Lease is up, landlord could not be contacted to renew

[Renny Deckert]

So my lease was up  at the end of October. I tried to contact my landlord for about a week to speak to him about renewing my lease, but never got an answer or call back. I went ahead and paid a month of rent for November, and then got a call from the son of the landlord in the first week of December. The landlord is in the hospital, and now his wife is in main control. I told the son that I wanted to renew my lease, and he was okay with that. He told me he would call me again so we could meet in a few days to sign the new lease. He never called me back, and never responded to my phone calls for the next two weeks. I called the office a couple times to have the wife call me, but the son called me instead. Now, he's telling me that he does not want to run out to me because I am so behind on rent. I told him I was not going to keep paying you rent without a proper lease, and that was why I hadn't paid December. He does not care, and wants to evict me. As of right now, I'm still trying to contact the wife as she is in main control. 

There have been problems with the landlord since I moved in here. My roof leaked for 2 months in one room and when he finally sent someone out to fix it, they simply put up new drywall, and never even bothered to completely finish the ceiling. I'm also positive they never did any type of mold treatment or removal, let alone even put in new insulation. Because of that, my 1 year old son has slept with me in my room since day one. There are window panes missing, windows missing locks, and a front door that doesn't even latch at the handle. The only thing I ever made a big stink about was the roof. I merely mentioned the other things a couple times and the landlord never bothered to fix those. 

With all that has happened, do I have to worry about being evicted? Or can I take pictures of things such as my unfinished ceiling, and use it as evidence in court? I'm aware they may not have to renew my lease of course, but at this poimt I am just trying to keep a roof over my family's head. We are in no condition to start a new lease somewhere else where we need to pay the first month's rent with the security deposit, especially because I'm sure the security deposit for my current place will most likely be withheld from me. Which begs the question, if this whole process is dragged out for a couple months, and I will not be paying rent as I do not have a lease, will they still have to give me my security deposit back? I'm especially worried about this because my landlord is a terrible landlord, and his son strikes me as the type of person who will withhold information and make false accusations in order to have my family removed. My landlord owns a law office, which according to everything I found online is the worst law office ever. I have found nothing but absolutely negative reviews about him and his conduct in his court cases.

So my important questions are:

Can I be evicted? How can I fight this? Am I required to keep paying rent without a current lease? What are my grounds on staying, and what are the details I am going to need should this be taken to court?

[Gail K.]

So you don't actually mind living in the rental house with the repair issues you've complained about as long as you can do so rent free, correct?

Can a landlord (or their representative) file for an eviction against you due to failure to pay rent?   Yes.

Your own lease has a clause that states your lease rolls over to a month to month tenancy if no other agreement are made.  Thus you HAVE a "proper" lease in place.  There is NO legal justification for you NOT to pay December rent (plus any late fees if these are also included).

If moving is not an option then don't put yourself in the position where you face an eviction.  Pay your rent.

Gail