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tenant’s last known address (an important
reason for a tenant to file a change of
address with the post office).
IF YOU DON’T LEAVE
If you aren’t out at the end of a notice, you
are probably in trouble if you didn’t work out
something with your landlord. The landlord
personally cannot put you out on the streets or
cut off your utilities if you are not out, but there
are some legal steps that can be taken which
can be pretty bad for you.
First, your landlord has the right to collect rent
from you for every day you are in the property
as well as up to 1-1/2 times a month’s rent or
actual damages, whichever is higher, because
you remain in the property when you were
supposed to be out. This is especially bad when
new tenants are waiting to move in. If they
can’t get in, they can sue your landlord, then the
landlord can sue you for their damages plus his
or hers.
Second, you will probably end up going to court
with the landlord trying to get both possession
of the property and money from you. You will
be notified that your landlord has filed suit
against you by receiving a summons from the
court stating the charges against you and what
day you and/or your attorney must appear. It is
important that you or your lawyer appear in
court on that day. If both of you fail to appear
and the hearing has not been postponed, you
lose your case by default, and a judgment is
immediately made against you.
If your case goes to trial, which it probably will
unless you settle with your landlord out of
court, the trial date must be set within eight
(8) days of your first court appearance.
There is sometimes more to an eviction suit
than simply determining who should be in
possession of the property. For instance, if
you feel the landlord is retaliating against you
(see Retaliatory Evictions), you should bring
that up. That could cause the judge to throw
out the eviction suit altogether. You may also
want to present counterclaims for damages
and back rent because of health hazards on
the property, such as cockroaches, water dam-
ages, no heat, etc. (See Warranty of Habitabil-
ity.) Where the landlord is suing you for nonpay-
ment of rent, Kansas law says that you must
bring up any counterclaims you have the first
time you go to court or you can never claim
those damages later. MAKE SURE YOU OR
YOUR ATTORNEY FILE YOUR “ANSWER”
IN WRITING IN ADVANCE OF YOUR COURT
HEARING, IF YOUR COURT PAPERS RE-
QUIRE IT. Otherwise, the judge may not
be willing to listen to your defense or coun-
terclaims. A well presented and well docu-
mented defense may enable you to win your
case on some or all points.
If you lose the case, or even if you win on some
points but the judge says that the landlord can
have possession of the place back, you will need
to move. Judges will usually award “immediate
possession” to the landlord and can order the
sheriff to assist the landlord if you don’t move.
The sheriff’s department, by law, has up to ten
(10) days to get you out, but it can happen
sooner. If your situation ever gets that far, you
really should try to move yourself. The sheriff
will take your things and put them out of the
property (maybe simply out in the yard, maybe
in storage) or will assist your landlord in doing
the same. To get your things out of storage,
you will first have to pay the moving and stor-
age expenses, probably the court costs, and
maybe also all of the money (if any) that the
judge decided you owed your landlord.
It may be asked, “Why bother going to court if
you will probably lose anyway?” First, there is
always the possibility you may win on some or
all points. For instance, you might win a partial
reduction in money owed for back rent. There
has been a trend among Kansas judges to deal
with warranty of habitability claims more seri-
ously. The other, and perhaps most important,
reason is that, if you need it, valuable time is
won through the court process. If yours is a
valid defense, you can come out ahead and use
this time to search for another home.
If judgment for money is given to the landlord, he
or she can collect by garnishing your wages. (Refer
to the section on collecting a court judgment.)