Early this week I sat in court in Savannah while a woman tried to explain why she had not paid rent. Her excuse related to health problems. This was no excuse or defense under the law. Unfortunately, she just glanced over a defense that may have afforded a few weeks, instead of the 7 days.
More specifically, before a landlord files a dispossessory, he or she must demand possession of the premises beforehand. Oftentimes, landlords are quick to the draw and miss this step. She breezed over this omission by noting he just said I was late and then I received this notice for court.
This failure to give notice should be given in your answer as an affirmative defense. However, if you have already filed your answer, you can still raise it in court. However, in that instance, you have the burden of proving the defense.
In the case in Savannah, the landlord's attorney, but not the landlord appeared.
Therefore, if the poor woman had just focused on that defense, above all, she would have won because there would have been nobody there to dispute her assertion.
Again, if the case had been dismissed on this technicality, it would have allowed her approximately
2-3 weeks to find a new place.
An experienced tenant attorney would have given her that defense in a short phone call or a 30 minute consultation. This information would have armed her with a defense to represent herself and win in court. Don't short change yourself by doing it alone. Get some help with an experienced tenant attorney.
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