Merry fucking Christmas, the landlord says
There was a letter from my apartment complex’s leasing office in my mailbox today (dated the 13th, but whatever, it’s only been two days since the last time I checked my mail) informing me of the special, awesome renewal rate for my lease, which I am eligible for because I have been such a valued member of this community for the past two years…
… $72 more per month than what I currently pay.
That’s an extra $864 over the course of a year. I don’t know if I can fucking afford that. Goddammit.
Way to drop this on me right before a holiday weekend, assholes. And of course the office is conveniently closed today. So now this’ll be hanging over my head all weekend. If I move, I have to give 60 days notice – which, since my lease expires on March 31st, would mean I’d have barely one month to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do – including finding a new place and signing a new lease, if necessary.
I really, really don’t want to move. Moving is a pain in the ass and I like where I am now. But $72 will make quite a dent in the monthly finances, such as they are. I wonder if I can talk them down a little, or if they won’t budge. Guess I’ll have to wait til Monday to find out (assuming the office is even open then). What a bunch of dicks.
Yeah, those assholes did that to me at my previous complex. They blamed it on the impending increase in water; however.. tenants paid for their own fucking water.
Assholes.
Did they provide any kind of justification or rationale?
That’s what I’m going to ask them for on Monday.
Well, they can always stammer out a retrospective one. But it irks that they didn’t provide one to begin with; typically they do, at least a token one, if it’s utter BS.
Be careful how you go about asking them for the justification, too. If you ask “nicely” you will come across as having accepted and come to terms with the increase, thereby legitimising it, whatever the explanation might be. I’d make sure to posture as though you’re long making arrangements to move out ASAP unless they’re willing to work something out with you or give a really good explanation.
Once I told a landlord that I knew they had empty units and having mine sit idle for a month trying to fill it after I moved out ASAP would cost them more over the next year than holding my rate steady. I also complained about the neighborhood — and they said, yes, they were aware it wasn’t perfect since our neighbor had tried to pay them with the cash he robbed from our bank. At the last moment they offered a lower rate, but we already had a contract on a house.
Of course, you could always bite back by moving out to another place and profitably subletting the old one to a few people without the landlord’s consent — if your place is big enough and suitable for that sort of thing. Charge enough to subsidise the rent for your new place at least halfway.
Well, if you do decide to move out and need places to look, let me know – a friend of mine works at ProMove, and she usually has the inside track on a lot of good availabilities. :)
I’d take a close look at the terms of your lease. Usually, an auto-renewal clause (the thing that requires 60 days’ notice) assumes the contract rent. Every lease I’ve ever signed required the tenant’s consent to increased rent (usually by paying it) as a condition of automatic renewal.
Of course … from your description of the letter, it sounds like you live in a managed complex someplace, and their leases are probably drafted to match their policy. Oh, bother.
I wouldn’t be afraid to negotiate it, though, especially if you’re willing to move if things don’t work out. January’s a slow time for the big Apartment Farms (school’s in mid-session, and nobody likes to move when it’s cold), so you’re in a pretty good position to say Just Say No if you want to.
If you do decide to move, liquor stores boxes are the best. Giant Package at Toco Hills leaves a mess of ‘em outside their front door about twice a day–make a run and fill your car.
Good luck…
Oh, and PW … “Line breaks automatically translated (even after block-level elements)” is just such a gloriously geeky (and useful) sentence that I felt I had to grant my compliments. So granted.
Adam: welcome and such. Thanks for the thoughts – I will definitely check my lease. Although, regardless of what it says, I am definitely negotiating with those bastards (whose office is closed today, ghatdammit). Not only is the rental market not so hot at the moment, but here are my other weapons: I’ve been an impeccable tenant for two years who has never been late on rent and who has never (unlike other tenants) thrown cigarette butts into the bushes and thereby caused a fire, or not picked up my dog’s shit (both of these incidents prompted letters from the management stuffed in everyone’s door). Furthermore, something like 5 or 6 cars have been broken into in the parking deck this year, and one car has been stolen. We just got a letter yesterday about how the gate is fucked up and they’re “working to fix it” but security will be “monitoring the situation” in the meantime. I plan to take that letter with me when I go talk to them (I guess I’ll have to leave work early tomorrow to do it, dammit).
Muse: thanks for the info!! I will definiely be contacting you (and by extension, your friend) if I do end up having to move. But let’s hope I don’t!
This seems to be a bad time of year for gates to be broken. When exactly does the holiday crime season come to a close?
That sucks! I can tell you from experience; if you live in a post apartment, you are fucked. They will not budge on you, they want their money. We even threatened to move out, and they just laughed. Sorry, Amber!
Well, it’s not a Post apartment, so maybe there’s some hope for me. With any luck I’ll find out today after work. I DO NOT WANT TO MOVE. But I will endure all the inconveniences of moving before I pay that exorbitant price. Amber Rhea does not bend over and take it! (Unless she has specifically asked for it.)
If I do have to move, I was thinking of looking at the Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts, but now I’m not so sure about that. You know, it really irritates me that such an awesome example of reuse is so poorly managed. The Cotton Mill is one of the most prominent examples, so they should really take EXTRA care to do things RIGHT! Otherwise it just makes the suburbanites think there’s no hope for us crazy cityfolk.
But I digress.