Damn rental conspiracy
Maybe it's just because I've lived in such small, crappy towns in the past, but I've never been in a situation were I was being forced to sign a yearlong lease after already completing a yearlong lease.
Basically, my year lease at my apartment runs out at the end of January. The management here sent me a lovely letter last week giving me a rundown of my options – i.e. we can screw you a lot or screw you even more. They said they're going to raise my rent by $30 a month, but only if I sign another year lease. If I do not want to sign a year lease, I have the oh-so-generous option of signing a six-month lease, with which they will raise my rent by $80 a month.
I am completely incensed by this whole thing. In my experience, after you sign a year lease and it runs out, you go month-by-month. But, all my other experiences have been in small towns. So, I'm wondering, is this how most rental situations work? If so, that's pretty depressing. The stupid rental company is basically dictating my life, telling me I will never be able to move on my own timeline without paying a severe financial penalty for it.
I'm kicking around the idea of moving to a different apartment complext just because I'm so pissed about their bogus set of "options" that they laid out for me. But I'm not sure that things would be better anywhere else. I fear that this is how the entire rental market is run. The greedy bastards.
Basically, my year lease at my apartment runs out at the end of January. The management here sent me a lovely letter last week giving me a rundown of my options – i.e. we can screw you a lot or screw you even more. They said they're going to raise my rent by $30 a month, but only if I sign another year lease. If I do not want to sign a year lease, I have the oh-so-generous option of signing a six-month lease, with which they will raise my rent by $80 a month.
I am completely incensed by this whole thing. In my experience, after you sign a year lease and it runs out, you go month-by-month. But, all my other experiences have been in small towns. So, I'm wondering, is this how most rental situations work? If so, that's pretty depressing. The stupid rental company is basically dictating my life, telling me I will never be able to move on my own timeline without paying a severe financial penalty for it.
I'm kicking around the idea of moving to a different apartment complext just because I'm so pissed about their bogus set of "options" that they laid out for me. But I'm not sure that things would be better anywhere else. I fear that this is how the entire rental market is run. The greedy bastards.
posted by Melissa @ 12:04 AM
4 Comments:
At 1:35 AM,
Anonymous said…
I guess I've been in the same place here in Pasadena for two years. After the year lease ran out: no rent increase, no new lease.
By the way, I started reading Kos again, now that it isn't universally depressing.
At 5:11 PM,
MaggieCat said…
The same thing happened to us this year. They would only raise our rent by $20 if we signed another year long lease and $60 if we went month by month. YAh - renting sucks ass. I can't wait to get a real house with walls that aren't off white with white trim and tan carpeting...
At 1:39 AM,
Melissa said…
That's interesting. The place where you'd expect that landlords would be trying to screw you – California – is the one place they're not. And a place where you wouldn't expect it – Middle o Nowhere, Iowa – they do the same thing.
On a positive note, I went into the leasing office and bitched about it, and now they're going to let me sign a six-month lease for the $30/month increase. They're sooo nice. But at least this way I don't have to go through the uber-hassle of moving.
At 1:41 AM,
Melissa said…
It also gave me a sense of power, I think it's the first time I've ever gotten something I wanted by bitching. It felt kind of good. Maybe I should start bitching at people more often :)
Post a Comment
<< Home