What are my renter's rights!! Help ASAP?

I have been renting out one half a duplex for 8 years now. This year I went through a divorce and my ex-husband moved out leaving me and my child alone in the rental. When it came time to renew my lease, my landlord was asking me to sign an unreasonable lease and he wanted copies of my parent's passports (they are visiting, but they don't stay at my house all the time, they also stay with my brother). I gave the lease back and said that I was going to move out when I found another place to live. When I moved in 8 years ago, I gave one month's rent as a security deposit. My ex-husband though signed the lease and made me sign saying that the deposit would not be returned. My rent was due the 1st, I told my landlord that since they were not going to return the deposit, that I was going to live it out. They've been intimidating me ever since. Yesterday they gave me 5 days notice to move out. What are my rights here? I know that they can't evict without a court order and that they had to give me 15 days notice not 5. Again, what are my real rights and which are the statues that state them. Thanks|||Take them to the town magistrate with a copy of your lease. I had a similar situation, I won, and got an additional 30 days stay. File a report with the magistrate for a hearing ASAP.|||ya need to check ya local laws. usually the sheriffs dept handles these things|||You have until the end of your lease to stay there. If it ends on the 1st, then you can't stay there. You gave one month's rent as a security deposit so that if there's any damages they can keep it. It's not the same as paying "last month's rent" which is separate from a security deposit.








Why don't you just leave though? It's not the landlord's fault that you and your husband split up and you haven't paid any rent for where you're living past the 1st. There's a difference between being legally right and being morally right. You're at least morally wrong here, so why not show your kids a good example and move?