We rent an apartment (they were original built as condos/townhomes, but the complex is bank-owned and the units are being let as apartments).
We are the original tenants and are the first people to live in our unit which we hope to eventually buy if they are ever for sale.
We have a ceiling fan in the living room which came with the place. There is a spot to mount a ceiling fan in the master bedroom. We were told we could buy a fan, but the apartment maintenance people were the only ones who are allowed to install it, and after doing so, if we move out, we are not allowed to take the fan with us.
The general legal category relevant to your question is “fixtures.” Beyond that, you’re really seeking legal advice here. You’d be better off asking the question at one of those online legal forums with attorneys licensed in your state.
Ok - I am really not concerned about it - the fan was $90 and install would be about $100 if I had Lowe’s do it… (except the apartment people do it for free).
You don’t need legal advice you need the word “coincidence”
For example:
Landlord) I told you if you paid for and installed a ceiling fan it becomes our property.
Tenant) I know
Landlord) Where is it?
Tenant) It fell out of the ceiling
Lordlord) It fell out the day before you were due to move out?
Tenant) Yep, quite the coincidence.
In general this question is from law 101 if I remember my college days right.
Fixtures can start out as personal property meaning you own it and then become real property
It was called MARIA for
Method of attachment
Adaptability
Relationship of the people involved
Intent
Agreement
In the OP case you would probably have issue with the last “agreement.” There is none.
The landlord made it clear if you attached personal property in the form of a ceiling fan it would no longer be yours when you move.
Since you want to take the ceiling fan when you move and the landlord refuses to agree to that, you should not attach the ceiling fan if you intend to take it with you.
Things you install like bathtubs and even crops (while growing not after they’ve been harvested) are clearly intended to be part of the land or the house.
It’s a matter of line-drawing. Does it seem more intuitive to you that if you installed a fireplace you wouldn’t get to take it with you? The idea is that removal of fixtures usually risks damaging the property, and that fixtures come to be associated with the value of the property itself. When people look at an apartment, they don’t expect that the tenants will take the doors and bathtub with them, and that they’ll have to bring their own.
None of that is to say that a ceiling fan constitutes a fixture, but that’s the general idea.
I think every lease I’ve ever had contained a provision that anything that I may attach to the premises with any sort of screws or adhesive, or any sort of nail larger than what’s used to hang a picture becomes irrevocably part of the premises and property of the landlord.
The provision that their staff will install the fan makes sense from a liability standpoint. If they install it, they know how well it was installed and will have confidence that it will stay safely attached to the ceiling.
Ask if they will reimburse you for the fan, or split the cost with you. Seeing as how they are adding value to their rental, they should have to cover the cost of the fixture.
It’s typical in commercial leases for ceiling fans, exhaust fans etc. to be considered fixtures. The general thinking is that a ceiling fan is generally considered to be a somewhat permanent installation and not a removable item. In this context it does become part of the real property if installed, even if installed by you.
There was one scenario where a guy installed $ 60,000 worth of AC rooftop units into a commercial restaurant he was leasing and then when the lease ended brought a huge crane to try and remove them to take them to his new restaurant. The landlord put a crimp in that plan. They belonged to the unit once installed.
On the flip side I’ve had tenants try to remove everything down to the doorknobs.
Personally, I’d buy the cheapest fan I could get, replace the other fan with it myself, and take the better fan out with me. The landlord or his maintenance crew will never know the difference.
Yes, but in this case the “owners” are paying for THEIR folks to install it, so they have invested too.
The renters pay for a fan and get to enjoy it. The owners have paid to have it installed and have increased the value (a tiny bit) of the property (assuming the fan stays).
Realistically, you probably won’t want to bother uninstalling a $100 fan when you move. But by way of anecdote, I once lived in an apartment with a similar policy. I installed a new light fixture in the living room without telling them, and removed it without telling them when I left. No muss no fuss.
If there is already a mount and wiring then I call shennaigans. The fan itself is attached to a couple of screws that come with the unit and simply hangs there. Take the thing down when you leave and put the blank plate back on. That is no different hen saying that if you plug your television into the cable outlet it becomes the landlord’s. Screw em.
fans should be mounted to fan boxes which have larger mounting screws and this box should be attached to framing. if you mount to a lighting box or to a box that isn’t anchored to framing you run the risk of damaging the ceiling material.
Possibly relevant story: When we moved into this apartment, we wanted to use our own shower head. The landlord said we can install it, but we have to replace the original when we leave. Obviously, the original head is not ours.
