She will deduct the cost to repair the damages your dog caused from your deposit and apply the balance to the amount of rent you still owe. You will then owe the difference plus all late fees that are spelled out in your lease.
The landlord must go to a judge, to have eviction paperwork signed, and then you must move.
No matter where you go - the money due must still be paid. Just because of all the things that happened, while you live there, does NOT mean you didn't still owe rent.
One thing you didn't mention is whose fault it was that the pipes burst, which could be relevant to the issue of who was responsible for getting the apartment repaired.
During the time it was "unlivable" through no fault of your own, you certainly cannot be expected to pay any rent, although you could be liable for damages (including the missing rental value) if you caused the flooding.
Add: Bring along pictures, band statements, receipts, correspondence (email, text), etc, that shows what you have paid, and bring along anyone who has been a party to the oral discussions, which may have constituted a waive of late fees, or whatever.
You will lose in court, but not go to jail. If your mother co-signed it will likely be her that has to pay your debt.
Eventually you will work, she can garnish your paychecks then, if she doesn't garnish your mothers first.
This is a Civil matter, not a Criminal case. So you will not go to jail for it. But it sounds as if you will not have any grounds to fight the eviction, and will probably lose the judgment she will seek for the damages and unpaid rent.
It is a shame you had your hardships, but those are your issues to deal with and not your landlord's. It sounds lke she was willing to work with you for a while but for whatever reason you were not able to keep up with the rent payments even with the concessions she made.
Your own renter's insurance would help take care of your situation with the water damage and not being able to live there for a few days or so. If you did not have that coverage, that also is not the landlord's fault.
So certainly no jail time, but for that amount of money and if you don't pay the judgment she is certain to be awarded if you fail to show up to defend yourself, it would be worth her while to also obtain a wage garnishment order. That will mean that until the amount is paid in full, your employers (present and future) will have to deduct money from your paychecks to pay this off. The law generally limts this deduction to a maximum of 25% of your after-tax income (or the amount that exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less) on a weekly basis.
If you feel that you do not owe any of this, it would pay you to attend the hearing to at least try and get the amount you owe reduced. If you don't show at all, the court will issue summary judgment in favor of the landlord and very little of what they are claiming will be looked into deeply by the court.
good luck bby
I am going to try to make a long story short. I moved into my apartment in sept 2013. I paid a $675 sec deposit and first months rent. We were told verbally with witnesses that rent could be due on the 5th since that was when I got paid. in feb I was unable to pay rent due to health problems, unable to work and a surgery. She seemed understanding at the time. When I was unable to go back to work my mother made an agreement, again verbally to pay my rent for me on the 21st of every month until I could go get back. a couple months back during record lows the pipes burst. I tore my house apart trying to get all the water up and and it shut off. There was damage to my stuff. The whole ceiling in the kitchen had fell through, the bathrooms upstairs all pipes had busted. She sent someone to look at it, during this time I could not live there. It took them over a week just to get the ceiling back up, to this day there still isnt a light fixture over bare wires hanging from the ceiling with a light bulb in it. There was only 1 fire alarm and the others were not there. She tried to say I took them down but I didn't. Anyway I did not pay her rent after that. The guy just got finished with the ceiling 3 weeks ago. She noticed some dog damage to a back room that she estimated wit her contractor to cost $200. ANYWAYS, She is suing me for $3,000 past due rent which she says she went back from the month we moved in and charged late fees and $2000 damages. Would I go to jail if I didn' go?
