Situation I am in is that the my landlord is increasing my rent after 4 years. It's not a giant increase only $50. My issue is that not only does he want this increase but he also wants me to sign a 2 year lease. At this point I am on a month to month as my original lease has long been over.
What are my best options here?
- I like the apartment and it's still a decent price after the rent increase
- He is willing to rent a shorter term(he didn't specify yet but Im assuming 1 year at best(big deal))
I don't like the idea that literally out of no where he sends me this rent increase letter and 2 year lease which is effective in 7 weeks. I always pay my rent early or on time and I haven't contacted him for any maintenance in 1.5 years. A few times a year he even asks me if he can park in my spot during the day since I have a apartment in a town center.
The problem is the new lease starts on 1/1/16 so I have basically not enough time to find anything better and if I agree to the 1 year lease I'm stuck for the whole year. His entire reason for not allowing me to go month to month is that he said I can move out without much notice and they wouldn't have enough time to fill the apartment leaving them without a month of rent. My ideal situation would be for me to be required to give him 8 weeks notice. Is there anyway a lease could be written like that?. Almost an open ended lease where either him or I would need to give each other 8 weeks notice on a termination.
He's basically getting 2 things out of this deal and Im stuck with nothing at the moment.
The fee increase is normal, and normal timing too.
A 2 year lease -- I would call him up and agree, but ask to add in a clause stating that you will only need to give 3 months notice to terminate, at any time... or suggest an agreed upon fee to terminate with 1 month notice before 2 years (that you can stomach).
I think you empathize with his issue about a short notice to re-rent, but three months notice should be plenty for any landlord, unless you have a wierd / unique property (horse farm, maybe, or movie star showcase mansion on a private island...)
As you have until the end of the month to think it over, you could always ask for the new terms and meanwhile, start looking for another place now, for January 1st, and give a 1 month notice on Nov 29th, leaving him to try to re-rent the property for January 1st, which is not an ideal time for him unless your market is hot.
If you can't find anything, and can't negotiate a lower termination clause, then you could always sign and take your chances... or refuse to sign and keep tryinig to find another place, or see if he will issue your termination papers.