Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
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I have an agreement with a property management company to take care of my rental home and they are in breach of the agreeement because they have not been paying the sewer bill and its been 2 months behind from the get go and still is continuning to be behind.I have brought this to there attention sense Sept of 2008.I have fired them and I would like to know if they can sue me now for the remaining 7 months on our contract.Thank
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Home
It depends upon what the contract. Have an attorney take a look at the contract to determine what they can and cannot do.
Re: Home
Anyone who can fill out a couple of forms and present them to the court clerk along with the filing fee can initiate a lawsuit. Many suits that are very weak on the merits are filed in the hope that the defendant will default and the plaintiff can get and enforce a default judgment. or that the defendant will settle rather than answer and defend. So, I'd say you run a moderate risk of being sued and having either to defend or endure a default judgment being entered after your failure to answer and defend.
As Mr. Hoffman says, whether in a well-presented complaint and a well-made defense you would prevail in court or not probably depends so much on the wording of the contract that it's misleading for us to make a prediction.
My chief concern is that the minor mistakes the manager has made may not rise to the level of being grounds to treat the manager as being in default. Sure, these mistakes may be technical breaches of the contract, but not every breach warrants treating it as cause to declare a default and terminate the contract. Reading the default, cure and termination provisions would give a lawyer a sense of whether the possible suit would be winnable against you.