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New owners of apartment ruining our lives *update/thanks everyone*
THEPAIN73
Shiny.Real shiny.Registered User regular
Shiny.Real shiny.Registered User regular
We have lived at this apartment for three years and are looking to resign our lease as it is up on May 27th. Under the previous owners, we have been paying $504 a month, with the only utility we are responsible for paying being Electricity.
However, the new owners are now changing this, and will now require all tenants to pay a monthly utility bill for water, trash, and sewage as well as one for gas. Due to this change, they are now offering the range of $405-$450 for our size of unit, which was listed on the orchard website here:http://orchardapts.com/templates/template_concept04_hex/floorplandetail.asp?w=orchardapartments&siteid=2572670&flpid=4
We called the office and spoke with someone who confirmed that those numbers are accurate and that it is the current rate for our type of unit.
We were told that a new resident would be able to get this monthly rate but that we would not be able to. We also spoke with the manager Jose last night and asked if our rent could be lowered due to the change in utilities, and he refused.
I would love to be able to resign, however, I feel that it is only fair that we are able to sign a lease in the amount of $450, as that is the maximum rate for our type of unit.
It doesn't make any sense as to why a new resident would be able to get an apartment at this rental amount but that we would be unable to, given our positive rental history there and that the base amount of rent should decrease due to the new policy of having to pay separately for utilities.
Also, when asked if we could switch apartments last week they told us that we could switch to the same type of apartment and get the new rate. Well when I went in today they said that they couldn't do that and gave me a print out saying this:
It doesn't say that we can't transfer to an apartment or the same size right? They are trying to tell me we have to go into a larger apartment which defeats the purpose.
Are we just helpless? Is there anything we can do? What are our rights?
However, the new owners are now changing this, and will now require all tenants to pay a monthly utility bill for water, trash, and sewage as well as one for gas. Due to this change, they are now offering the range of $405-$450 for our size of unit, which was listed on the orchard website here:http://orchardapts.com/templates/template_concept04_hex/floorplandetail.asp?w=orchardapartments&siteid=2572670&flpid=4
We called the office and spoke with someone who confirmed that those numbers are accurate and that it is the current rate for our type of unit.
We were told that a new resident would be able to get this monthly rate but that we would not be able to. We also spoke with the manager Jose last night and asked if our rent could be lowered due to the change in utilities, and he refused.
I would love to be able to resign, however, I feel that it is only fair that we are able to sign a lease in the amount of $450, as that is the maximum rate for our type of unit.
It doesn't make any sense as to why a new resident would be able to get an apartment at this rental amount but that we would be unable to, given our positive rental history there and that the base amount of rent should decrease due to the new policy of having to pay separately for utilities.
Also, when asked if we could switch apartments last week they told us that we could switch to the same type of apartment and get the new rate. Well when I went in today they said that they couldn't do that and gave me a print out saying this:
It doesn't say that we can't transfer to an apartment or the same size right? They are trying to tell me we have to go into a larger apartment which defeats the purpose.
Are we just helpless? Is there anything we can do? What are our rights?
THEPAIN73 on
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I would absolutely find a tenant advocacy group in your area. But in the meantime I would prepare to move. If it gets ugly you probably won't want to stick around anyway.
Read your lease.
Read your lease.
It sounds like you should start looking for a new place, though. I wouldn't want to live under these guys even if you forced them to give you what you want.
So, are they trying to charge you those extra bills now, before your lease is up, or are they saying they're going to start doing it once your lease is up?
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
And while all of the above is painfully unfair, I would be surprised if it weren't legal. You should still check with your local tenants' rights organization, as I am not a lawyer, but don't get your hopes up much. And you should get on this now. Double-check your termination clause, find out how much notice you have to give (probably 30 days, but it could be longer), because you are probably going to want to terminate if you can find someplace comparable for the same price as your old rent.
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, but you might want to read your lease.
it's much more cost effective for landlords just to have current tenants sign onto a new lease instead of spending to advertise a vacancy, lose money on lost rental time, and clean an apartment.
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Monthly expenses are going up quite a bit, though.
It's interesting though that they're suddenly able to charge for something like water and gas. Are the units all metered for these things and the previous owner just rolled it into your rent? Or are the new owners going to charge everyone a blanket "fee" for these utilities?
3DS FC: 5343-7720-0490
No one really has any incentive to reduce utility usage. Doubly so for the smaller units.
Oh, fuck that. Get outta there.
There's very little incentive to conserve energy, and I wouldn't be surprised if those with smaller units start using energy in excess just to be dicks to the new owners or just to "get their moneys" worth (as ridiculous a concept as that is, in this case).
Even if you were being billed on your own usage, your monthly expenses are going to go up by $200, easily. As annoying as it is to move, you don't need to be paying 50% each month for no other reason than the owners being idiots.
tldr; people are geese.
So yeah, there's a good chance you're looking at a three-digit increase in rent, with having to pay for the gas.
If you really want to say, you will have to do better than that with this type of owner. Find out the vacancy in the place for your apartment. Call up those one of the two people on the transfer page - they are the only ones who can change the pricing. Tell them that you would like to stay, but for the cost on the webpage. Without you staying, they will have X number of vacant. I could move just down the road for X dollars more/less, but not have to pay for X, Y, or Z. All the while you aren't making a dime off my now vacant apartment.
The goal is to pummel them with facts that you have done your homework and you aren't fishing for a deal. The market says you should give me a deal.
I'm guessing that getting them to fix anything that goes wrong isn't going to be the easiest thing in the world, either.
yup - people are assholes like that... we were looking to buy a co-op apartment once where the heat and electricity were included in a standard maintenance fee... we were there in winter... half of the building had their ACs on b/c they were getting too much heat :headexplodes:
OP - you have to consider whether moving is worth the savings... if a move sets you back $500, and you save $100/month on rent - you make it back in 5 months, and then it's 'profit'
also, look at your apartment complex and see how many vacancies they have... if there are several empty apartments, play hardball and threaten to move - and they'll likely give you the discount.... if it's nearly full, they may tell you to take a hike though
Err, I don't see why this is so bad. From what I understand, before, there was zero accountability for utility use (rent was set and included utilities), now, there is some small measure of accountability, since overuse will actually raise your utility bill by a very small amount. Really it works out to the same thing and I'm guessing that the owners took a look at the utility bills the previous owners were paying and went, "screw this no way I'm paying for this" and passed the charges on down. The crime here is that they are screwing over current tenets and most good landlords understand that keeping good tenets is exponentially more important than finding new meat, so they may be inexperienced or just plain bad landlords. They are probably booking on all the qualities that make you a good tenet (stability, desire to stay in a place you like, attachment to your home) and hoping to use the best parts about your tenant-landlord relationship against you by exploiting the fact that you don't WANT to move. Decide if it's worth moving over, and stick to your guns if they don't back down. I wouldn't hesitate to get out of there if they don't make concessions. If they're willing to give you that slap in the face once and not give you the same rate as the new renters, it won't stop there. If a landlord isn't actively working to keep you in his unit, then there is a problem: either you're not a good tenant or he's not a good landlord. Only you can say if you're a good tenbut if ant, you've paid your rent on time and maintained the property, and they aren't trying to keep you, the problem is probably them, and it's probably not going away.
Arm yourself with market data, make your decision, then present them with your case, and don't back down if they won't.
And $500 to move? Don't hire people to carry your shit. Buy a case of beer and call some friends. It shouldn't cost you more than $40 to move, or $100 if you have to rent a truck. I'm assuming you don't have an assload of stuff if you live in a 1-bedroom apartment.
Unless you have to a take a day off work. But your lease expires on a weekend. There's a chance you could find a place that's vacant for that month and you wouldn't have to wait a week to move in. And even if you did, it sounds like the new owners are complete assholes.
Even if we ignore the fact that you'll be spending more on utilities because of the way they're measuring it, they flat out refused to give you the discounted rent that new tenants will be getting. A current tenant. Of three years. And they're favouring prospective, otherwise unknown tenants over you. You're paying $150-$200 more each month to live there. The new owners are dicks. What's keeping you? The inconvenience of finding another place?
On fixing things, it is getting it done correctly. I refused to leave the office until they agreed to go to my apartment where the bathtub above had created a 1 ft blister in my bathroom ceiling. I could never get them to paint the sanded plaster, or even give me the paint so I could repaint it.
They bought in Spring of 2008, and sold two years later at 65% of the purchase price. The bad owners must have lost money on the deal which makes me feel better. I did the above with them - it does work.
OP's fiancé here. And there's a few reasons we're hesitant to move. The main one is just the costs associated with moving. That and the timing is just terrible. The 27th is right after the first week of my summer internship, which is the last thing I have to do before I finish my bachelor's degree. That and we want to be able to save as much money as we can once I'm graduated after this summer and can get a full time job, so we don't want to spending tons of money on an apartment.
We've got pretty much two plans now: we will either stay here another year which would suck immensely, but we should be in a much better position financially after that time. Second plan is we went out and talked to another place near here that we're both familiar with. It would be a bit more expensive but since they already have a flat rate there for water and we'd only be responsible for our own electric usage, no utility shenanigans going on there. Moving there is definitely our plan A at this point, we just have to call them tomorrow to make sure that they would have the size of unit we want for when our current lease is up.
I'm curious, though, how is staying where you are now for another year not the worst decision financially? Even if the new place is $100 more each month, it's going to be cheaper when you factor in the utilities you'll pay at your current address. Keeping in mind there is nothing stopping the new owners from charging whatever-the-heck-they-want each month for usage.
For the new place, make sure to confirm what kind of heating there is. If it's heated electrically, paying your own electric bill is going to be expensive. If it's gas, you're golden. I'm going to assume there is no central air conditioning to rack up the electric bill.
Also, what costs are you thinking of when moving? Renting a truck isn't all that expensive, and if it's a short move you can get a very small one and make 2-3 trips. Unless you have physical difficulties that absolutely prevent you from moving everything yourselves, don't pay money you can't afford for movers. That's $500-$1000 you can put toward something much more worthwhile. It's not like moving boxes and furniture is a skilled trade you can't do on your own.
Lastly, what do the owners of your current address say about you guys staying on 1 month after your lease ends? Can you stay on until June to give yourselves more time to look?
Unfortunately, if we want to stay on any amount of time past our current lease, they will literally double the rental amount, so it would be over $1000 for rent for a month.
A/C and heating are both electric at the new place, only A/C is electric at our current place. Winter I'm not too worried about there, we are pretty good about keeping it quite chilly and just toughing it out with blankets. Electric will suck in the summer, but we're pretty used to that already from summers at our current place.
I can't move much myself due to some health issues, but this is definitely a very short move so we'd be able to get my dad to help us out with his truck and potentially just get some friends to help out. The main moving costs to consider are application fees and deposit the new apartment as well as getting the internet hooked up, which was pretty damn expensive when we had it done here. Also to consider is our current apartment place trying to stick us with cleaning costs when we move out. I've never had an issue with this anywhere else I live, but considering what assholes they're being currently, I wouldn't put it past them. Plus we didn't have to pay a security deposit when we moved in here so they wouldn't even have that to take costs out of.
No offense, because I honestly know how much it sucks to move(for a while I was moving apt once every year due to work, gf, etc) and how expensive it can be(new city, so I didn't really have friends to turn to), but it seems like you're looking at short term rather than long term. You talk about how you want to be saving money, but as others have pointed out, there's a big possibility that you'll actually be spending more money than ever. I have to imagine that apart from this new change to billing, there's also going to be a rent increase...
I'd be wondering if it's illegal as well to pool everyone together and split it based on size. I can probably run a 3 story house on less energy than some people run their lofts.
. . . How much are we talking about here, in dollars?
. . and how much are you short to that amount?
This. It's like going to a steakhouse with 20 friends. You're trying to save some money so you just order a salad and water. Everyone else orders filets and cocktails and bottles of wine. At the end of the night you split the check evenly 20 ways. So you end up with a substandard experience and still get screwed financially because despite your attempt to be frugal, you wind up subsidizing everyone else's excesses.
Yea this is pretty much the issue. Water won't be that bad, but it's gas usage that I'm particularly concerned about. They have said that they are thinking about putting a monthly cap in place, but there's no confirmation of that nor is there a confirmation of what level the cap will be set at.
There's also the problem that they have lowered the base rent amount for new residents (by about $55 off of what we are currently paying for rent) to account for the fact that residents will be responsible for utilities now while they refuse to lower our rent on a new lease.