Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Missouri

Re: Behind in my rent

Contact the attorney who filed the Rent & Possession suit. Tell them that you can pay up next week, as you have indicated here. If you have been there twenty years, the landlord proably wants your money more then they want to have to find a new tenant. It may be in your interest to pay what you can immediately, but their attorney may insist on all at once.

Make this contact as soon as possible, so that you know whether they want the money or the house more. If you file and serve a written Answer denying the claims in the Petition, you may not have a judgment entered against you on the first court date.

If the judge asks you if you agree that you owe the debt, tell them no. A trial will then be scheduled for about week later. In that interim time, you state that you can pay all that they claim is due.

It may be that the landlord's attorney may ahve you sign a note agreeing to pay the amunt due by a certain date. If after you file the answer, you fidn that you no longer dipute the debt, it may be in yoru interest to pay it as fast as you can.

Good Luck

Re: Behind in my rent

you may have to "surrender possession" but that doesn't mean you give up your belongings. It means you give up your occupancy of the house. You may also get stuck with a judgment for rent.

Even if you pay the back rent, the landlord can still require you to leave the premises. So depending on your situation, you may want to consider getting other quarters now and then agreeing to pay the other landlord in installments when you're out of the property.

Legal Aid of Eastern or Western Missouri can assist you if you do not have funds to pay a lawyer.

Good luck.