How Much Should I Tolerate From My Landlord?

[XIX]

So I ended up taking a job that was about 80 miles away and I looked into getting a new apartment in the new area. I settled on a nice 1 br for $485 per month. I tell the landlord or the real estate agent or whomever it was who was responsible for selling me the rent, and she has me wire over a security deposit for $485. (which I did over the phone, since driving 90 minutes would cost me 20-25 dollars in fuel alone). It took me a week to look at the apartments and everything, so this all took place with about 8 or 10 days until I had to move in.

Fast forward. Five days until I move in. She calls me on my cell and tells me that she won't have the apt. ready when I move in. My options were to move into a more expensive apartment ($540 per month) for my entire 12 month lease or to just stay in the 540/month place until I could move into the ceahper place we originally agreed upon. Either way, I end up paying more money for rent while living in the $540 place.

I tell her that I'll stay in the $540 place only until the $485 place is ready, then I will move again. I'm mostly concerned with keeping rent down. I put down a security deposit for that one too (plus an extra 15 dollars in fees because I had to do it over the phone instead of in person). Basically I end up having to put in 2 security deposits since I am tying up 2 apartments at the same time. She says that I will have the original place in a week or two.

So 11 days pass and she tell me that hopefully they'll have the place ready in another week. I'm a math minor, so it occurred to me that 11+7=longer than 2 weeks--and based on the way she was talking, I don't think that she thinks it will be ready by Friday. So I could be looking at close to a month in an apartment that I didn't originally agree to.

In any event, I don't know if this is standard practice or if it's legitimate grounds for a complaint. Also, I really don't have much room for leverage here, being the new guy and her being the one who's holding my security deposits. Here's the rundown:

a) I'm paying extra rent for living in an apartment that I don't plan on staying in.
b) I have to move twice, and I can't unpack half of my stuff because I know I'll be moving soon anyway.
c) I had to pay an extra 15 dollars in fees.
d) I can't connect myself to the internet or get cable until I move into the $485 place.
e) I've had to do a lot of extra running around to see what the situation is.
f) I've had to make two security deposits instead of one--which basically means I'm making an extra down payment.
g) I can't check my snail-mail until I move into the $485 place, because I had everybody forward their mail to that address rather me having to re-forward my mail twice. Of course, I made that decision under the assumption that I would only be living in the $540 place for 1-2 weeks. I have to do a lot more running around just to check my snail mail once.

And I can understand them having to do most of that, since they can't just move me into my original apartment as it is. What I don't understand is how they can justify charging me full price on a more expensive apartment that we originally never agreed upon. (and charging me extra on top of that). Is there any course of action that I can take? Do I have a legitimate complaint? Is this just normal business? Or should I report this to the Better Business Bureau?

I'm new at the whole apartment thing so if this isn't a legitimate complaint, let me know. I'm not just looking for someone to agree with me, I'm just wondering what other people have to say about this.

Pax,
XIX

[Jaime]

well your landlord is out of line. If you signed the lease and the place isn't ready, she should accommodate you not the other way around. A lease is a contract. and it started when she received money. here's what I would do in your shoes

Talk to her and say "I signed a contract for an agreed upon rent at an agreed upon time. I've made accommodations for you so I expect my rent to be reduced by an appropriate amount for one of the months." If she doesn't I would ask for my deposit back and find a new place to rent. this is not how you treat renters.


If she balks at this, find a friend who is a lawyer to write a letter on their law firm's letterhead. You'd be amazed how quickly most people comply when they see a law firm's letterhead.

[prose]

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it sounds like you are going to have to go to small claims court. This person is stealing from you (you should not have needed 2 deposits for example). They have broken the lease the signed with them (illegal), they have increased your rent without notice (illegal) They have taken 2 damage deposits (illegal).

I mean, if you think they are reasonable, I would approach them and tell them that you plan on taking them to small claims court if they break the lease FOR THE ORIGINAL AMOUNT. Which means they must rent you an apartment for that rate. Period.

Plus I would run, not walk away from this place. If they are messing with you now, they are certainly going to keep your deposit in the end and mess with you then too.

If you go insane and decide to stay there, you need to take pictures of every spec of damage in the place with a newspaper showing the date so that you can use them as evidence when (not if) you have to go to court because they screwed you and kept your damage deposit.

[CatherineM]

Anything having to do with real estate is covered by what we call the Statue of Frauds. Basically a list of contracts that have historically led to the most fraud, and therefore must be in writing to be enforceable. Anything having to do with real estate is one of them. If you don't have their promise of 1-2 weeks in writing, there is no way to enforce it against them in court. You can make a complaint to the better business bureau, but most large apartment complexes wouldn't care about that, and it doesn't have any teeth except going on their record with the BBB which 90% of people never check anyway.

As a former landlord, I can tell you that you never know what kind of mess you are going to find, until you are able to get in the apartment at the end of the lease. If someone leaves it in good shape, you might just have to do a little cleaning out of the fridge. If someone has left holes in the wall, or burn hole in the carpet, you can't know until you get the keys back. That can mean coordinating with trades on getting new carpet installed, or having the drywall fixed and painted, and you can never tell if those guys are going to show up on time, or get it done when they have promised to.

My concern with your situation is that they made you pay two security deposits. I could understand their making you pay the higher amount, and then refunding you the difference when you moved into the other unit. On the other hand, if it was a straight forward bait and switch to get you into the more expensive apartment, they wouldn't have made you pay a deposit on the cheaper one.

Have you tried asking them what the hold up is? That might set your mind at ease. You may find out they are waiting on a plumber to fix something. At the very least, they should let you have the key to the mail box at your other place. Since they haven't, it also possible that they are having trouble getting the other tenants out. They may have been evicting them, thought it was all taken care of, rented the place to you, and then the old tenants could have filed bankruptcy which puts a hold on creditors doing anything to them. If that's the case, you need to make sure your mail isn't going into their box. You can ask the post office to hold it for you to pick up there until the situation is resolved.

Most cities have an organization that does nothing but help with landlord/tenant problems. You can call 211 to find out where they are. Every city can have special rules as well that could help you out, and that really varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Believe me when I say that all of us go through stuff like this eventually. Even when you own your own place, you can have neighbor issues or zoning issues. Property stuff hits you where you live, literally, and it is usually our biggest expense, so biggest headache.

[Archaeology cat]

I agree with the above posters. You should not have to pay more than the agreed-upon amount. It is the landlord's fault that the apartment was not ready - not yours.

[XIX]

[quote name='prose' date='Jun 21 2008, 12:53 PM' post='1578600']
They have broken the lease the signed with them (illegal)[\quote]
Technically, I never signed a lease for 485/month. I gave them a deposit for $485. Then they told me the $485 place would not be available immediately (which I understand as tenant behavior is out of their control). Then they said my only option was to go into the $540 place. They tried to convince me to just stay in the $540 place for the whole lease but I told them no on that one. But technically, I still signed a lease for the $540 place.

Unfortunately, I don't really have anything in writing that would help me. What can I say? I was pressed for time, I was thinking about my new career and my new geographic location, I had other things on my mind, and I cut corners by not keeping a copy of my application for a $485 place. Other than that, there isn't really any other papce that would be useful to me anyways. I don't think going to court would help me.

Are you sure it's illegal for them to take 2 deposits, even if it's for two different places? Beccause I'm sure I could get a bank statement for that.

[XIX]

[quote]If you don't have their promise of 1-2 weeks in writing, there is no way to enforce it against them in court.[/quote]
I don't have it in writing, but that's not really my main concern anyways. They are keeping me in the loop and I'm sure I'll get into my apt. sooner or later.



[quote]As a former landlord, I can tell you that you never know what kind of mess you are going to find, until you are able to get in the apartment at the end of the lease. If someone leaves it in good shape, you might just have to do a little cleaning out of the fridge. If someone has left holes in the wall, or burn hole in the carpet, you can't know until you get the keys back. That can mean coordinating with trades on getting new carpet installed, or having the drywall fixed and painted, and you can never tell if those guys are going to show up on time, or get it done when they have promised to.[/quote]
I understand they can't move me in with the apartment the way it is. I don't understand them still charging me full price PLUS fees considering the fact that I can't move in yet.

[quote]My concern with your situation is that they made you pay two security deposits. I could understand their making you pay the higher amount, and then refunding you the difference when you moved into the other unit. On the other hand, if it was a straight forward bait and switch to get you into the more expensive apartment, they wouldn't have made you pay a deposit on the cheaper one.[/quote] She did *recommend* that I stay in the $540 place. She's like "I'd take that place, because it has central A/C, blah blah blah." But when I said no to that, she let it go.

[quote]Have you tried asking them what the hold up is? That might set your mind at ease. You may find out they are waiting on a plumber to fix something. At the very least, they should let you have the key to the mail box at your other place. Since they haven't, it also possible that they are having trouble getting the other tenants out. They may have been evicting them, thought it was all taken care of, rented the place to you, and then the old tenants could have filed bankruptcy which puts a hold on creditors doing anything to them. If that's the case, you need to make sure your mail isn't going into their box. You can ask the post office to hold it for you to pick up there until the situation is resolved.[/quote]I know what the holdup is. And there's nobody living there right now. But like you say, you never know when the people are going to show up to fix the place.

[CatherineM]

What's legal or illegal for them in landlord/tenant stuff really varies, widely, by jurisdiction. If you signed the lease for $540, you are legally and morally obligated to that lease, not to what you thought you were signing. They should give you back the second deposit, but the longer they have it, the more likely they are to keep it, and I would never expect to get a refund of a security deposit. Treat it as a nice surprise if you do, but never budget with that money.

[XIX]

Thye first deposit is going to pay for rent in future months, so they won't have that for longer than a month. Would they really just keep the money though, unless you actually did something to damage the apt?

[Alycin]

********huge hugs********


lots of them.

[Jaime]

if your landlord does not [list]
[*]give one deposit back
[*]give you a new lease for the appropriate amount
[*]apologize
[*]make some sort of restitution for the pain in the backside she's caused you
[/list]
Find another place today

[XIX]

She will keep my deposits if I try to find a new place. You probably realize that though.

[CatherineM]

In the last 28 years, I have given 11 security deposits. I only received one of those back in its entirety. I'm hardly a head banger that destroys fixtures. One time just to make a point, I even washed the walls with bleach in addition to all the extra cleaning I always do, and still didn't get my deposit back. Not a penny, and she wanted me to pay for new carpet on top of my deposit. The carpet was old when I moved in. I once got docked $75 for the lawn needing to be mowed 6 weeks after the end of my lease. I mowed it the day before I moved out. I wash windows, scrub ovens cleaner than when I moved in, and even steam clean the carpets, and still landlords make me fight over deposits. I also can't remember moving into a rent house or apartment that I didn't have to clean the oven and fridge, and sometimes worse. I'm glad I finally own my own place again. Now all I can gripe about are the taxes.

[Brother Adam]

Yep, its the goal of most landlords to do everything possible to keep your deposit, and even though they are technically keeping the money from your deposit to use to pay for "damages" they almost never use it to fix anything - its just extra cash for them. Even though you legally can't use your deposit as your last months rent, more and more people I know from large complexes are doing it anyway and just pay the cost of any legitimate damages so they can guarantee the landlord isn't going to rip them off. Depending on what the contract says some people can get away with it. I have only lived in a large complex once and I will never ever do it again. We were sued twice for non payment of rent even though we always pay early (they hope that the tenant doesn't have all their receipts), nothing ever gets fixed, employee turn over is 400% and the owner is a crook.

[picchick]

I have no advice for you because I am not good at this. But I am good at praying so I will do that.

Meg