Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Is there anything I can do?

Aquaintances of mine were trying to get out of their lease, we were looking for a place to live, so the landlord agreed to let us move in. Nothing was put in writing, we moved in with a verbal agreement. We then became late on the rent and were evicted a year ago. Yesterday I received a notice that my wages were being docked for $2200. In the judgement papers I received, the city of the residence we rented was incorrect and the date the judgement was recorded was before the date we were asked to vacate. From the looks of the documents and the fact that my wages are about to be docked, it seems that its all a done deal. Is there anything I can do to fight the judgement?


Asked on 11/07/07, 9:25 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Re: Is there anything I can do?

It depends upon what you mean by "asked to vacate." If it was the sheriff asking you, obviously the date of judgment entry would be earlier, because the authorities can't carry out an eviction until a judgment has been entered and the landlord has obtained a writ of possession.

It sounds to me as though the landlord successfully enforced an oral lease against you - perfectly possible if you don't mount a defense, and likely even if you do unless the oral lease was for more than a year. The enforcement was through bringing a lawsuit for unlawful detainer against you.

As to the mistake (?) or discrepancy in identifying the city, why is that significant? Are you sure you are right? Even if you are right and the judgment papers are wrong, is this really a miscarriage of justice or only a minor technical error? You can get a judgment voided when there is an error that causes a substantial miscarriage of justice, but not for misspelling a name or for mixing up Saugus with Santa Clarita - I'd say those names are legally interchangeable as the former has been soaked up into the latter by merger or something. It's a big "so what" legally speaking.

You didn't pay your rent when due, so I guess you're gonna pay it now. Plus interest and penalties.

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Answered on 11/07/07, 9:47 pm


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