Landlords...need your input, what would you do?

Landlords...need your input, what would you do?

Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes

Landlords I need you input, I am extremely upset and don't know how to handle the situation.

Sorry, I do have to give a little back story, so you understand...

My husband and I are currently renting, however we have bought a house that we will be moving into in November.

The house we are renting now is owned by someone who is an accidental landlord. He bought the house, then about a year later moved in with his fiance in her house & couldn't sell his, so he decided to rent it. We are his second set of tenants.

We do have 2 dogs & a 2.5 year old toddler, one of our dogs is a rottweiler, which as you know it is very difficult to find a place to rent. However, he didn't care about the Rottie, because he is a pit bull owner, so the dog didn't bother him.

When we first moved in, we met with the neighbors on the left side of us(our house is in Milwaukee city where they are very close together) and introduced them to our dogs, so they wouldn't be freaked out about Bear. At the time the yard was fenced on 3 sides, both sides and the back. There was no finished fence on the side part of the yard, towards the front. When we let the dogs out, they stayed in the yard at all times. Again, they are well trained & my husband or I would go out with them.

Anyway, the neighbors to the left of us proved to be a nuisance. They loved to party on their patio till midnight to 1am every night, their patio was right outside our son's & ours bedroom window(and I mean right outside). We could hear everything they said, they would get drunk and fight, yelling profanity at each other(they have a 2 year old themselves) So one night @ midnight we had, had enough. My husband opened the window & asked them to please be quiet, because they were keeping our son up. They apologized, went inside and we thought the problem was over. Little did we know it wasn't.

The next week, she approached my husband and said she was going to turn us into the city because the yard was not fully fenced and we had a rottweiler(Milwaukee has an ordinance against rotties and pits, they must be fenced in) And she did & we were told by the city if we didn't put up a fence we would be fined hundreds of dollars. So we approached our landlord and he said...well you can move if you would like. At the time it wasn't an option, we had just moved in 6 months ago & wasn't about to move again!

So we offered to finish the fence & we did. We bought all the supplies and my husband put in the fence. Never did the landlord offer to help or help purchase the materials. And the neighbor continued to be a nuisance, she would email our landlord telling him we would yell at them & never pick up the dog messes. Which we never have said a word to them since that night. So we decided to it was time to move on, so we bought the house. And he quickly found new renters.

He just emailed me...apparently the new renters want him to replace the kitchen cabinets, which he is going to do. I am FURIOUS, because first of all he hasn't done much to help us with the neighbors and he never offered to help or pay for the fence. He didn't even discount our rent...nada, nothing. However the new tenant wants new cabinets and he has no problem replacing them...which will be a $1500 - $2k job. Also, he is not pro-rating us for the month of November. We will be out by the 3rd week.

I don't know what to do or how to handle this...should I just let it go? Or should I say something?

Thank you for your advice and sorry for the long post.

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Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 384 posts · 109 votes
12y

Nicole there seems to be an ongoing issue with the @ sign. Look for the thread "Mention function not working"

I've found the remedy is typing @? which then brings up everyone who has responded to the thread, at which point you can select them.

Rob K has a good point - you have every right to possess that place till the end of November!

See this reply in the discussion

21 Replies

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  • Real Estate Investor · Saint Petersburg, FL · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 951 votes
    12y

    The time to ask the landlord for an upgrade is prior to signing the lease. It sounds like the tenants that are moving in liked the house but wanted new cabinets as a condition of moving in. I bet if you had asked for the fence to be put up prior to moving in then the landlord may have considered. Once you've agreed and are living there the landlord doesn't have incentive to spend on non-essential upgrades.

    As for the landlord not refunding the days you aren't living there that would depend on the lease. What does the lease say about notice and move out? Are you in the middle of a lease or month to month?

  • Specialist · Westlake Village, CA · Member since 2010 · 1k+ posts · 781 votes
    12y

    @Nicole Pettis

    I can see why you are upset. Refer back to the written agreement to see what recourse you have. Try not to take it personally, people have their reasons for acting the way they do, just hold him to the the signed agreement & get what's owed to you back from the deposit. Focus on enjoying your new home.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @Patrick L...thank you for your reply. Good to know about the upgrades, I never knew that. So I will move on about the fence and kitchen upgrades.

    We had a year lease, however its up at the end of the month, so we would be just month to month in November. The lease was pretty basic, he told me himself he didn't really want to be a landlord, so there wasn't really any specifics on that matter. So I guess because of that we can't really do anything about pro-rate.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @Ellis San Jose! Thank you! I will re-look at the contract.

  • Rental Property Investor · Brookline, MA · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 777 votes
    12y

    I'd let it go and chalk it up to "lessons learned." To @Patrick L's point, the best time to corner a landlord is right before you sign something. Especially if you look like you are going to be a good tenant.

    On the prorating: I never prorate payments unless I want someone in or out. In VT I have to prorate if I would double collect on any day of a month. I've never had that problem unfortunately.

    I'm also sad to see crappy neighbors. It makes life hell for both tenants and landlords. Honestly there is little, and more likely nothing, that landlords can do to deal with noisy neighbors. I had lousy tenants in a building I owned and couldn't do anything but evict them. They were bothering every set of tenants around them.

  • Rental Property Investor · Upstate, NY · Member since 2012 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    12y

    I agree. Just be glad you are moving on & that some of your rent went to purchasing the cabinets:)

    Judging by the neighbors you are leaving behind the excitement of new cabinets will be a short lived.....

    good luck

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @Aaron montague...yep, lesson learned. Honestly we didn't think about it. We had been renting another house down the road that didn't have a fence either and had no problems with the neighbors there. Everyone loved Bear, so didn't think it would really be a problem here.

    @Pat L..yep! Moving on and moving forward. Thank you!

  • Real Estate Broker · Cleveland Dayton Cincinnati Toledo Columbus & Akron, OH · Member since 2013 · 30k+ posts · 20k+ votes
    12y

    Why should the landlord pro-rate because you didnt live there for a week? You already agreed to pay for that month in full.

    As for the fence. Again you had already agreed to occupy the home without the fence. Why would the landlord pay for it because later on you decided that you wanted it? I understand your neighors poor behavior started the series of events that caused you to want this fence but that is not the problem or responsibility of your landlord.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @James Wise..here in Milwaukee, my previous landlord did pro-rate and other places that I have rented pro-rated as well, so yes I did expect it, but no big deal.

    Yes, I know...again, didn't know the lack of fence would be a problem & my husband and I are pretty low maintenance, being that we were home owners in Ohio before the move to Milwaukee, we understand the amount of money it takes to take care of a home. So we never ask landlords to update unless something is broken & even then we will try to fix it before we bother the landlord. So the whole thing about asking to update something before moving in was unknown to me.

    So again, just asking because I didn't know, but thank you for your input:)

  • Specialist · Portland, OR · Member since 2010 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    12y

    Haven't entirely read the posts but will comment on prorating. Basically, if he re-rents and gives possession of the place before your 30 day notice is up he should prorate. Otherwise, you have paid for that time and if you choose to leave early, you still are entitled to the space and time so no prorate IMO.

    If he takes possession to clean and do repairs when you have left early (before 30 days) he might be responsible for a prorate. That would seem like something to negotiate. If he doesn't touch it until the entire 30 days is up then certainly no prorate.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @Jeff S....thank you for clarifying. These are all things that I will need to know when we do buy and holds. So I do appreciate everyone's input!

    Well, he will be putting in a new kitchen after we leave and before the new tenants take over. We close on the house Nov 15th & the new tenants are moving in Dec 1st & he wants to put in a new kitchen between that time. So I was going to try to get out of his place by the 23rd of November.

  • Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 384 posts · 109 votes
    12y

    Hi Nicole - In my experience most landlords, including myself, will not pro-rate on the back-end of a lease. If a landlord does do this, they are doing the tenant quite a big favor. Occasionally a tenant is disappointed, but I just tell them that apartments are rented by the month in Wisconsin.

    But it sounds like you are moving out early as a favor to him to help him have time to remodel? If that's true you could negotiate with him and ask for pro-rate in return for cooperating and moving early, that certainly seems fair in this case.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    Thanks everyone for your input...as I reread, I realized I came across as expecting something from my landlord, which in the end I don't. I think I was more confused than anything. I would never ask a landlord to update the kitchen cabinets, but that is me. So I was a little shocked when he emailed me this morning asking if he could measure the kitchen to update the kitchen for the new tenants.

    Also, we had the misfortune of having rude and disruptive neighbors & because of that we had to take care of the situation or get rid of the dog & the latter was never on the table.

    And then for the pro-rate..in Ohio we had it set up that way & we experienced as well with our previous landlord, here in Milwaukee. So I was under the assumption it would work that way again, so thank you for clarifying and helping ground me with this situation.

  • Contractor · Valparaiso , IN · Member since 2013 · 604 posts · 327 votes
    12y

    Keep calm and just get through the next few weeks knowing you will be in your own home, and most likely have better neighbors. My wife and I are also rottie lovers, people who never had one just won't understand how great they are.

  • Specialist · Portland, OR · Member since 2010 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    12y

    New kitchen, new price too. Chances are the rent has increased because of the new kitchen.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @Jeff S Haha...nope! He actually lowered the rent. I guess he was afraid he wasn't going to get anyone in the winter.

    @Chris Adams...thank you! And you are correct! Rottie's rock!

    P.S. I don't know about everyone else, but whenever I do the "@" sign plus name to reply, its not working for me. I contacted the webmaster, but I think I have them stumped.

  • Investor · Southeast, MI · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    12y

    if you want to play hardball, tell the landlord that you need to stay until the end of November. You will be paying for the whole month after all. If he says he needs time to get the cabinets in, tell him you can arrange to move sooner, but you want some cash.

    I have a similar situation right now. Tenants bought a house and are moving next week. I want to get possession ASAP and told them I would credit whatever days in October they didn't use to motivate them to get out sooner.

  • Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 384 posts · 109 votes
    12y

    Nicole there seems to be an ongoing issue with the @ sign. Look for the thread "Mention function not working"

    I've found the remedy is typing @? which then brings up everyone who has responded to the thread, at which point you can select them.

    Rob K has a good point - you have every right to possess that place till the end of November!

  • Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    12y

    In colder climates, at this time of year - the landlord agreeing to an incentive to get the place occupied sounds like a good move on his part. He might have months of vacancy otherwise, so the cost of cabinets could be small compared to the loss of income; plus he gets to keep the replacement cabinets for any future occupant. I'm sure he'd prefer to have rented it "as is" rather than putting in cabinets, but this sort of business decision will have to be made on occasion.

  • Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    12y

    To get the "@" mentions to work, I had to use the @ followed by a question mark to get the users who posted in the thread, and then I picked the user I wanted. It seems the @ followed by any other typing only found members who were my colleagues already.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · St. Louis, MO · Member since 2008 · 489 posts · 300 votes
    12y

    @Steve Babiak Got it:)!!

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