I’ve lived in this house for almost one-and-a-half months. It’s not a particularly good house- it’s old, and hasn’t really been taken care of. There’s still some junk left in the garage from the previous tenant, and the house could really stand for some maintenance. A paint job’d be really nice as well.
And did I mention I’m paying a huge amount of rent (in my experience)?
Anyway.
The landlord (who lives out of state) sent us an email, telling us that they’re in the process of refinancing the house. Fine, whatever. However, the loan officer will apparently make it more difficult for them if they’re renting the place out- so they want their son (who lives in town) to meet the loan officer and pretend that he lives in the house. To maintain this lie, we have to be out of the house this afternoon.
My wife isn’t working right now. What’s more, we’ve got three dogs- one of which is terrified of strangers. She asked the landlord if it’d be okay if she hung around the house and just pretended to be a roommate or something. No go- for whatever reason, the landlord doesn’t want her around the house. It was suggested that she take the nervous dog “for a walk or something”.
Um, it’s cold, and rainy… and there’s no way to tell how long this refinance meeting is going to last.
Anyway, does this seem a bit weird? I already feel like we’re paying a ton of money for a poorly-maintained house- am I right in feeling like we’re being unduly inconvenienced?
That’s more than weird and I wouldn’t be ok with it. When I was in a rent-to-own agreement (we ended up walking away from it due to hinky shit), the landlord had it refinanced, all that happened was that a guy came out to appraise it. No big deal. I wouldn’t want someone in my house (rented or not, the stuff in it is not his!!) without me present. I am a very private person and would absolutely have an issue with this. Don’t know what you can do other than refuse – if he breaks the lease, you will be in a bad situation trying to find another place, but would it be a bad thing?
It doesn’t sound at all right to me. I’m not sure what you can do, but I’d start looking for another place to live. mks57 is right. The landlord’s asking you to help him commit fraud. If he’s willing to be dishonest in this situation, I don’t think I’d trust him to be honest in others.
You’re not only being inconvenienced, you’re a party to fraud. It sounds like they are getting the loan based on the property being owner occupied instead of being investment property. Since it is not actually owner occupied then they are commiting a federal crime.
Absolutely hinky, weird, unethical and probably illegal.
Is there nowhere else you can go - to live, I mean? If the landlord is treating other people this way, how on earth can you trust him (her?) to do right by you?
Thanks, everyone. Yeah, I’m a little weirded out by the situation- even more so, considering we weren’t given much time to decide (the first we heard of this was last night). We’ve already started looking for a new place to live… but there just aren’t a lot of rental houses in the area that we can afford (let alone places that don’t have a problem with three dogs).
Why doesn’t the son come over then you guys go up stairs or where ever watch a movie the son signs his share of the docs and loan officer leaves?
We just refinanced our home and two people came over, the lawyer for the loan company and the loan officer. They were there for 30 minutes. They have of all the docs ready when they come over…they don’t ask to go to the bathroom, they don’t ask for a drink, they don’t look around, they don’t ask who lives there…For all intents and purposes they haven’t a clue it’s being rented… What gives?
There are times when you just need to pretend you don’t read your e-mail very often. Being asked to vacate the home that you pay rent on is one of those times.
If you do do it, I’d park across the street incognito and see what’s really going on- maybe the son needs a place to bang his mistress for a couple of hours?