Improper Rental Increase

[Proserpina]

ROFL!

Man, I can sure call these threads, can't I?

 

[Eekamouse]

OP, you have delusions about your appeal as a tenant. What makes you think $50 is an excessive late fee? Your rent was late. The total amount you pay in rent is not $100, I assume. When you take the total amount you're supposed to pay, I'm pretty sure a $50 late fee is reasonable. Making a partial payment doesn't cancel out the late fee or reduce it for you.

 

[Nellibelle]

ROFL!

Man, I can sure call these threads, can't I?

What do you mean by that?

 

[Nellibelle]

OP, you have delusions about your appeal as a tenant. What makes you think $50 is an excessive late fee? Your rent was late. The total amount you pay in rent is not $100, I assume. When you take the total amount you're supposed to pay, I'm pretty sure a $50 late fee is reasonable. Making a partial payment doesn't cancel out the late fee or reduce it for you.

I understand what you are saying, but even though I was late paying the total amount of rent, I was only late paying 100.00 of it. That makes a 50.00 late fee excessive. I'm not saying a judge won't see it your way, but he may see it my way, instead. That is the chance I have to take in my dispute of the rental increase.

For those of you who think the LL increased the rent because she is trying to get me out, you should understand that the LL could much easily give me a 60 day notice if she wanted to get me out.

 

[Nellibelle]

Please, for the love of humanity, don't breed.

DC

What an absolute filthy statement! It sure is very telling! You have no respect at all for women and your statement sends a message to all women in general as to how you percieve them.

 

[TigerD]

What an absolute filthy statement! It sure is very telling! You have no respect at all for women and your statement sends a message to all women in general as to how you percieve them.

24 hours and four posts later -- this is the best response you can come up with?

Well now. I guess you showed me. Good job. Maybe we can get you something special for supper tomorrow as a little treat. How about mac and cheese? That's yummy.

But it's night-night time and you should be in bed.

DC

PS: Okay, I apologize. It isn't right to enter a battle of the wits with someone so clearly unarmed. I thought you were trolling, but it does appear that you may be, pardon the expression, slow. Get help from someone you trust and knows you well enough to be able to tell you that you are wrong.

 

[Nellibelle]

24 hours and four posts later -- this is the best response you can come up with?

Well now. I guess you showed me. Good job. Maybe we can get you something special for supper tomorrow as a little treat. How about mac and cheese? That's yummy.

But it's night-night time and you should be in bed.

DC

PS: Okay, I apologize. It isn't right to enter a battle of the wits with someone so clearly unarmed. I thought you were trolling, but it does appear that you may be, pardon the expression, slow. Get help from someone you trust and knows you well enough to be able to tell you that you are wrong.

Is that why you participate in this forum--to compete with regard to who is more witty? It sure isn't because you actually want to help, it seems. Slow? Just because I had to think about your disgusting comment a day before responding to it? Everyone has a right to opinions, but quite frankly, yours and a few others in this thread are a ways away from what the reality is. Mac and cheese, huh? Very telling!

 

[Eekamouse]

Just because YOU think the late fee is excessive doesn't make it excessive. You will lose in court. Better get your head around that because it's in your future. And when you move out, don't expect to get a good rental reference from your LL because he's going to tell your next LL the truth about you.

 

[Proserpina]

Nellie, if you hadn't have been late on the rent, you would have had some recourse. CA is (perhaps surprisingly) rather tenant-friendly, and moreso once it is established that something illegal is on the table. Believe me, if you were getting screwed unfairly we'd ALL (I presume?) be trying to help you take it to court.

But that's not the case here. You were late on the rent. That, and only that, is what the landlord needs in order to justify raising the rent. Again, he is not obliged to give you all the same increase.

It's not retaliation, because the landlord isn't raising the rent based upon you not wanting to pay the late fee. He's raising the rent because you were late.

Unfortunately for you, you've gone and served up all the justification the landlord needs.

I realize that you're wanting to use the rent increase against the landlord. And you'd be perfectly justified in doing so had you not been late. And yes, the late fee may or may not be excessive but that's not really the issue.

Heck, I can even understand why you're trying to use the noted case law. But it's not going to help you.

When all is said and done, this is what happened (certainly in his opinion, and the court really can't argue):

1. You were late.
2. He wanted late fees.
3. You objected to the late fees.
4. He then raised the rent.


If it weren't for #1, then points 2, 3 & 4 wouldn't exist and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

All snark aside, you're not going to win this one. Again, all he has to do is say "Well, your honor, all of the tenants had rent increases. I had to protect my interests and I did so legally". And that'll be it. The late fees won't even be discussed, because they're completely irrelevant at this point. It also does not help you that everybody else got an increase...if anything that proves that you weren't unfairly singled out.

Someone mentioned earlier that you are lucky you weren't evicted as a result - well, they're right.

 

[Proserpina]

I understand what you are saying, but even though I was late paying the total amount of rent, I was only late paying 100.00 of it. That makes a 50.00 late fee excessive. I'm not saying a judge won't see it your way, but he may see it my way, instead. That is the chance I have to take in my dispute of the rental increase.

For those of you who think the LL increased the rent because she is trying to get me out, you should understand that the LL could much easily give me a 60 day notice if she wanted to get me out.

Ah, but you've given the landlord enough reason to not have to pay filing fees and whatnot.

 

[LeeHarveyBlotto]

I understand what you are saying, but even though I was late paying the total amount of rent, I was only late paying 100.00 of it.

Rent is binary. You paid it in full when due or you did not. You did not. The fee is nowhere near excessive.

 

[Nellibelle]

Update

The LL called me this morning and after I persuaded her that it wouldn't be beneficial for either of us to spend time in court over this, she reduced the rental increase by 25.00 and waived the late fee she was seeking.

So much for the wrongful opinions throughout this thread. Only FarmerJ and os478 gave informative responses! Tje rest of you can keep your day jobs because your opinions and advice is horrible.

Of course I'd rather successfully persuade the LL to decrease my rent than to persuade Proserpina that I have a case. The LL also complimented me on my longivity as a tenant, so my certified letter and negotiation worked out like I figured it would.

 

[Zigner]

So much for the wrongful opinions throughout this thread.

The information you received here was not wrong. The LL did not violate the law. The LL changed her mind, that's all.

 

[Nellibelle]

Just because YOU think the late fee is excessive doesn't make it excessive. You will lose in court. Better get your head around that because it's in your future. And when you move out, don't expect to get a good rental reference from your LL because he's going to tell your next LL the truth about you.

You are wrong as I knew even before my latest update which shows I prevailed in my claims. Yes, I did think the late fee was excessive. Your opinion that it isn't is just that--an opinion! Even the LL feared that I had a good chance of prevailing in court if I took it that far! Otherwise, she would not have allowed me to resolve the matter in a fair way!

I'm not worried about a good reference when I move, because there are always ways of getting around that and besides, I actually think that the LL would tell it like it is and that is that I've rarely been late on rent and for the most part, been a model tenant! But thanks for your contribution to this thread (even though it was for naught).

 

[Nellibelle]

The information you received here was not wrong. The LL did not violate the law. The LL changed her mind, that's all.

It looks to me like the LL DID violate the law. I could be wrong or you could be wrong, but that is all water under the bridge now. It is resolved now, so we'll never know if a judge would agree with you or me.