Landlord Retaliating ?

[bucklink]

New York State
Quick question-
I have NO lease or any written agreements with my landlord.
After giving receipts and deducting (verbally compromised) repair costs from my rent payment, a week later my landlord raised my rent $112.00 for the following month and there after. A week after that, landlord comes over with a $250.00 water bill stating that he wanted the money right then and there. I have rented from him for over three and a half years and have NEVER paid or remotely been asked to pay a water bill until now!!! Is this legal?
Isn't raising rent $112.00 a little out of hand also?

 

[heartlvr]

Landlord Retaliation - RENT RAISED


I'm curious about a similar situation.
I received a 3 day quit notice stating that i owed $50 more for that months rent, they said it had been increased. When I called and stated that I did not receive proper legal notice. They agreed to give me proper notice and start the rent increase after I was given a 30 day notice. When I received the notice they had raised my rent increase another $25 to a $75 increase. This must be a form of landlord retaliation. If you have any info to share, please do. Thanx in advance.

 

[Gene Gayda]

To bucklink,

Been scratching my head on this one. Why do you think that "deducting (verbally compromised) repair costs" is related to "raised my rent $112.00 for the following month?" The two facts, independently by themselves, *prove* nothing. The devil is in the details.

Water. Not often clearly understood by tenants is that a utility paid for by a landlord is not "free." Just like you would expect to pay for the repair costs of a broken window, the misuse of a utility - even if paid normally by the lanlord - is damage that should be paid for by the tenant. What was the explanation that the landlord gave you for insisting on payment?


To heartlvr,

"This must be a form of landlord retaliation."

Very possibly. Your point?


Good luck.


Gene

 

[heartlvr]

Gene ~ what I think is that they should not be able to raise my rent by $75, but by the original amount of $50. ??? I am a single mom, not getting what I should as far as child support. This increase is a big one for me!

 

[Gene Gayda]

> they should not be able to raise my rent by $75, but by the
> original amount of $50. ???

You sent me an E-mail so I would quickly see your new response.

Question: Why shouldn’t they?

You never “receive[d] proper legal notice” of the rent increase. They chose to play your game but raised the price of poker.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have “found” your original notice? If you magically “find” the original notice, it will not be able to change the new increase. It can, perhaps, allow the landlord to go for a yet larger rent increase. Hmmm. Maybe you should have read that paper you “threw away without looking at.”

Not knowing the market in your area, why shouldn’t they have raised the rent by $125?

Rent increases are limited by the laws of capitalism. What law to you think has been broken?

“I am a single mom, not getting what I should as far as child support.”

I am a single father paying support to the mother for three children who now reside with me. My state’s law allow modification only every three years. The mother willingly released custody because of the outcomes of her [finally] clinically diagnosed illness of manic depression.

Your point?


Gene

 

[bucklink]

I should have been a little more specific in my 1st post. My landlord promised to reimburse the cost of repairs I had done to the bathroom. He was planning to hold the mortgage for me on the house I am renting. He stated that he would take the cost of the bathroom off of the purchase price of the house. At fault of my own, we compromised verbally and nothing was in writting regarding the bathroom. Months later he stated that he no longer wanted to sell the house. I withheld rent for the cost of the bathroom... That is when a week later he raised my rent, and a following week later comes with the water bill.

 

[Gene Gayda]

Yo, bucklink.

Let's take the easy one first - water.

From both of your posts, it seems that the landlord is not changing the rental amount by the inclusion of the water utility. If he was (and he seems to know how to do that) you would be whining about this rent increase. It sure sounds like your landlord was asking for payment of damages - egregious overuse of water. By your purposeful avoidance of the question about the landlord's explanation, I'm going to bet that you probably actually did overuse the "free" utility. And, I'm going to guess further that the misuse was done on purpose. If it were some sort of accident, you would have whined about that particular status. So, you ran up the water bill and are now trying to complain that you're going to have to pay for it. Sorry - you lose. If I were your landlord and if you didn't immediately make acceptable arrangements to make payment, I would initiate eviction as soon as state law allows. Do whatever you choose, but if you expect to stay there, make a deal with the landlord or pay it in full.

Rent increase. By one reading of the facts you share, your landlord kept your rent low awaiting the sale of the building. When the deal fell through, he was forced to be more prudent and raise the rent to an amount to justify his investment. Especially after he realized what kind of customer he has. The facts you mention still do not go far enough to make a reasonable inference of retaliation.

Good luck.


Gene