee that rent is late on the 6th, not 12:01 am on the 2nd. And as stated prior, I was also unaware of being able to sign away tenant's rights issued under NC G.S. § 42-3

Either way, thanks for the advise.

I know it was a bit dickish of me, but I honestly thought I was in the right here.

[Edited on April 19, 2010 at 8:36 PM. Reason : *]

4/19/2010 8:24:21 PM

a call at the end of last month asking if you could turn in your rent a few days late probably would have prevented all of this.

that being said, regardless of any court decisions they have a lawyer and money and you don't.

4/19/2010 8:50:34 PM

pay the rent plus 5%

apologize

4/19/2010 8:50:57 PM

Quote :

"I suppose I misinterpreted when rent was due; I assumed that since rent is accepted from the 1st-5th w/o fee that rent is late on the 6th, not 12:01 am on the 2nd."

That is why they have a lease, wherein things such as when your rent is due are spelled out in clear and plain english. One would assume that if you looked at your lease, you would have found a sentence to the effect of : "rent of $xxx is due on or before the 1st of every month." Grace periods are irrelevant to when rent is actually due. They could never charge you a late fee and it would still be due on the 1st.

Quote :

"I know it was a bit dickish of me, but I honestly thought I was in the right here."

You broke your contract, you were in the wrong from the beginning.

4/19/2010 8:55:29 PM

I stopped reading at:

Quote :

"-Rent is due on the 5th, but I couldn't pay until ~7th"

4/19/2010 9:03:28 PM

eh, lesson learned; at any point after the 5th of any given month this apartment complex reserves the right to insert cock in ass, a right that Jupiter himself could not negate.

4/19/2010 9:18:49 PM

lol, Roman mythology.

4/19/2010 9:46:49 PM

Its somewhat concerning that law can be superseded by a signed lease agreement.

4/19/2010 9:47:04 PM

Quote :

"I was also unaware of being able to sign away tenant's rights"

Laws vary. Some states phrase some laws in order to apply only if not otherwise stated. This is very useful, as before judges were forced to decide what the common law was whenever a dispute arose over something not in the contract. In these instances, the legislature is not granting a tenant right, but merely setting the default.

That said, I see no problem with you being able to sign away certain rights as pertaining to a contract. Such would be part-and-parcel to your right to contract freely. Who are we to second guess what terms you agree to live under?

[Edited on April 19, 2010 at 10:16 PM. Reason : .,.]

4/19/2010 9:55:34 PM

Have to agree with LS, I don't see where you signed away your rights or that the contract superseded the law. The text is:

Quote :

"§ 42-3. Term forfeited for nonpayment of rent. In all verbal or written leases of real property of any kind in which is fixed a definite time for the payment of the rent reserved therein, there shall be implied a forfeiture of the term upon failure to pay the rent within 10 days after a demand is made by the lessor or his agent on said lessee for all past-due rent, and the lessor may forthwith enter and dispossess the tenant without having declared such forfeiture or reserved the right of reentry in the lease."

I read this as saying unless the lease has other provisions, a lease can be terminated 10 days after demand for past due rent, even if the lease has no such clause in it. IOW, 42-3 is the default agreement unless you and the landlord come to a different agreement.

4/19/2010 10:53:46 PM

the 5 day grace period is part of the the raleigh municipal code

4/19/2010 11:09:56 PM

Quote :

" So here are the facts of the situation: -Rent is due on the 5th, but I couldn't pay until ~7th -Around noon on the 6th management places a "Demand or Quit" notice on the door demanding rent+5% by midnight on the 10th or paperwork will be filed for eviction and I would incur court costs and other fees, based on what I thought i knew about NC eviction laws I found this to be a lie and decided to test their policy. be a douche - even though I could pay on the 7th I decided to not pay at all because I'm a douche -On the 11th I receive a phone call stating pay by the 12th or papers will be filed and I'll have to pay rent+5%+court costs -On the 12th I get a phone call that says pay by the 13th or I'll have to pay rent+5%+court costs "

fixed!

4/20/2010 12:14:57 AM

Dude, I've hated almost all of my landlords too (except for the incredibly helpful and smoking hot one I have now, and I'm not just kissing her beautiful ass), but this shit is just stupid. Even giving you the benefit of the doubt, you did a dumbass experiment to test their limits, which makes you -- here's the twist -- a dumbass. More likely, I think, you forgot or weren't able to pay your fucking rent on time and then tried to justify it as social activism. This also makes you a dumbass.

4/20/2010 1:21:14 AM

What ever happened with that situation at lake johnson mews where the apartment complex handed out notices <24 hours prior to conducting parking lot construction on Monday Morning. Since this was spring break weekend though a lot of people were gone and came home only to find their cars all towed PLUS a "storage" fee for every day they were gone.

The apartment's excuse was that on the lease in article 5 section 4 paragraph 1 line 2 that tenants are supposed to alert the administration if they were going to be gone for more than 3 days.

From what i heard 50+ cars were towed. I hope LJM got the hammer dropped on them in court.

4/20/2010 8:36:40 AM

Obama needs to have the gov't take over these toxic rental leases. After all, housing is a right. These evil money grubbing landlords are ripping off poor tenants who got tricked into leasing an apartment they couldn't afford.

4/20/2010 9:12:20 PM

fuckin mortgages how do they work?

and I don't wanna talk to no economist

yall motherfuckers lying and gettin me pissed

[Edited on April 20, 2010 at 9:31 PM. Reason : ]

4/20/2010 9:31:05 PM

How about you stop being a fucking douche and pay your rent on time?

10/23/2010 10:56:46 PM

Pay your fucking rent, deadbeat

and while you're at it, stop whining like a bitch and blaming everyone else for your fuck-ups.

[Edited on October 23, 2010 at 11:09 PM. Reason : god damn, you have 3/4 of a college education and can't pay the rent on time? day 1 stuff, dude.]

[Edited on October 23, 2010 at 11:11 PM. Reason : oh holy shit, you INTENTIONALLY didn't pay on time? Douche. ]

10/23/2010 11:07:09 PM

Quote :

"they have a lawyer and money and you don't. "

roughly equivalent to

Quote :

""

10/24/2010 2:00:43 AM

grow the fuck up and pay your damn rent. you were wrong from the beginning. fucking stupid.

10/24/2010 1:11:36 PM

I stopped reading at:

Quote :

"-Rent is due on the 5th, but I couldn't pay until ~7th"

10/24/2010 1:33:17 PM

they are not being aggressive. you broke the contract. evictions take time to work through the legal system. they have to assume you are never going to pay rent again so they are going to get you out ASAP.

10/24/2010 2:02:41 PM

^ this.

The funny thing is that probably 90+% of places (except slumlord type complexes) will let you slide if you just go talk to the manager and let them know you're going to be a few days late. They might still give you the notice just in case you're BSing, but you could have avoided the lawyer fees.

Now if you're ever in a hard spot again and will be late on rent, you don't have this option b/c you were a douche and tried to out-lawyer their lawyer.

10/24/2010 8:13:32 PM