PREPARING YOUR ARGUMENTS

Before going to court, you should write down an outline of what you are going to argue.  If the landlord claims that you did not pay rent, write down what your defense to this claim is, such as you did pay rent or the landlord allowed you to skip one month and catch up later, etc. 

If you have more than one defense, write them all down so that you do not forget to mention them to the magistrate court.  We discussed in a prior Lesson how you can include your defenses in a written response (or answer) to the Rule that you file with the magistrate's court within the ten days after you get served with the Rule. 

Some courts may require a written answer.  But even for those that do not, putting down on paper what you want the magistrate court to know and taking that paper to court with you can help you focus your presentation. 

You do not want to spend time talking about things that are not relevant to the case.  That will only try the magistrate's patience, which is never a good thing.   

For example, suppose that the landlord files to evict and accuses you of having an unauthorized occupant living with you.  If your lease does not require you to get the landlord's permission to have a roommate, you will need to have a copy of your lease to be able to show the court that the lease does not prohibit this. 

You will not want to spend time talking about how the landlord is rude or unkind to you or how you heard that another tenant had a guest over for a long time without a problem.  You want to focus on your case.