Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in South Carolina

Being sued for back rent.
Our landlord sold the moble home we were living in to his cousin and told us we would start paying rent to her. We never signed any kind of contract or anything with his cousin, our new landlord. We just started paying her the rent each month. At the beginning of the summer we were without air for about 2 months and then it was fixed for about a month and then it went out again. We just kept getting the run around and she wouldn't fix it. Finally I talked to her on the phone and said that I was not paying the rent so that I could buy some window units. I have four children that were suffering in the heat. My two youngest cried constantly because of the heat. I also informed her that we were looking for another place to live since she didn't want to take care of the things. Because of needing to move we didn't pay the rent so we would have the deposit/first months rent for another place. We have since moved and today I get a letter from her attorney stating that we are being sued for four months back rent. How can we be sued? We have no written contract with her. This is strictly a ''her word against ours'' situation. How should we handle this?

Asked on 12/04/06, 1:26 pm

David Anderson Anderson Business Law LLC

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Re: Being sued for back rent.

The owner is owed rent until new contract is formed. In this case the "old rent" continues until a new rent is agreed to.

Unless you pay you will be liable in court for the rent for the time you were there, unless the court finds the LL in breach of contract.

Answered on 12/04/06, 2:19 pm

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