Ellis Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin
s: I was renting a country house when the landlord sold it. I was paying $1,200 a month as a single parent with one child. The new owner told me the broker said he could ask me for more money to rent. So, he raised the rent for me because the realtor told him he could.
I suppose the broker wanted the sale to take place in order to collect the commission. But the broker hurts people who can’t pay the rent! My job didn’t pay enough, so I quit.
a: In today’s real estate market, it’s not just home prices that are rising; Rents are rising, in some cases astronomically. This makes rents increasingly unaffordable for more Americans.
In 2020, a report by the Harvard Center for Shared Housing Studies found that nearly one in four renters spent more than 50% of their income on housing in 2018. According to a STISA analysis of Census Bureau data, about 16% of renters are behind on housing. their expenses. rent. The figure is higher for renters with a high school diploma only.
In your case, it is possible that the realtor has tried to excite the buyer by sharing his view of the rental market, and how the property can be marketed as an investment property.
But nothing she said should have affected the lease and the rent you were paying (if you had a lease). Did you do? The important thing here is to understand your rights as a tenant. And your lease is the key to these.
When you decide to rent a property, the landlord must give you a rental document to sign. This document should specify what you will pay each month (or year) and for how long. These are the two most important things you should take care of. The lease must show that you had an agreement to pay $1,200 per month for one, two, or three years (or whatever term you and the landlord agreed to).
Once you and the landlord sign this lease, you are bound by the terms of the agreement. The landlord shouldn’t be able to get out of the lease, and neither should you.
Having an executed lease agreement gives you protection and peace of mind because the rent you agreed to pay will remain fixed for the term of the agreement, even if the landlord decides to sell the property. If the landlord sells within the term of the lease, the new owner must abide by its terms. Therefore, if one month has passed since the lease and the owner sells, the new buyer must abide by the terms of the lease for the next eleven months, or until the term expires.
At the same time, you can not sign a lease for a year and move out after a month. You and the landlord have a contract that they can enforce against each other for the agreed term of the lease.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a lease, you may simply be a monthly renter and you or the landlord can give the other one month’s notice that you want to end the lease. Maybe that’s what happened to you.
Some municipalities have landlord-tenant laws that require landlords to give tenants more time before the landlord can terminate the lease. In other circumstances, landlords may be limited to the amount they can increase the rent each year. You didn’t say what city you live in, but your city or village hall can tell you if they have a landlord and tenant law and what it says. Before renting, you should read the rental laws in the city where you rent your home, as they may give you additional protections that your rental document may not.
As far as the real estate agent sharing her opinion on the amount of rent the property can generate, that’s fair game. The seller is trying to justify the list price, and letting the potential investor know what income the property can generate is part of what the agent is supposed to do. Then it is up to the new owner to decide to raise the rent. It is up to you, the tenant, to negotiate as good a deal as possible, or to move elsewhere.
We understand that when rents go up, low income earners are hurt more than millionaires. Moving is expensive, especially when you have kids and packing means not only finding a new home but also finding a new school and possibly new babysitters, after-school care, doctors and more.
What happened to you is not perfect. But this is how our real estate market works. We are sorry that you were affected by the sale of your property and hope you can find a good alternative place to call home.
Contact Ilyce Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin through their website, BestMoneyMoves.com.
