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Hee hee. If anyone was wondering why I havent been popping in and out of the forums so much lately, heres why: I moving (Its not really a good thing, but the place is nicer than what I have) My apartment complex used to give me free utilities, and now mid-lease they are changing my policy so that I pay electric/heat. With that, my two-bedroom townhome ($675/mo) goes up about $75-100 (at least/mo) I've checked the lease out, and I believe they have violated it. Any advice?

I did find a new place to live however, in the new part of town (its shiney ) and will be paying $719, but will get about 200 more sq feet, a dishwasher, a washer/dryer, open pet policy, and a privacy fenced backyard. Me and my roomates will have to pay electric, but the complex pays heat, so we're looking at about $80 adverage for utilities. I'm excited... I'll be able to finally have the garden I want and be able to put the cat outside! (My current complex has a back porch, but my townhome is at the bottom of a hill and its usually flooded for weeks after the rain, so kitty cant go outside and get muddy unless he wants a bath)

I'll probubly be away from the site for awhile after about a mounth, so appologies, but I promise to be back! I always am!

Like I said before though, any advise about what to do with my landlord/current/future lease would be great!

Inky

Inky

Make sure you did not violate any of their rules in the lease for one. And second, be best to talk with one of the lawyers who will talk with you for free and get some advice.

I know if my apartment complex keeps upping my rent ever year, I will be moving next Feb myself.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

They can't change your lease partway through. Only when it runs out and you go to renew. You could actually get a lawyer involved and they'll be required to honor all terms in the lease until it runs out or if you choose they can cancel it so you move without paying any further rent. Otherwise most apartments if you move out you have to continue to pay rent each month until your lease ends or they rent the apartment out again. If the lease specifically says what you do and do not have to pay for(which it should) then they can't make you pay for extra things or force you to move if you don't want to without breaking the lease.

Our lease is actually schedualed to be renewed on May 5th of this year, and we were planning to renew, but we found that when we shopped around that we can get a much better one, in a nicer area for about the same price.

I did ask the management about why they are going to make us pay the utilities. They said to me that they could because it is in our lease agreement (Which I have a copy of, and its not) They said that they are going to compansate us with A $50 voucher twords rent, and I stated that $50 won't amount nearly to the new amount. They said that there wasn't anything they could do

If they were lowering our rent any I wouldnt be upset (I mean lowering it $100, and then making us pay utilities) The landlord said that each room paying its own utilities makes it fair for all the residents, because some residents were abusing the free utilities (not us she said, and were hardly ever home!) That apartment is not worth the roughly $800/mo after utilities. If I'm gonna pay $800/mo for an apartment (well, $275, me and my roomies split 3 ways ) its gonna be nice ^_-

I'll look into a lawyer though, I think that may be the way to go, because this is definitly unfair

Inky

Yikes that's pretty yucky

Aparently here in Oz, the rental market is pretty tough, people are actually having to put in bids.

You might want to try contacting the better business bureau they might be able to do something

It does sound like moving sure will be better for you all. Even after all the hassle (and expense ) of moving.

^_^

I hope its not insanely expensive. We were luck that are deposit was only $99, but we will have a $40 aplication fee each, a $100 moving fee, $100 pet fee ( and we'll have to pay for a U-haul for the day. At least were only moving ten minutes away

Inky

well since you said your lease is up in may, this would be your new lease, which is where they can make changes. which is what has happened to me. everytime my lease has came up for renewal, its went up just a minor bit each year at renewal time.

not really sure what the lawyer could do then.

but yea, depending on where you live, $800 for an apartment, i'd be hunting to get a house of my own or for that much renting a house and get alot more space. my rents starting to get to where i'm thinking about that myself

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

If your lease is running out then you can't do much except possibly reporting them to the better business bureau. The terms you signed run out when the lease does and you have to sign new terms if you want to continue to live there.

Whether that's a good price depends where you live. Here $500/month gets you a fairly large apartment(700-800sq ft) with at least water paid for. Plus being in a University town with tons and tons of apartment complexes it's pretty easy to find a place to live especially at the beginning of summer after the college students move out. You can usually find a new apartment within the week if you need to. Elsewhere I know that's not true. Land is cheap and plentiful here. If you can get around that law that says you can only build so many houses on farmland unless it is within city limits.

Actually, with we are paying for the utilities until May when we leave. They will probubly raise the rent when we renew like they usually do. In April, we will be paying the utilities. Our lease would be renewed/modified in May. If they said "starting on your new lease you would be paying utilities" I probubly would be upset, but not as much. I just feel sorry for some of the people who moved in two or three months ago, under the impression they would get free utilities and then forced to pay for the rest of the year. At least I'm only having to pay one or two mo. worth....

Inky

See thats just it. with those who moved in recently, it would depend on their lease. They may have had to pay utilities when they moved in, if they didn't, they will not until their lease is up. Be it a 3, 6 or 12 month or however long they got it for.

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

Just remember that tenant laws vary from state to state and it could be perfectly legal for them to change the terms of the lease with or with out disclosure stating that the terms of the lease are subject to changes. I know in MA that it is perfectly legal for a landlord to raise the rent once a calendar year by no more than 10%. But the norm as far as residential is a tenant-at-will lease which allows for parties to end lease at any time given with a 45 day notice.

"No whammy, No whammy, No whammy, STOP!!"

1984-Michael Larsen On Press Your Luck

719 a month... I pay 727 on my mortgage! I hope this place is good sized!

Anyway, as for the appartment, how well did you read the contract? Often they have, hidden in a random spot, that they may change the contract at any time! Old Appartment I used to live in did. Also make sure you move into a good place. I lived in a OK place that would squeeze every last penny out of you. Some people got into a fight in my hallway and dented the drywall on the outside of my appartment. They tried to fine me for it! I laughed it off and ignored them until they came to my door demanding payment. I got out a hammer walked over to my neighboor's wall and asked, "Who are you going to fine when I punch this through?"

They said me, so I asked, "Who made the dent outside my place?" They said the people fighting. I said, "Think about that" and walked back in and shut the door.

Wow that sucks. The place that I am at now is about 1000 square feet. It has the kitchen, living room, and half-bath downstairs and the two bedrooms and full bath upstairs. It is not the best apartment, but at the time me and my roommate didnt have cars so we needed to be in an area close to the school and close to our jobs. Now I drive and so does my other roommate (my origional roommate still doesn't have a car but will be shortly) Point is, we don't have to go on location alone. The complex I am at caters mainly to collage students (which I am one, but I don't act like one) and lower-income families. It tends to get kind of scary at night. For example, last summer, the apartment on the left (college students) would throw parties every night and get extreamly drunk and then after the party, the couple living there would fight until 2 am :/ The apartment next to them lived "creepy guy" (he was nice and fixed my tire once and is interesting to talk to, he just is kind of omnipresent and an ex-con)Don't get me wrong though, it is a pretty safe neighborhood and very well lit, and the people are generally pretty friendly.

The new apartment that were going to be renting at is about 1,200 square feet, not including our privacy-fenced backyard. The downstairs is very open and includes a larger kitchen (with a Dishwasher- Yay!) which opens out to the dining/living area and has a bar, which makes it appear bigger, but in the right places. Upstairs, the bedrooms are slightly smaller, but each have his and her closets (YAY!) and there are washer-dryer hookups in the upstairs hall closet (Double-Yay!) The backyard has a private storage shed so that I will no longer have to leave my bike in our dining room
This complex doesnt have that many collage students that they rent to, and is in the newer area of town (the pricy area) We drove around the complex at night, and it looks safe and secure. For example, people leave things like thier bikes, chairs, and flowerpots on thier front porches (They are pretty big too by the way) and it doesn't seem like anyone would mess with them. In my current complex, if I left anything on my front porch, it would probubly be gone within 24 hours.

I'm going to have my parents and my roomates parents all look over the new lease before we sign it, and try and see if we can find any loopholes.

We looked over our current lease and had several people look it over, and the only thing we found as far as changing the lease in regards to utilities was this basically saying that if we abuse our utilities (which we didn't) that we can be evicted or fined $50 per indiscrepency. Looking over the rest of the lease, we were unable to find any "loopholes"

Inky

That was a pretty smart way of going about that racso .

Inkling, did you try holding the contract up to a lightbulb to see if they used invisible ink

The place adam and I are in are less than my ideal, he had to be close to public transport due to who he was living with when he got the place years and years ago, since then it's just too hard to move everything more than once considering the number of large tanks and the stock for the store. So unitl my house sells we just have to deal with noisy neighbors who have little kids that play outside till 9 on a school night and tend to leave the trash can lid open so the supercrows get into it and drop the stuff on our yard.

^_^

invisable ink

That sucks about your housing though, I hope everything works out for you soon. ^_^

My tanks arnt too much of a problum actually, I just have 4 going right now, and the empty ones are all one gallons, all of which can easily fit in a medium sized box. The on going tanks will be a pain to move, but will fit in the large U-Haul (we got a lot of junk )

^_-

Inky

Heh, Racso, depends on where you're at. I'd kill to be able to find an apartment for less than 750. As it is, we're paying 799 a month. This does include all utilities except electricity, so it's not a bad deal. I mean, I've seen some places around here easily go for a grand a month and not be anything special.

Sorry you're having lease issues, Inkling, and good luck in the new place. Having just moved, I know how much of a pain that can be.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Thanks a bunch. The only thing that worries me is our move in date is the same as our move out date.... and the last day of finals I'm excited though... after the stress I'm sure it will be worth it.

Inky