Lizard King and I have been going back and forth about whether to stay in our current rental or move to a new rental. We moved here almost six months ago after signing a 6 month lease. Once we moved in we began to discover the many problems with the house. It's an old house that hasn't been upgraded.
The biggest issue is lack of insulation and old aluminum windows. These two things have led to gas bills over $250 a month. The electric bill is over $90 a month. The reasonable rent made this tolerable for a short time, but we didn't want to go through another winter here.
We were considering staying here through the summer, at which time we were hoping that the stars would align and we would be ready to buy a house. We really don't want to stay, but we don't want to commit to a long term lease and our landlady prefers her tenants go month to month afte the initial six month lease. Perfect, right?
Our landlady wanted to come over this evening and talk with us since our lease is ending April 15th. She told us that she is very happy with us. We take good care of the house and pay our rent on time. She would like us to go month to month, which we expected. However, after looking at the rental market she has decided to raise our rent nearly 15%! Yes, she wants an extra $150 a month!
After going back and forth over whether to stay or move our decision is made for us. There's no way we're paying $150 more for this house.
Pressed Leaf Star Garland
7 years ago
Posts
6 comments:
Wow! I absolutely don't blame you one bit. Why would she do that to good tenants? Not a smart move on her part! Good luck to you with this.
Now she wants more money??? Mwahahahaha!!! Nope. That's a complete no-go. I totally agree. Looks like you'll be packing your bags again soon. Sorry. :( But hey, look at the bright side. There will be a beautiful place out there somewhere... and it's waiting for you. :)
I'm here to help.
Yikes, 15%? Is that even legal? I mean, seems to me that it might be reasonable if she upgraded the property...fixed the insulation say...lowering your heating costs.
But to up your rent by that much just because the market dictates seems grossly unfair.
Oh well, like you said, sometimes these things are decided for you.
From what I can find, it is legal to do this here. I'm rather surprised about that. What if a landlord decided to double the rent. Would that be okay? I'm beginning to think that it was her plan to do this all along, thinking that we wouldn't want to move six months after we moved in. Surprise, surprise! We're looking for a new house. :)
Well, there you go. I'm always excited by the prospect of moving. I love setting up house in a new place, getting clean and organized, starting over... Good luck, I know it's a lot of work!
And don't feel too bad about those utility bills. You'd faint straight away if I told you what ours have been this winter...
EEK! I would think that in this market, just *keeping* a good renter would be a good thing, but raising the rent so much - UGH! Well, there will be a nicer place waiting for you!
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