---

Posted by Steve Songy on July 17, 1996 at 22:51:48:

Our landlords are divorcing. My family and I live in Maryland and were on a month-to-month lease that was originally signed by both my wife and I and the husband and wife who own the property (a townhouse).

The husband decided to leave his wife and wanted our unit so he could be close to his kids. He gave us a 30-day notice. His wife wanted us to stay and on her attorney's advice said that if we all initialed the previous lease agreement, it would be valid, even if her husband didnt sign it.

The husband didnt pursue the matter for 3-4 months, put recently gave us another 30-day notice to vacate or face eviction letter (followed up by a letter from his attorney stating that he the husband would vigorously pursue this matter this time).

I have a number of questions, and unfortunatly this appears to be a gray area in the Maryland code.

(1) Can we be evicted? I'm led to believe that an eviction is GENERALLY from a violation of the lease, such as failure to pay, destruction, etc.
(2) If she's always been the one to maintain the property, does he have legal claim to throw us out?
(3) If we stay, he could possibly "evict" us, but if we leave, she could possibly accuse us of breaking the lease - in either case, I don't know who has legal right (or is it going to come down to a judge's decision and if so, any educated guess as to what is likely to happen?)
(4) If we are "evicted" (or whatever the legal term may be) how long do we have to get out and will the eviction show up anywhere (such as credit reports, etc) that could effect our ability to buy a house?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Follow Ups:

• Re: Husband of divorcing landlords wants our TH.. uuu 7/24/96 (0)

---

Note: Posting is disabled in all archives
Post a Followup

Name    : 
E-Mail  : 
Subject : 

Comments:
: Our landlords are divorcing. My family and I live in Maryland and were on a month-to-month lease that was originally signed by both my wife and I and the husband and wife who own the property (a townhouse).  

: The husband decided to leave his wife and wanted our unit so he could be close to his kids.  He gave us a 30-day notice.  His wife wanted us to stay and on her attorney's advice said that if we all initialed the previous lease agreement, it would be valid, even if her husband didnt sign it.

: The husband didnt pursue the matter for 3-4 months, put recently gave us another 30-day notice to vacate or face eviction letter (followed up by a letter from his attorney stating that he the husband would vigorously pursue this matter this time).

: I have a number of questions, and unfortunatly this appears to be a gray area in the Maryland code.  

: (1) Can we be evicted?  I'm led to believe that an eviction is GENERALLY from a violation of the lease, such as failure to pay, destruction, etc.
: (2) If she's always been the one to maintain the property, does he have legal claim to throw us out?
: (3) If we stay, he could possibly "evict" us, but if we leave, she could possibly accuse us of breaking the lease - in either case, I don't know who has legal right (or is it going to come down to a judge's decision and if so, any educated guess as to what is likely to happen?) 
: (4) If we are "evicted" (or whatever the legal term may be) how long do we have to get out and will the eviction show up anywhere (such as credit reports, etc) that could effect our ability to buy a house?

: 
: Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Optional Link URL:  
Link Title:         
Optional Image URL: 

---