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We’re in a bit of a pickle with our property management company. Our 12 month lease was up in the middle of August. We stayed month to month because DH was interviewing for management jobs in his company. New company buys our units. Tells everyone to either sign a new 12 month lease at higher rent or move out by Dec 1. I inform them of our situation. They say fine, pay the higher rate starting in Dec. and then let us know if you need to move. DH gets told he has the job last week and has to start today. We find a house there and put in an application, get approved. Informed management here that we’ll be moving by the end of this month. They say, nope. You have to give 30 day notice and you can’t give it in the middle of the month. Hence, you have to pay December’s rent in full. (And, I just have to mention, the way they said it was a bit snotty) Hmmm…Well, we can’t afford rent in two places at once. That’s like throwing money away. The place we got approved for in Vegas is very nice, right in the neighborhood we want and nothing else we looked at compared to it in quality, price, cleanliness, good neighborhood, etc. If we don’t take it now, we’ll lose it. We’ve always been very responsible renters. Never late, always clean, no problems. What would happen if we just move, tell them to keep our deposit (which because of a $500 pet deposit is way more than enough to cover a month’s rent + cleaning) and call that the end. Do you think they’d come after us for the rent or cause us problems?
I feel like they’re not being reasonable. I get that they want more notice so they can get new renters in, but they were aware of our situation and having DH in Vegas and us here for the holidays isn’t really something we want to do. He works in retail, so he only gets Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day off. He’d have to drive up here (2 hours away) after work on Christmas Eve and then drive back Christmas evening. Ugh. Ever since this company bought the units in October they’ve been stressing everyone out raising rent, demanding new leases, and even evicting one family that’s been here for years and have been great renters.
So, advice, experience. I’m just worried that if we up and leave and don’t pay December they’d take some sort of legal action.
Some places will let you out if they rent the unit. I was in a somewhat similar situation once (with the whole notice thing). We just didn’t pay the last month’s rent and let them keep the deposit (which was a month’s rent). They never bothered us, but that’s not to say your owners won’t. I am a landlord and have also been a tenant (once, simultaneously). My comments. 1. Check whatever lease agreements are in place. See what they say as they pertain to your situation. Abide by them.
2. Consider whether you have a legal relationship with the new property management company. Are they simply managing the contract between you and the business party to the lease? If not, and you have no legal obligation to the new entity with whom you share a tenant, landlord relationship, I think the state laws regarding landlords and tenants apply in terms of notice. Check them and abide by them.
3. I had a similar situation as a tenant, and found someone to take over the apartment for the remainder of the lease term. We subletted to them for a month or two and then moved into our own place. They paid us rent, and we paid the property management company. You can even sublease to them at a discount to recoup at least SOME of your costs.
4. I personally get ticked when tenants tell me to keep the deposit and then walk out on the lease terms. To me, that is not honest. I’ve had two tenants do that to me, and it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth, particularly when they hold me to every obligation I made under the lease while they lived there.
5. I once considered going after someone for an eviction even though they were leaving — to put an eviction on their record as a warning to other landords. This was after they moved in their boyfriend without telling me (lied about it, to avoid an application fee), moved in their dog without telling me (to avoid a small pet fee, and I let it go), and then asked to play late and I didn’t impose fees, and demanded things be fixed on a moment’s notice. When they had the gall to tell me they weren’t fixing damage, and weren’t giving the necessary notice, I felt it was time to go after them for the notice money.
But I chose not to due to the hassle, and the fact that I didn’t know where they went.
6. It might be worth a bit of money to check with a paralegal who specializes in your state Landlord-tenant relationships.
Hope it works out!
No offense taken SD, but for what it’s worth our landlord when we told them to keep the deposit was not the best. The heating system never got the apartment get above 65, sewage backed up into out bathtub 3-4 times a year (which we cleaned up), and after a blizzard we weren’t plowed out for three days – even though the street had been done the day after. Multiple calls from multiple residents got a “We’re on our way” response for two days. After living there three years we didn’t think a month was much to ask, and in actuality our lawyer (we were buying a house at the time) advised us to do what we did. I likewise have been both a landlord and a tenant. You might as well walk away without the deposit. Even if you fulfilled the lease, you might not get all of the deposit back. Depending on the lease and the local law the landlord is supposed to send you the refunded deposit with a list of any deductions from that deposit within a certain amount of time (30-60 days). So I could see you jumping through hoops in order to keep the lease and then 2-3 months from now find out that you get a lot less back then you were hoping for. If you are buying a house money might be critical now – not a few months down the road. As SD’s story illustrates, it would be pretty farfetched to go after someone for breach of contract etc. they just keep the deposit and call it a day.
I don’t know what to say. Whenever my tenants call with a maintenance headache, I get on it right away, and keep in contact with them about what is happening. I honor my lease terms, am not demanding, and expect them to abide by the lease terms I clearly spelled out when they signed the lease. Regarding slow response times, sometimes the tradespeople are slow, and won’t come out immediately, so I will text or phone to give updates to the tenants to show I’m on it. I find there are times when tenants (not you, but the ones I have worked with) are very demanding, largely because they have never had to work directly with tradespeople themselves, having never owned a home. They don’t realize that you often make a phone call about air conditioning out of commission on a Saturday evening at 8 pm (within 10 minutes of receiving the tenant’s distress call) — to three “24 hour AC Repair” places. Only one calls back, that evening and they put you off until the next day when their staff is awake. Another might call back and say “this is their answering service, we will forward the message” and then you hear nothing. The other might not call at all.
Last time this happened, my tenants gave me very bad attitude. I was actually disappointed because I had done everything I could to solve the problem since I don’t know how to fix things myself. Dropped everything, made the calls, etcetera.
I expect them to give me the notice they agree to — and even make them sign an addendum that repeats the notice terms in the lease.
Thanks for your thoughts. It’s good to hear other peoples’ experiences and opinions. SD- it sounds like you would be a great landlord! We had a wonderful one for almost 6 years at the place we lived previously. He personally owned and maintained the home. I think that makes a difference. He was very willing to work with us on funds when my husband got a job transfer over 300 miles away and we had to move quickly. He knew all our kids, our dog, we made him cookies on holidays…
Dealing with property management companies who are simply managing the properties for a group of investors is completely different. They don’t care about your personal situation at all. Personally, I think it was a bit cold of them to immediately raise the rent on all the units. For some families, it was an increase of $150/month. Then they demanded new one-year leases from all tenants who are currently month-to-month and only gave them 2 weeks to decide whether they are staying and signing or moving out by Dec. 1st.(30 days after the decision deadline) These are big decisions happening for real families! It’s just basically been, “do it our way or move out!” I understand they have the right to do that, I just don’t think they did it very tactfully. Our friend in another unit has been waiting for them to send someone out to fix her dishwasher for over a month. They’ve just really rubbed me the wrong way. I also agree that they probably would give us very little, if any, of our initial deposit back no matter what we do.
Thanks for being my sounding board guys. I’m so stressed out right now, you wouldn’t believe it. The kids have school and other activities this week, I have an exam this weekend as well as an interview assignment to complete, and I’m the one doing all the packing. DH will get here late Friday night, we load up the truck Saturday morning. Add to that the fact that I’m still really apprehensive about this move and dreading living where we’re going to be living and I’m just a mess.
Well, the pm company solved the dilemma for me. I asked them for options and they gave me 3. Find someone to move in by Dec 1st to finish the last month of the lease as well as sign a new 12 month lease, stay and pay, or move out now and forfeit our security deposit. We’re taking option #3. I feel much better doing it now that they’ve actually said we can. Besides, I looked at the list of things they check and deduct for after move-out and I doubt we’d get any deposit back anyway. Phew! That’s one worry off my shoulders. Now on to the other million.
May, if you’re comfortable telling me, what state are you moving out of? Depending on what state you’re currently resident in, there may be standard landlord-tenant legislation that would be in your favor. Glad it worked out for you – you have a lot on your plate right now. Kumahito wrote:May, if you’re comfortable telling me, what state are you moving out of? Depending on what state you’re currently resident in, there may be standard landlord-tenant legislation that would be in your favor.
We’re moving out of Utah.
DarkJedi wrote:Glad it worked out for you – you have a lot on your plate right now.
Yes, DarkJedi. Yes I do. DH is already at the new place working and I’ve been left to pack/take care of the kids/make all the moving arrangements, etc. I also have my 2 graduate classes to keep up with as well. Thank goodness the move will be over in a few days!
Good luck. Let us know if you made it all in one piece.
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