questions & answers

Question: What rights do i have as a tenant if my land lord and his wife are on bad terms and are putting us the tenants in the middle of their martial issues. Landlord is in jail for fraud and beating up his wife. Wife picks up rent money, and landlord sends people to the house to collect rent money even through we gave it to the wife without knowing the landlord was in jail. We are not trying to be in the middle of it, but who do i give the rent money to, if the landlord wants us to give it to other people? The wife wants the money too, but here's the thing we don't have a signed lease no more.

Answer: The most important thing a tenant should do in this type of situation is to carefully document every rent payment: either by paying with a check or electronically or by demanding a signed and dated receipt if cash (which is never recommended) is used. In theory, a tenant should only pay rent to the landlord or to someone that the landlord has designated as the landlord’s representative. When the original term of a written lease expires, and the original landlord continues to accept monthly rent from the tenant, then a month-to-month rental agreement results, and the original landlord remains the landlord. So, unless the name of the landlord’s wife (or their shared business) was listed in your original lease, your rent payments should go to the landlord directly, and only to somebody else if the landlord himself says so in writing. But if that is not possible, you should at least be sure to keep a detailed record of each payment you make.