I currently rent an apartment in Los Angeles, CA. The manner through which I became a tenant of my apartment building is somewhat strange. At the time of my move, I was looking for something I could rent on a monthly lease. I found my apartment through a newspaper ad and made an appointment with who I thought was the resident manager to take a look at it. He showed me the apartment and explained that I could rent on a monthly basis with no lease agreement if I gave him first month's rent plus one month's security deposit. Since this was exactly what I was looking for, I moved in later that day.
After a few days at my new apartment, a man I had never seen before introduced himself to me as the resident manager and asked me who I was. I explained to him that I had just moved into one of the units that had been rented to me by another man who also claimed to be the resident manager. Apparently he was not who he said he was. The man I rented the apartment from had actually been a previous tenant who had moved out of his apartment and then illegally subleted it to me, pocketing all the money I gave him. Once we figured this out, the actual resident manager was nice enough not only to allow me stay in the unit, but also to keep the original terms that I had agreed upon and did not require me to sign a 1 -year lease (or anything else).
During the month of march my finances grew tight and I was unable to pay April's rent on the 1st of the month as expected. I spoke with him about this earlier in the month and he said it was ok but to get it to him asap. However, I just don't have it yet and I received a 3-day notice on my door yesterday. Can I be evicted without ever having signed any type of lease agreement? Is there anyway I can be held accountable for the unpaid rent or could I theoretically remain here until ordered to vacate without paying the balance for that time period?