About a year ago I moved into an apartment, and began paying the landlord on the first of the month. I never signed a lease agreement, but h...

Question

About a year ago I moved into an apartment, and began paying the landlord on the first of the month. I never signed a lease agreement, but had asked the landlord numerous times to please write one up. This never got done. A few months ago, he moved the dumpster that was outside off of the property, which left us nowhere to put our trash. When I contacted the landlord, he told me to call the town to try to get a trash sticker. I called the town of Middleton, and they then informed me that they could not give me a trash sticker because the place I was living was not registered as a rental, and it was only a single family home. It is currently I, and one other family living there. The city then told me that my landlord was in some trouble with the town, and they suggest that I stop paying the landlord till all of my issues were fixed because my landlord was illegally renting the building out, and it was not up to code. My issues include a leaky shower, broken floor tiles, no second means of egress, and no place to put my trash. So over the past 3 months I have been withholding rent, and letting my landlord know that I was not going to pay till my issues were fixed, and also that I knew that the building was not a rental. Two days ago, I got a letter taped to my door starting the process to evict me. In this letter it states something about non payment of rent. When I asked my landlord this, he told me it was a formality for the town because they told him he can no longer have rentals. The letter is asking me to be out by December 31st. I was wondering if anyone had any insight on this, and would like to know if my landlord has a case. I am nervous he is trying to be sneaky about something and not letting me know, and I feel that I am not in the wrong.

Thank you.

Answer

You should consult a lawyer about this. It sounds like you have the ability to avoid being evicted but you will need the assistance of a lawyer. There are all sorts of defenses to an eviction that need to be raised. The sooner a lawyer can help you, the better your chances of avoiding an eviction.

Answer

You need to consult an attorney. It sounds like a retalitory evictioni and you may have the right to the refunding of rent. You do not need to be out by the 31st necessarily, but you need to consult an attorney as soon as possible.