What would you do if you were a landlord and a tenant didn’t pay their rent? You’d evict them, right? But what would you do if the tenant still didn’t move out?

In this story, one landlord was in this situation, and he decided to take a very, very careful look at the lease. While the tenant and her lawyer were sure he was going to make a completely different argument in court, he surprised them by sticking to exactly what was written in the lease.

Even the judge was surprised at how it worked out.

Keep reading for all the details.

Your lease is still valid? Even though you were evicted? Ok.

I am the landlord of some apartments in the city. I sign the lease agreements, and go over the basics with tenants, although they don’t usually want me to spend hours delving into the fine print.

99% of the time, it’s a breeze, and everything is fine.

One lady, let’s call her Karen, had been paying her rent via a new bank account and new checks for the last several months.

All of the sudden, we got several chargeback fees on our account- she had put a stop payment on the checks, and closed the account.

She acted innocent.

I immediately called her.

Me: Hey, Karen, it looks like your checks bounced for the last few months. I just wanted to make sure everything is ok.

Karen: Oh no! I promise I’ll get this fixed.

Me: Ok. You’ve been a good tenant in the past, so I’ll give you a month.

She wants one more chance.

Needless to say, a month passed, and she didn’t pay. So I called her again.

Me: Hey, Karen, we still haven’t received payment, so I’m afraid we’ll have to file for eviction.

Karen: Oh god no, I’m an old woman, I can’t afford to be evicted- I’m trying so hard to pay! Can you give me another shot?

Me: As long as you pay before the court date, the eviction doesn’t have to go through.

She still wanted another chance.

The court date arrives, and guess who hasn’t paid yet.

At court, the judge rules for a 24 hour notice to vacate.

Karen, in tears, comes up to me afterwards.

Karen: Can you please give me another chance? I can’t afford to go anywhere else.

He thought he made himself clear.

Me: I’m sorry, Karen, but the only way I could do that is if you paid off the debt, signed a new lease agreement, plus a first month’s rent, plus a new security deposit. And I don’t think that’s going to happen. Goodbye.

So I left, and I thought that was that.

My maintenance guy would come in in a few days to do the inspection and clean up, and then we’d put it on the market.

He shows up a few days later, and there’s a problem… they’re still there.

Now, he’s confused.

So I call the sheriff, to schedule a set-out. A problem, though.

According to the sheriff, the 24 hour notice was no longer valid, as we had struck up a deal afterwards, so the court had reversed the eviction decision.

I had no recollection of having decided that this would happen.

I called the court, and they informed me that the eviction was no longer valid, as apparently, I told the sheriff that I was giving her more time, invalidating the decision, etc.

Karen is a real piece of work.

What happened was that Karen had called the sheriff, and told him that the court had reversed the decision, because of a non-existent deal.

She had then called the court, and told them that the sheriff could not evict her, as I had waived the notice. And she had used my words- twisting my denial of an extension into a deal.

I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt.

I sent Karen a copy of a new lease agreement, asking for the debts, in addition to rent for a first month, and a new security deposit.

But Karen has a lawyer.

Her lawyer then contacted me- yes, she had the money to hire a lawyer, somehow- informing me that, in fact, her old lease agreement was still valid, as my “deal” (you know, the one that would require a NEW lease agreement) invalidated the eviction decision.

So I filed for eviction, on the grounds that she had not paid for several months now, 5 to be exact, and therefore had invalidated her old lease agreement.

And then, I read her old lease agreement. I already know these contracts pretty well, but like I said, I don’t usually delve into the minutiae. This time, I did.

They go back to court.

We show up at court. Karen has her lawyer. Karen is bursting, grinning like a fool, like she’s won the lottery.

Her lawyer looks fairly happy as well.

The judge asks me to speak.

Me: I would like Karen to leave the apartments, but she is refusing, despite the fact that according to the court’s last decision, she should have left over a month ago now.

OP decides to play along with the verbal agreement nonsense.

Judge: And, Miss Karen?

Lawyer: Miss Karen cannot be ejected from her home without a new notice. Yes, she has not yet paid past due rent, however, she and the Landlord struck up a deal, giving her the time she needed to pay via verbal agreement. This deal, made directly after the last court date, invalidated the last decision, so Miss Karen will require a new decision, and therefore, a new notice, before she can rightfully be evicted from her home. Until then, her lease agreement is still valid. (insert legal nonsense)

Judge: And Landlord? What do you have to say?

Me: Well, your honor, I have to agree. They have made a very, very compelling argument. Karen and I did indeed make a deal, giving her the time she needed to pay. And yes, her old lease agreement is still valid, I guess. Well, according to the terms of the still valid lease, there are some additional things that the court needs to be aware of, that I’d like to go over for clarification. I’m sure you have a copy, your honor?

Now, it’s time to delve into the details of the lease.

Judge: Yes, I do.

Me: And you have a copy, Lawyer?

Lawyer: Yes, I do.

Me: Excellent. Well, your honor, if you look at section 4, subsection A, on page 2, you will see that after 10 days of nonpayment, a late fee of $100 is applied. If you continue reading to subsection B, you will see that after 15 days of nonpayment, additional late fees of $10 per day are applied, until full payment is rendered. If you continue to subsection C, you will see that failed payments necessitate a chargeback fee of $50 per failed payment. If you will continue, your honor, to page 4, section 7, subsection F, you’ll see that if a tenant is in any way responsible for a loss of rent, including: leaving an apartment in less than move-in ready condition, failed payments, or, lastly, refusal to vacate in the case of an eviction, the tenant is responsible for payment of said loss of rent, in addition to any other debts owed. In addition, on page 8, section 14, subsection A, you’ll note that the tenant is responsible for any and all legal fees resultant from the eviction process, including attorney’s fees, such as for the attorney I hired to help me review this lease agreement.

He’s not done yet!

Finally, on page 10, the last page, section 17, subsection B, you will see that the tenant is responsible for all HVAC services rendered on their unit. As we sent in a company to fix the unit in Karen’s apartment at her request, we have the invoice here for the replacement unit- in addition to the totals for all of the fees listed.

At this point, the lawyer has gone completely pale- it’s clear that he was more concerned that I would fight the whole “deal” thing, than the terms of the lease he thought he’d have to fight to keep valid.

Karen looks utterly shell-shocked, her mouth slightly agape, like a child confused by a game of peek-a-boo.

The judge, meanwhile, is completely unfazed, until I hand her the invoice, alongside my maths, a spreadsheet, and a piece of paper with the total debt owed circled and highlighted at the bottom of the page.

Karen owes a lot of money.

Her eyes widen to the size of her mouth, as her jaw dropped with an audible gasp.

Me: As you can see, your honor, the total owed is in excess of $16,000. I will happily accept the payment in the form of a cashier’s check. I’d hate to have to charge yet another $50 fee for failed payment, should another personal check bounce.

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Judge: Lawyer, do you have anything to say?

At this point, the lawyer looks like he’s about to pass out. Karen seems to have stopped breathing. The judge remains silent for a moment, and then collects herself.

The judge makes a decision.

Judge: I’m afraid you’ll have to address that matter of debt in a different court than this one, Landlord. We are here only to judge whether Miss Karen is to be evicted from her home today.

Me: Oh, if she wants to stay, I’d be happy to let her. As long as she agrees to continue to abide by the terms of the lease agreement, specifically those clauses outlined above. And pays the debt owed today.

Judge: I’m going to rule for a 24 hour notice to vacate, unless Miss Karen can produce payment at this moment.

Karen sits, still, quiet, speechless even.

Her lawyer is eyeing the window, I like to think contemplating his decisions in life that led him to this point. Maybe thinking about jumping, I don’t know.

The judge had some advice.

Judge: Right, a 24 hour notice to vacate. And, Landlord?

Me: Yes?

Judge: You’ll want to file those charges in small claims court… or a higher court, if it exceeds the amount that you can legally pursue in small claims.

Me: Already filed, your honor.

The case has now been resolved… and needless to say, I got a fairly significant bonus, in addition to a slight raise.

Bravo! Instead of arguing that they never made a verbal agreement, the landlord surprised the tenant’s lawyer by sticking to the details in the original lease. Well done!

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person doesn’t think Karen’s lawyer did a very good job.

Here’s some more lawyer bashing.

Another person points out Karen’s situation.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a disabled woman who confronts her neighbors about using her spot, only to have them tell her they can park where they want.

Another person thinks there are a lot of tenants like Karen.

As far as the lawyer bashing, to be fair, it’s surprising that Karen could afford to hire a lawyer at all. You’d think it’d be better just to move out then to hire a lawyer when you claim to be broke.

That said, she probably couldn’t hire a very good lawyer. Who knows if the person claiming to be a lawyer was actually a lawyer at all. It might’ve just been a friend she convinced to pretend to be a lawyer.

She really would’ve been much better off just moving out.