Does prepaying lock in the rent?

Question: I gave the resident manager at my apartment building a cashier’s check for four months’ rent. One month later I got a 30-day notice of a $25 rent increase.

Since I had prepaid the rent for three months when I gave him the cashier’s check for four months’ rent, I thought I was exempt from any rent increase because the manager didn’t say anything about it when I gave him the check or after it was cashed.

I didn’t pay the increase for a two-month period, but now I have gotten a Three-Day Pay Rent or Quit Notice for $50. Management apologized for the mistake but insists that I owe the $50. Do I owe the money?

Answer: Unfortunately, by the time you read this you will either have paid the $50 or been taken to eviction court. According to Trevor Grimm, general counsel to the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, “The prepaid rent is, in essence, a mini-lease that should cover the full rent for the entire four months. You should win this case.”

From a practical standpoint, however, just paying the $50 might be the better bet, particularly if you have a nice apartment at a good rental rate. Even if you win an eviction case, and there is no guarantee that you would, your relationship with the on-site manager, who made the mistake, probably would not be as good as it was before the problem arose.

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Eviction over pets is no certain thing

Question: I am planning to serve a notice to comply with the lease to a tenant who is violating the agreement by having more pets than allowed. A friend in real estate recommended to me that I have a landlord attorney handle this. How I can find one?

Answer: It is important to follow your friend’s advice and use a landlord/tenant specialist for your renter problem if you decide to proceed.

I say “if you decide to proceed” because if the tenant has paid the rent and had the extra pets with your knowledge for much more than a month, and you wind up trying to evict him or her in court, the court probably will rule that you waived, or lost, your right to enforce this lease provision by accepting the rent with the knowledge that the extra pets were there.

A landlord/tenant specialist will know this upfront and will save you a lot of time, money and aggravation by recommending that you not try to evict the tenant on these grounds under these circumstances. A generalist may know this, but if he or she doesn’t, you will be funding on-the-job training in court.

As for finding a specialist, your local bar association probably can help, or you can check with your local apartment association for referrals to attorneys with whom it is familiar.

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Family loan puts renter in the hole

Question: I am in a serious dilemma. I got into this mess because I thought I was helping out some of my family members financially. Now they can’t afford to pay me back, and I am in debt to my landlady for $2,000. She is a very nice person, and I want to pay her back everything that I owe her, but I don’t have it. Should I start looking for a shelter or is there something else I can do?

Answer: I am assuming that the debt to your landlady is for unpaid rent. Obviously she will want to be paid the rent that you owe her, no matter how nice she is. After all, she still has to make her mortgage payments.

If you have a source of steady income, she may be willing to work out some kind of a payment plan with you and allow you to stay in the apartment. Otherwise, you will need to make other living arrangements as soon as possible, preferably before you are evicted, which will affect your ability to rent an apartment in the future.

You say in your letter that you got into this mess by financially helping out family members. If at all possible, talk to them about alternative shelter, since it doesn’t seem that they are going to pay you back the money you loaned them. If that’s not possible, and you have no other options, you may want to seek other housing.

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Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine,

a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group. E-mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to AptlifeAAGLA@aol.com,

c/o Kevin Postema, or mail to AAGLA, c/o Kevin Postema,

621 S. Westmoreland Ave.,

Los Angeles, CA 90005.