What are my rights??

first off, your landlord cannot kick you out until you are served with eviction papers by the sheriffs office. The have to give you written notice (30 days) to leave. Then he needs to file an eviction with the courts which usually takes about 2 weeks and he cannot do unless you have been given 30 days written notice or you are 30+days behind on rent. if he said you dont have to pay you need that in writing. he sold the house...great. you should have a signed lease. signed by you and the landlord. he has to honor that lease. call a lawyer. most lawyers will give you a free consultation. call the landlord/tenant association as well to report him. I went through the same thing except my landlord lost the house to a sheriffs sale. my lawyer said that he cannot kick me out. to get it through all the courts, the new owners would have had to done it or the bank. It is a huge headache that you probably do not need. but again do call a lawyer, and the landlord/tenant association. tell your lawyer that you have a lease. you may be able to sue. that IS a binding contract. without a lease or some documentation signed by the landlord then you will have no argument. and will need to move asap

although i'd like to sound positive i don't think you have much of a case since you don't have a lease signed. the only thing i can recommend is going to the police and asking their opinion. i think you should be reimbursed for the utilities since you weren't living in the house at the time.

Did you have a signed written lease? I would suggest that you contact someone in consumer law, especially rental agreements. Many local or state bar associations have consumer contacts for you as well as some university law schools. Good luck.

I don't want to sound harsh but you made the wrong decision when you went to live inside the house. You should have asked if he is remodeling for renting or selling. I am sorry about your predictment but if you go to the foster care and let them know the situation they will be in situation to help you. You see these homes/agencies has the tendencies to know where houses are renting/selling. It is not right for the kids to be on the street. You see the landlord can put you out because you and him didn't sign an agreement and seeing that it didn't rent you the house. He only give you the roof over your head because he need the assistances with the bill. Take this as an experience and never make this mistakes again remember that you have kids to consider about. All the best. Kerry

I am not sure what state you are in. i guess you could check with your state county and town/city laws. did you sign any kind of contract with this guy? if so do you have a copy? i know doing all this checks wont be easy to do in 5 days. i would also start calling around and seeing if anyone has a first free month deal or anything like that. call some of the churchs in your area too they maybe able to help. also check with habit for humanity. see if they build houses in your area you might get on a long waiting list but that is a long term option. i have a friend that just moved into a HH house and she loves it.

This is tough. If you didn't get anything in writing...then you're evicted. This is so not right. Whenever there is a business transaction there must be a meeting of the minds and there must a paper stating that the arrangements are other than the normal rent agreement. If there was a paper you hve 30 days to vacate. I do hope you and your little family will be ok. MD

Since you didn't sign a lease, I don't think you have any rights. I would call down to the Public DAs office on Monday to double check though. The laws are a bit different in every state.

Hiya Bellasmama Tiff Have added you as friend, hope you dont mind. As for your landlord, I'm not sure what laws apply over there in the states but I know that here in NZ I'd drag him to the nearest tribunal (or mediation) service. My Partner, our kids and I took a house in South Waikato some 5 odd years ago,the landlord (at the time) was looking to rent his property on a "rent to own" basis. After being a Transport operator for several years, and putting my business into liquidation, my partner and I decided to try this opportunity and see if we could get ourselves "Back on an even keel" When we moved onto the property we had 2 dogs, our 14 year old German Sheperd,and a 7 year old Black Lab/Cross. The Landlord KNEW this prior to us moving in but made this a point of contention when serving us with notice some 5 weeks later! Basically he was nothing but a MONGREL! (I hope he's reading this!) Landlords today seem to be only here for nothing else but PROFIT and they dont really care who gets hurt in the process, that absolutely SUCKS! My advice to you, is to grab your landlord and drag him, kicking and screaming through every or any sort of LEGAL avenue that you have open to you! He/She may not like it, but at the end of the day it is YOU and your family's welfare that should remain uppermost in your mind! A tenant you may be , but as a tenant you also have RIGHTS! DON"T ,DON"T let those rights be abused! I don't know if you have any rights in this particular situation, but if you in fact do, I URGE you to act upon them and get it "sorted" once and for all. I hope thi8s is of some help to you and your sister and your families, All the very best for your future(s) Cheers MrL®

Sounds dire. Maybe you could get a loan against your paycheck? In your shoes, I'd certainly try to consult legal aid. According to the American Bar Association, although free legal aid is only guaranteed to criminals, there are some resources that try to help civilians and they list some here: http://www.abanet.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/faq_freehelp.cfm Good luck!

Well, evidently the landlord had to know that he was selling the house. He allowed you to move in knowing that he house was sold. You just don't sell a house in five days. You should take him to court for falsely renting to you. You may not legally be able to get anything monetary, because you did not pay anything. But you may be granted sufficient time to find another place. Ask him to give you the new owner's number and call him/her and explain how this person rented you the property five days ago, and how you were not aware that the house was sold. I do not think you can call it eviction, because no money was exchanged You need to speak to someone in legal aid and find out what your rights are. Maybe in the interim, you can go to your local social service and see if they can do anything for you. Maybe they can give you a voucher to stay in a motel until you find something.

Hi, I am a real estate investor and basically the laws would be different for every state. The one thing that you did not say was if you signed a lease or not? If you signed a lease your lease would still normally be in effect regardless of who owned the home. If the house was sold to another investor why wouldnt they want a paying tenant? If perhaps your agreement is just verbal then you probally have no rights.

what country do you live in and is the place furnished or part furninshed?

hello , your best bet is to seek for an attorney consulting .. and yes this man has to serve you papers and its usually 30days, then a five day notice and not to mention the pay or quit ... and so forth for til the move seek the attorney advice see what you can do ... even call housing ...

Hi frnd this is very bad situation happened to u.i wil pray to god that u wil get justice with this.And as u told u have witnesses who know abt this so u can do watever u can and thats really sorowful that u got ur first foster child and u r going to be on streets and try to ask the guy who bought the building from ur owner to pls give time for u to stay for atleast the day u get the money.i hope u will get all happies bye.

Well I am not sure about where you live but here in canada the NEW owner has to give you 3 months notice. If I was you I would go to the land lord and tenancy board and ask if there is something you can do to fight this and with the witnesses you shouldnt have a problem fighting this. Good Luck

It would be nice if there was a written agreement. If so, then you may have a leg to stand on even if no money was paid in the beginning. It is always good to get a receipt for the months' rent even if the cost was zero. Written proof is so handy because then he may not be able to throw you out until a day came when you did not make your scheduled rent payment on time, even if he sold the house.Everything depends on the details.