News
12-15-2006, 09:37 PM
Month-to-Month Leases, Stained Carpeting
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Edited questions from Apartment Life, Sara Gebhardt's online discussion about rental issues.
Q: Arlington: Our year-long lease is in its last month and we definitely want to stay in our apartment for another year. Once the lease is up, we automatically go month-to-month, right? Should we go to our landlord and ask to sign another year-long lease, or should we just go with the flow?
A: If your landlord doesn't send you a notice asking for you to sign a new lease, the lease will go month-to-month. You can talk to your landlord if you would like to negotiate a year-long lease without unexpected rent increases. If you want to take your chances, you could just go with the flow. Except where there is rent control, which does not exist in Arlington, your landlord is free to increase the rent at will when you are in a month-to-month agreement.
Dupont Circle: My wife and I are renting a one-bedroom apartment. Our lease was up, but our landlord failed to meet with us in a timely matter to draw up a new one. He is increasing the rent to much more than the unit is actually worth. We will request to go month-to-month until we can find a place to buy. Is it within his right to force us to sign a one-year lease at this point?
Also, he had the gall to mention that once we make our decision to sign or not, we will pay him the $200 he's increasing it in back rent on top of the rent we already paid for this month. Please tell me I'm correct in assuming this is illegal. And if so, what is the most professional way for me to tell him that?
The most professional way to handle this is to bring your original lease with you to the lease-signing. Make sure you have read very carefully the ways in which he violated the lease -- for instance, it seems that because he did not give you notice in time, your original lease technically went month-to-month. This means that he has to give you 30 days' notice to decide about the next lease, and cannot charge you back rent. Just outline the simple rules of tenancy, which should be in your original lease. He cannot expect you to violate a contract for which he was responsible.
I have carpeting in my apartment, and it's looking pretty dingy. I rented one of those carpet-shampooing machines from the hardware store. That got out a lot of the dog hair/stains/general ickiness, but I'm worried that if I have a ton of stains on my light-colored carpet, the landlord will make me pay to replace it when I leave. Would my security deposit cover something like that, or should I set aside money for my eventual move-out? Or is discoloring just normal wear and tear? (It's not majorly stained, just patchy.)
If there are dog stains, I'm guessing that it's not normal wear and tear, and your landlord will likely charge you for the carpet or part of the cost of replacing it. Your security deposit should cover this kind of replacement, unless you have an abnormally low security deposit or very fancy carpet, neither of which is likely in our rental market.
Sara Gebhardt's Apartment Life column appears biweekly in this section, and her Web chat appears monthly on http://www.washingtonpost.com.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Edited questions from Apartment Life, Sara Gebhardt's online discussion about rental issues.
Q: Arlington: Our year-long lease is in its last month and we definitely want to stay in our apartment for another year. Once the lease is up, we automatically go month-to-month, right? Should we go to our landlord and ask to sign another year-long lease, or should we just go with the flow?
A: If your landlord doesn't send you a notice asking for you to sign a new lease, the lease will go month-to-month. You can talk to your landlord if you would like to negotiate a year-long lease without unexpected rent increases. If you want to take your chances, you could just go with the flow. Except where there is rent control, which does not exist in Arlington, your landlord is free to increase the rent at will when you are in a month-to-month agreement.
Dupont Circle: My wife and I are renting a one-bedroom apartment. Our lease was up, but our landlord failed to meet with us in a timely matter to draw up a new one. He is increasing the rent to much more than the unit is actually worth. We will request to go month-to-month until we can find a place to buy. Is it within his right to force us to sign a one-year lease at this point?
Also, he had the gall to mention that once we make our decision to sign or not, we will pay him the $200 he's increasing it in back rent on top of the rent we already paid for this month. Please tell me I'm correct in assuming this is illegal. And if so, what is the most professional way for me to tell him that?
The most professional way to handle this is to bring your original lease with you to the lease-signing. Make sure you have read very carefully the ways in which he violated the lease -- for instance, it seems that because he did not give you notice in time, your original lease technically went month-to-month. This means that he has to give you 30 days' notice to decide about the next lease, and cannot charge you back rent. Just outline the simple rules of tenancy, which should be in your original lease. He cannot expect you to violate a contract for which he was responsible.
I have carpeting in my apartment, and it's looking pretty dingy. I rented one of those carpet-shampooing machines from the hardware store. That got out a lot of the dog hair/stains/general ickiness, but I'm worried that if I have a ton of stains on my light-colored carpet, the landlord will make me pay to replace it when I leave. Would my security deposit cover something like that, or should I set aside money for my eventual move-out? Or is discoloring just normal wear and tear? (It's not majorly stained, just patchy.)
If there are dog stains, I'm guessing that it's not normal wear and tear, and your landlord will likely charge you for the carpet or part of the cost of replacing it. Your security deposit should cover this kind of replacement, unless you have an abnormally low security deposit or very fancy carpet, neither of which is likely in our rental market.
Sara Gebhardt's Apartment Life column appears biweekly in this section, and her Web chat appears monthly on http://www.washingtonpost.com.