Unjustified Rental Increase

[vida_g]

What is the name of your state? Iowa

My current lease runs through June. I recently received a renewal lease to sign and there is a significant rent increase. They want me to sign the lease for renewal within 2 weeks. It also looks like the new lease will take place of the current lease? Is this legal? If it is legal, is there anything I could I say/do to at least get the rent increase to occur at the end of my current lease?

Also, while I live in a college town, I feel the rental increase is unjustified. The property manager (PM) dragged out the maintenance repairs that I noted when I moved in. Things that should have been fixed prior to my move in were not completed until 3 months after I moved in. In fact, despite calling the office, creating new maintenance requests online, and meeting with the PM in their office as reminders, I had to endure living with mold in my bedroom for 3 months amongst other problems. I actually had to contact the boss of the PM to get my maintenance issues completed. Then, it was after there was no reason for maintenance to enter my apartment, that I realized things were still being moved around and my apartment was still being entered. Apparently, they never changed the locks/collected all the keys so someone else still had access to my apartment and was periodically entering/trespassing. They eventually changed the locks, but during the 3 months, I thought it was maintenance moving things around as they had my permission to enter at anytime to fix the requests.

If they are increasing the rent in retaliation to the reminders about the maintenance request or that I went to the PM's boss, is there anything I can do/prove their negligence or that my reminders were justified?

 

[Gail in Georgia]

The new lease should only go into effect after your current lease expires.

Management may increase the rent with the new lease as they wish. The fact you believe this is unjustified plays no legal role in this as you do not live in a rent controlled situation.

The good news is that if you do not agree with the rent increase beginning with the new lease you do have a number of months of rental hunting to find another unit and move when your current lease expires.

Gail

 

[LdiJ]

The new lease should only go into effect after your current lease expires.

Management may increase the rent with the new lease as they wish. The fact you believe this is unjustified plays no legal role in this as you do not live in a rent controlled situation.

The good news is that if you do not agree with the rent increase beginning with the new lease you do have a number of months of rental hunting to find another unit and move when your current lease expires.

Gail

While I agree, if the landlord has dated the new lease to start immediately, then the OP should NOT sign the new lease. The landlord cannot force the OP to sign a new lease as well. If the old lease does not end until June, the landlord does not have the right to insist on a renewal lease being signed this early.

 

[Gail in Georgia]

In college towns it is not unusual that a landlord would request that a new lease be resigned months before the old one would expire.

However, I agree that if the OP has any questions about this new lease they need to contact management prior to signing it.

Gail

 

[LdiJ]

In college towns it is not unusual that a landlord would request that a new lease be resigned months before the old one would expire.

However, I agree that if the OP has any questions about this new lease they need to contact management prior to signing it.

Gail

Request is one thing. Require is another. A landlord can only require what the law allows him/her to require.

 

[Zigner]

Request is one thing. Require is another. A landlord can only require what the law allows him/her to require.

I think you misunderstand. Assuming the lease allows it, and any statutory minimum length of time is complied with, it's entirely legal for a LL to present a lease renewal offer at any point. If the tenant decides not to sign, then the tenant would need to move at the end of the lease, which might be a problem for a college student who needs the housing for the next year.

 

[not2cleverRed]

I think you misunderstand. Assuming the lease allows it, and any statutory minimum length of time is complied with, it's entirely legal for a LL to present a lease renewal offer at any point. If the tenant decides not to sign, then the tenant would need to move at the end of the lease, which might be a problem for a college student who needs the housing for the next year.

However, the issue is, there is a lease that expires in June, and the landlord wants to hike the rent NOW.

What is the name of your state? Iowa

My current lease runs through June. I recently received a renewal lease to sign and there is a significant rent increase. They want me to sign the lease for renewal within 2 weeks. It also looks like the new lease will take place of the current lease? Is this legal? If it is legal, is there anything I could I say/do to at least get the rent increase to occur at the end of my current lease?

Also, while I live in a college town, I feel the rental increase is unjustified. The property manager (PM) dragged out the maintenance repairs that I noted when I moved in. Things that should have been fixed prior to my move in were not completed until 3 months after I moved in. In fact, despite calling the office, creating new maintenance requests online, and meeting with the PM in their office as reminders, I had to endure living with mold in my bedroom for 3 months amongst other problems. I actually had to contact the boss of the PM to get my maintenance issues completed. Then, it was after there was no reason for maintenance to enter my apartment, that I realized things were still being moved around and my apartment was still being entered. Apparently, they never changed the locks/collected all the keys so someone else still had access to my apartment and was periodically entering/trespassing. They eventually changed the locks, but during the 3 months, I thought it was maintenance moving things around as they had my permission to enter at anytime to fix the requests.

If they are increasing the rent in retaliation to the reminders about the maintenance request or that I went to the PM's boss, is there anything I can do/prove their negligence or that my reminders were justified?

Vida, unless there is something in your lease that says the landlord can change the rent mid-lease (highly unlikely, and probably not legal), tell him to pound sand, you're sticking by the lease, paying the rent agreed upon in the lease for the duration of the lease, and you will not be renewing. If the landlord still wants to break the lease, then he has to sweeten up the pie for you, not try for a constructive eviction.

And since you are in a college town, if you are a student, avail yourself of the tenant/landlord resources available at your institution.

 

[Zigner]

However, the issue is, there is a lease that expires in June, and the landlord wants to hike the rent NOW.

I was just letting LdiJ know that a LL CAN ask for a renewal to be signed this early. I should have been more clear to reiterate that it would only be effective at the end of the current lease (unless stated otherwise in the new lease.)

 

[Eekamouse]

Right. In fact, where I work, 6 months before a lease is to expire, we have the resident sign a new lease that will take effect when the current one expires. And it is written into all our leases that their rent will go up every year. The resident controls how much it will go up by keeping their space in compliance with park rules and regulations. Approaching OP with a new lease to sign six months before theirs expires is normal, at least in my part of California.

 

[LdiJ]

I was just letting LdiJ know that a LL CAN ask for a renewal to be signed this early. I should have been more clear to reiterate that it would only be effective at the end of the current lease (unless stated otherwise in the new lease.)

Of course a landlord can ask, the landlord simply cannot require.

 

[Zigner]

Of course a landlord can ask, the landlord simply cannot require.

You're right - it's that whole "free will" thing. Of course, while the landlord cannot require it outright, the landlord certainly can require that it be signed by a certain time, or else refuse the renewal.