Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: homercles337
Originally posted by: waggy
Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
Originally posted by: homercles337
How far "WestMetro" are you? I live in Central Square and my landlord is messing with me too. My year long lease renewed in April, but i got a letter about 1.5 months ago indicating that he was raising my rent by 10% ($1000 -> $1100). I got a lawyer and im not paying it. I ask how far west because if youre no where near a T $50 is not reasonable. As far as my lease is concerned my rent can only go up based on property taxes (and when the lease renews). Youre rent just went up by 5.7 percent. Not reasonable. I have lived all other the states and i have never had rent go up by more than 1 to 2 percent. Were both getting screwed because of all the foreclosures. :|
You must be living in a rent control'd apartment.
i hate rent control laws. i can see in some areas. but hell a 10% rate is not bad.
only being able to go up based on property taxes is insane. just does not seem right.
What doesnt seem right about that? There has to be some laws protecting the tenant. Or slumlords can raise your rent as much as they want--thus making the apartment now outside someones budget. There is also the incentive of getting good tenants. Landlords do this by not shiting on their tenants. It sounds like the OP is in suburbs. VERY different than living in the metro area (yes, i know he claims to be "metrowest"). You guys have a distorted idea what suburban living in the boston area is like. Trust me i have spent the last couple days on craigslist because of my issue. In case you didnt read carefull enough, my landlord is trying to raise my rent by 10% in the middle of my lease. And, yes, if i stay he will likely raise it again when it renews. I can find something nicer for what my rent will be in April (probably $1200).
It's the fact that he's trying to raise the rent in the middle of your lease that makes your complaint valid. The OP's lease is up for renewal, which makes his situation entirely different to yours. Rent control has nothing to do with this. And it sounds like renting in suburban Boston is pretty cheap for a big city area, even if you are out in the 'burbs.
QFT. Homercles337, everyone has read your post carefully enough and I don't think anyone here is contesting your situation. In short, your landlord is just as bound by the terms of the lease as you are, period. If there is no escalator clause to allow him to raise rent, he can't simply raise it mid-term because he says so. Read this:
http://www.gis.net/~groucho/tenant.html
and pay attention to #24 in particular. It will give you some good ideas on how to approach the issue (the rest is extremely useful too and tailored to MA, be sure to bookmark it).
However, with all that said, my situation is different because I'm not trying to change the terms of my lease midterm. However suburban you want to portray Shrewsbury vs Cambridge, the rental arena is really no different anywhere in southern New England once you subtract a few hundred dollars from the rent figure you may be dealing with in your case. Like I said, I was born and raised in Cambridge like my father before me, and own in Central Square probably 5min from you (Worcester St.), so I know what I'm talking about here.
The reality of the situation is, I've found Cambridge is actually more expensive to live in on average than even Boston. You can thank Harvard and MIT students in part for that--they come from all over the world and pay most anything for their housing without question, especially grad students. Add in the growing yuppie "trendiness" of our specific neighborhood in Cambridgeport, and you don't stand a chance to pay under market rate unless you are family or directly referred*, the unit is below code/illegal or it's owned by a little old lady who owns outright and literally doesn't need the money.
I'd finally just like to say that if you think that a more or less scheduled market increase equals getting shit on as a tenant, then you'll be in for some big surprises down the road. Granted many bad apples give us a bad name, but I really wish landlords weren't immediately cast as "slumlords" as soon as they don't lock tenants in for a lifetime at the same rent, regardless of what the market will yield. I work really hard to be very accessible and to make sure my tenants feel comfortable calling my condo their home. This has included arguing with HVAC vendors at 3am during last February's snowstorm to come out immediately to rectify an improper installation resulting in a no-heat situation. This also included various changes to last year's lease that soften some of the original clauses re: payment etc (were not included in the original post because they weren't relevant to the increase question). How about the 32" CRT TV I'm about to offer them (regardless of the renewal) as a belated wedding gift?
Absentees who don't fix anything unless the city is called for violations... or don't return phone calls... or keep rent misleadingly and irresponsibly low only to bump it by a few hundred all at once... that's shitting on their tenants. Please make the proper distinction. But often they can really only shit on you as much as you allow them to. This mid-term increase of yours is one of those times you have several options on how to proceed. Again, read the above linked page and arm yourself with some of the best knowledge you can come across. I wish you good luck handling your problem.
* If you want I can ask a friend about a unit he was trying to fill near Inman Sq a couple months back. It may still be available. PM me.