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Question about being dishonest on my rental application
I have been living in an apartment for 3 years with no issues. The apartments were located in a transitional neighborhood and have been owned by three different companies since Ive lived there. This is the first time Ive ever rented a property and, as unbelievable as this may sound, I was incredibly naive to many things. I resigned my lease for one more year but I have two big dogs and apartment living has become way too hard with my busy schedule. Me & a friend have decided to rent a house together. I have found a person to sublease my apartment and my previous apartment manager seemed okay with this. However, I have a new land lord and things have gotten out of hand. Long story short, she's very "by the book" which is the different than the previous owners who were okay with late pays, etc. I was never very late on rent, it was due by the 4th of each month.. sometimes I'd forget and pay by the 5th. Anyways, the rental property sent over a verification of rental history paper and she said that I had 6 late pays and 1 insufficient funds check (big misunderstanding that I later cleared up). I tried to reason with her but she seems pretty set on reporting these incidents every time they request information. Ive been declined from 2 properties. I have the option to lie and use a friend who works for an apartment agency. What should I do?
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Read your rental agreement. Every lease I have ever signed has a grace period of 10 days before a payment is considered late and a late payment penalty is required. If she has charged you a late fee for being one day late and your lease has such a clause as I believe it does. She is in violation of your lease and the truth in lending laws of most states. Since she is also reporting this to future rental properties she is slandering you as well.
In fact if the last lease you signed has this cause as I believe it does. I would not even bother talking to her. I would go directly to an attorney as you have an actionable case at Bar as it is called. You should take her to court for any late payments she demanded plus interest as well as slander and defamation of character by reporting you improperly to prospective rental property owners.
Just because the building has new owners does not change the terms of the lease you signed. That lease is as binding on them as the new owners as it is on you. Leases are a bi-lateral agreement that cannot be changed unilaterally by new ownership. The new owners may want you to believe they can. Under contract law in any state they cannot unilaterally change a contract you must agree to the terms and of any change and you cannot be threatened to accept the changes. The owners expect you to be naïve or not being able to afford lawyers to do your battles.
In most cases you do not need a lawyer you just file claims in landlord tenants court which is like small claims court. There are legal aid lawyers available to assist you. In this instance I suggest you consult an attorney. First consultations are generally free. Then see id the attorney is willing to take the case on contingency, which they get paid out of a portion of the proceeds of what they win or they may let you pay by installment.
I do not know what part of the country you live in. I have signed leases in many different parts of this country and they all have had that clause I spoke of in it. If yours does and she has demanded late fees and she is reporting you late she has harmed you illegally. Take her to court.
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