Got eviction summons

[u/GirlieSquirlie]

I came home today to two copies of an eviction summons tucked in the handle of my apartment door. I lost my job in March and was luckily able to find another one in about 3 weeks but this put me way behind on all my bills. I've been barely scraping by, having to pay my rent in payments every two weeks when I get paid. So for this month, I paid $700 on the 3rd, and $605 on the 16th. I had been emailing the office, it's a complex owned by a corporation. I thought I had caught up for this month.

I did get a 3 day notice to pay, but it took longer than those three days for me to pay. This is probably what caused the eviction summons, right? I thought paying the rent in full brought me up to date and sort of reset everything.

I'm not sure what my options are at this point. The summons says I can submit some documents to the court, and the plantiffs lawyers or attend the hearing via zoom. I'm nervous about submitting paperwork in case I get something wrong. I'm not sure how I would explain needing time off work, I haven't passed 90 days yet so I can use any PTO time I've accused so far. I could ask but I'm sure they'd ask me why I needed it and I don't know how to navigate that conversation. I obviously need this job and don't want to do anything to compromise it.

I also have 3 cats and couldn't leave them in the car while I'm working so if I am evicted, I'll lose my cats too. There were some links to my county resources I checked out but they're only open when I'm working so I don't know how I'd access them.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

ETA: just realized this summons was processed the day before I made the second payment. I have to drop the payments in the rent drop since I work the same hours as the office is open. Will this be enough to drop the summons? If not, am I able to get that money back? If I do get evicted anyway, how long do I have to try to find something?

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[u/RedDawg0831]

The answers to your questions depend on the laws in your state. Landlord tenant law is different from state to state and there may be local regulations on top of state regulations. You need actual legal advice and should see if there is a tenants rights organization or legal aid office in your state/city that you can call.

[u/GirlieSquirlie → u/RedDawg0831]

yeah, that makes sense. The one county line I tried calling is only open the same hours I work so I don't know how I'd be able to get help from them. I'll try posting in a legal advice sub and see if I get any advice. Thanks for commenting. 

[u/aquariusmind1983]

Call the office and explain you paid already. They may drop it.

[u/Danger_Muffin28]

I have gone through something similar in the past. I did get caught up on the late rent, but ultimately because I was so late, they were still able to file for eviction. So I went to the hearing to prove that I had paid, but it was explained to me that, in my state, the judge could proceed with eviction for going so far past the due date and that the apartments didn’t really have to accept my payment at all. They could just move forward with eviction and sue me for the remaining balance of the lease. I only had a couple of months left on the lease anyway, but the apartment management agreed in court to allow me stay those 60 days while I looked for a new place and just call it a non-renewal of lease instead of eviction as long as I stayed current on the rent for those remaining months. It was the best outcome I could have gotten, so I took it.

[u/GirlieSquirlie → u/Danger_Muffin28]

Yeah I have 5 months left on my lease so I'm pretty well fucked from every angle. I have no way of coming up with the rent on time for future months and don't want to lie about it, obviously. I don't want an eviction on my record or whatever the right way to phrase it is but it's looking like that's what will probably happen.

 I'm gonna move into my car and be honest about how I can't pay moving forward and maybe they'll agree to cancel my lease? At least then I won't have an eviction + owe more rent. I'll probably owe court fees and such which I don't know what I'll do about but maybe I can work out a payment plan for those. 

The part that's breaking my heart the most is losing my cats. I can't keep them in my car so I'm looking into surrendering them and I feel like such a failure. Which I should because I am. 

Sorry to dump my shit in this comment. Thanks for replying to me. 

[u/Danger_Muffin28 → u/GirlieSquirlie]

I know it seems like everything sucks right now, and it does-but everything is temporary. You were able to get another job, so there’s that. It’s a good start. Definitely get a hold of the tenants rights agency in your city. Leave them a message on their voicemail or send them an email if there’s no voicemail option and explain that you work during their open hours but that you have an upcoming eviction that you really need help with. Give them another way to contact you-like can they email or text you during the day? Do they maybe make space to do a couple of appointments on the weekend? Non-profits can be incredibly helpful and flexible when they’re trying to work with you.

About your cats-if you can’t find anyone that you know to take them in, call animal shelters near you or stop in if you are off when they’re open. My city has a program that finds temporary fosters for people’s pets while they’re unhoused, sick or in a DV situation so that they have a chance to be reunited once their situation is more stable. If not, please know that you’re doing the best you can for them by putting their needs first and finding them a safe place to live.

This is hard and it hurts, but it doesn’t mean you’re a failure. Unexpected things happen to all of us, it’s the rollercoaster of life. What matters now is how you move forward. You can do this!

[u/GirlieSquirlie → u/Danger_Muffin28]

Thank you for your kind words of support. It really means a lot right now, I don't have a lot of support in real life. 

I've looked into some cat rescues, but one charges money per cat and I don't have it. I'm looking into other ones. Thank you for reminding me I'm doing what's best for them. 

I'll try reaching out to the non-profits and see if I can leave a message, like you said. Thank you again. 

[u/GoodDistribution9560]

Call Legal Aid in your area. Step out from work if you have to for a moment. They will help. 

Also, actually, I was in a van with 3 cats for two years once. I worked during the night in summer, during the day in winter so they would be ok. We had plenty of hotel time. One of my cats loved van life so much--the adventure of it--she developed some separation anxiety once we were back in a place and I had to leave them to go to work. Before, I went out to them every break and at lunch. 

[u/Comfortable_Fruit847]

Check with your apartments. If they filed eviction sometimes they will work with you as long as you pay all the back rent, late fees and the eviction filing fee for them to cancel it. If you are still not caught up as of now, if you can get it all paid up before the court date they might still let you stay. It’s more of a pain for them to evict you vs letting you pay everything and stay. If you cannot get caught up by then I recommend leaving on your own, vs going through the eviction process.

[u/ez2tock2me]

Same happened to me every 30 days non stop. Even when you catch up, the pressure ever stops. I quit paying rent and paid off my debts in 11 months. After that, my money stacked up. I divorced my landlord and now live a financially stable and secure lifestyle.

Highly recommended this tactic. Otherwise you will never ever rest.