Submitted by WaqqiTV t3_10j3nho in Connecticut
My new landlord who bought this December the property im renting increased the rent by 550$. He claims that i have to sign a new lease because the lease its up. I have been living in this property for the past 5 years and i have never had such an increase. My lease will be due this July. Any recommendations?
RENT INCREASES A landlord has the right to raise the rent. But, the rent cannot be increased during the period of a written lease unless the parties have specifically agreed to allow an increase. Also, a landlord is not required to give a certain amount of notice to the tenant of an expected rental increase (for example, a thirty day notice) unless that kind of notice was agreed upon when the lease was signed. If the landlord and tenant cannot agree on a new amount of rent, the tenant must pay whatever the tenant considers to be the fair rental value of the apartment. That amount may be the same amount as the old rent or a higher amount that is less than the landlord is asking for. As long as the tenant tries to pay what is honestly believed to be the fair rental value of the apartment, the landlord may not be able to evict for nonpayment of rent. But, the landlord may be able to evict for another reason, for example, because the lease has ended or because the tenant’s right or privilege to stay in the premises has ended. Some cities and towns in Connecticut have Fair Rent Commissions. (See pages 10-11.) Those commissions receive complaints from tenants who feel that their rents are too high, investigate the complaints, and hold hearings to determine the fair rental value of a particular unit. It is not necessary to hire a lawyer to represent you at the hearing, but hiring a lawyer may be helpful. A fair rent commission may be used by a tenant who: n feels that an expected rental increase is unfair; n is being charged for utilities that were included in the original rent; or n believes that the rent is unfair because of unsafe or unhealthy conditions which are illegal. Only a tenant who lives in a city or town with a Fair Rent Commission may file a complaint with the Commission in that city or town.
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What would a lawyer do? LL has the right to raise rent at the end of a lease.
Was the property undervalued previously? Did you feel like you were getting a deal? Often new owners rightsize their newly acquired rentals to match the market. Its not smart to drive renters out unless the property is severely undervalued. It is possible he is just a jerk, but he did buy the property to make money so he will do what he needs to maximize that and as a renter you really cant do anything to stop him except move.
Start apartment shopping
Lease is binding until its end date. After that, unless it provides for some renewal right at certain pricing, your landlord can do whatever they want. They can increase rent by $10,000 if they want. But they can’t do anything until current lease is over.
I don’t think he can make you sign a new lease or raise the rent until the old lease expires in July. If you were on month to month with your prior landlord then he can do whatever he wants unfortunately.
Your lease isn’t up. Don’t sign anything and don’t pay anymore money!
They cannot raise your rent until your lease expires. They can then write a new lease and raise your rent and you would have to sign that then, which from what you said sounds like July. Since you have time, you can compare what your new rent would be to what other places are renting for at the moment around you. If raising it by 550 a month is about the same as what other people are charging total than you are, probably just going to have to pay the higher rent. Most landlords raise the rent yearly, especially those that are corporate owned like apartment complexes. Private landlords can vary , some will never raise the rent, and some will always raise it yearly. It’s nice that you have this many months to figure it out, most people only got a notice that the rent is going to be raised 30 or maybe 60 days before hand. You have lots of time to do some research and figure out if the new price in July is worth it or not.
Any chance you're comfortable sharing how much you were originally paying? Context is pretty important here. If you were already paying around $1500 and he/she wants to hit you with the increase then that's a little much. If you were paying $1,000 or less, you really have absolutely nothing to complain about.
You should feel pretty lucky that your rent hasn't increased in the past 5 years. You may very well be due for an increase. With all due respect, people really need to try owning and maintaining a home and/or rental property before they complain.
Maybe I'm just biased? I rented a room in my house to someone over 30 whose parents still pay their cellphone bill. They tried saying I had no right to ever complain about money, claiming that they paid half my mortgage. It took them awhile to fully comprehend that $500 is not half of over $1500 lmao. I didn't charge extra for any utilities, except one year when I asked if they could pitch in a couple hundred bucks for oil in the winter (left it as optional, plus a couple hundred is a drop in the bucket relative to a full winter of oil deliveries). Originally they were paying only $400 which lasted a couple of years. They also never had to purchase toilet paper or paper towels, and did minimal to no cleaning aside from rinsing off dishes. Never had to worry about snow removal. Seemed like a pretty sweet deal to me for a room in a decent house.
Now they are paying over $1000/month plus utilities for a crappy apartment. Life comes at you fast.
These outrageous increases are just awful ! Hope you find something better. Best wishes to you
You haven't had an increase in 5 years and you're surprised by this?
There is a vote this year to cap rent increase within ct by 2.5%
Follow Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America on FB for more information!!!
$550?!
This is why, tenants attack landlords some people would become really triggered by such an increase.
That is a lot but we don’t know what the previous owner was charging. Some people never increase it especially the old timers.
Don’t sign if you don’t want to stay at that price, and don’t accept any rent increases until July. You have five months to find a new place.
Sucks, but the new owner just made a big investment. They are looking to make some money and know what the market is.
My roommate pays me 300 for a three floor condo I own.
I feel this
Not entirely true. Their are rent control laws that allow a certain increase cap
A landlord I had in Bridgeport tried to increase my rent by $200 at end of lease, but my neighbors in the unit pointed out that it's illegal to raise it more than $100 per year, and then he dropped it back to the $100 raise. I'm not sure what law they were referencing, but it might be good to check out for that!
This was in 2020 btw.
A long time ago when I rented in NJ, my rent was raised. There was a rule that it couldn't be more than 5% additional a year to what I was paying, the previous year. Maybe your town in CT has a similar rule? I know Enfield does not have a rule like that, but in NJ it was a town-by-town stipulation.
Torrington
Yea. I had a landlord who never raised rent because , and I asked when I left. He never raised rents because the effort and cost took too long to overcome. A lot of times landlord's are short sighted. Because everything has to work, lipstick on a pig. That takes time, finding a new tenant takes time. Time is money. A new relationship brings risks. So if you have a client underpayment of 200 a month you risk a whole year profit just getting it empty and another year in profit putting lipstick on a pig. And if they are deadbeats it make take 6+ years, twice effort than if you were just a lazy cheap slumlord
TheSecretAgenda t1_j5iiyd5 wrote
Get a lawyer or move.