State of Indiana - Tenant Rights/ Rental Laws on sudden increases?
February 28, 2015 2:59 PM Subscribe
Apartment complex gave me 3 days notice of either immediate lease renewal with rent increase or a fee for staying month to month. Obviously, details behind cut. Yes yes, I know, you are not my lawyer.
First, I know that Indiana has tenant rights and generally, the favor is weighed in the tenant's favor from my experience and not the LL. I've lived in my apartment for over a year now. In this amount of time, I've had multiple issues that were glossed over by the complex with the promises that all apartments, including mine would be remodeled and thus multiple problems have been swept under the rug.
These would include:
-A noisy fridge
-A broken dishwasher
-Mold/Water Damage to the bathroom ceiling (maintenance fixed the leak of the piping to the upstairs apartment but not the damage to my ceiling)
-Massive cracks in the foundation/lizards and other rodents in my apartment. I ended up caulking the crack between my bedroom floor to the outside after rain/creek flooding and lizards had gotten in. Again, the complex just said 'we're remodeling your entire building soon, hold tight'
I won't mention the amount of pests I've taken care of myself in the time I've lived here, but no worries, my apartment is pest free now no thanks to the mgmt.
My LL and I came to a verbal agreement about going month to month which was fine and worked out for both of us at first - this apartment is one of the last to my knowledge that needs remodeling, and I fell on bad times and couldn't find another place to move to between my crazy schedule of school/work.
I haven't gotten in touch with her since January, but I told her last time I spoke to her that I was still holding out for a renovated apartment before signing another lease to which she said there won't be any vacancies for 3 months, maybe more.
I don't feel my apartment is worth $630/month, but I don't have the time, patience, or frankly, sanity to look for a new place in the coldest month of the year.
I don't feel comfortable signing the renewal without these issues being fixed and/or upgrading to a remodeled apartment, nor do I see how an extra 20% on rent a month for her fee is worth it, either. From what I researched, the statue in Indiana states that in a non-lease agreement like this, she needs to give me 30 days written notice.
Is this true? I wrote a letter last night that I've yet to send, I wanted to get further advice on this first. I did post this on Reddit, but didn't get a response.
First, I know that Indiana has tenant rights and generally, the favor is weighed in the tenant's favor from my experience and not the LL. I've lived in my apartment for over a year now. In this amount of time, I've had multiple issues that were glossed over by the complex with the promises that all apartments, including mine would be remodeled and thus multiple problems have been swept under the rug.
These would include:
-A noisy fridge
-A broken dishwasher
-Mold/Water Damage to the bathroom ceiling (maintenance fixed the leak of the piping to the upstairs apartment but not the damage to my ceiling)
-Massive cracks in the foundation/lizards and other rodents in my apartment. I ended up caulking the crack between my bedroom floor to the outside after rain/creek flooding and lizards had gotten in. Again, the complex just said 'we're remodeling your entire building soon, hold tight'
I won't mention the amount of pests I've taken care of myself in the time I've lived here, but no worries, my apartment is pest free now no thanks to the mgmt.
My LL and I came to a verbal agreement about going month to month which was fine and worked out for both of us at first - this apartment is one of the last to my knowledge that needs remodeling, and I fell on bad times and couldn't find another place to move to between my crazy schedule of school/work.
I haven't gotten in touch with her since January, but I told her last time I spoke to her that I was still holding out for a renovated apartment before signing another lease to which she said there won't be any vacancies for 3 months, maybe more.
I don't feel my apartment is worth $630/month, but I don't have the time, patience, or frankly, sanity to look for a new place in the coldest month of the year.
I don't feel comfortable signing the renewal without these issues being fixed and/or upgrading to a remodeled apartment, nor do I see how an extra 20% on rent a month for her fee is worth it, either. From what I researched, the statue in Indiana states that in a non-lease agreement like this, she needs to give me 30 days written notice.
Is this true? I wrote a letter last night that I've yet to send, I wanted to get further advice on this first. I did post this on Reddit, but didn't get a response.
Response by poster: I'm in a month to month arrangement. If you have a lease, increases cannot occur from what I've gathered, this is specific to month to month arrangements where you don't have a written agreement.
posted by camylanded at 9:25 PM on February 28, 2015
posted by camylanded at 9:25 PM on February 28, 2015
I think 30 days is the right interpretation.
When I lived in Bloomington, where most leases run August 15th to August 14th, some places would pressure you with an "extend the lease now or expect a rent increase when the lease runs out" missive months and months in advance. Perhaps they are giving you some variation on that? It sounds though like they either want to string you along for another year, string you along at a higher rate, or effectively push you out.
posted by Standard Orange at 11:55 PM on February 28, 2015
When I lived in Bloomington, where most leases run August 15th to August 14th, some places would pressure you with an "extend the lease now or expect a rent increase when the lease runs out" missive months and months in advance. Perhaps they are giving you some variation on that? It sounds though like they either want to string you along for another year, string you along at a higher rate, or effectively push you out.
posted by Standard Orange at 11:55 PM on February 28, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mochapickle at 3:08 PM on February 28, 2015