So I’m moving, and soon. My lease expired May 1, and my flake-o landlord hasn’t bothered to have me sign a renewal, so technically (according to the Chicago Landlord Tenant Ordinance), at the moment I’m a month-to-month tenant.
I’ve put a deposit on a new place not far from my current one, and as soon as they run their reference check, etc. (which, if my current landlord screws up for me, I will strangle him slowly), I expect to be signing a lease in the next few days that will start June 1.
The catch: month-to-month tenants are required to provide a minimum of 30 days’ notice before the 1st of the month in which they intend to end their tenancy. Otherwise, they’re liable for payment of rent for the required notification period. This would mean that unless I can get my slimeball landlord to negotiate, I will be stuck paying double rent for June, and I sure as hell don’t want him to get a penny more of my hard-earned cash than necessary. However, I do have a bit of leverage: the rental market here is pretty soft right now, and if I let him in early to repaint or whatever (God knows the place needs it), there’s a much better chance that he’ll be able to re-rent it for July 1. If I don’t turn the place over until June 30 at midnight (which I have more than half a mind to do, even if I’m out of there by June 1st, just to piss him off for how he’s treated me), he will probably lose July rent.
However, I’m not much of a hardball negotiator; I just don’t have the cojones for it. I’m not a confrontational person by nature. So does anyone have any tips on how I can angle this situation to get what I want and deserve?
Is there anything in your apartment or on the grounds that hasn’t been fixed, that is in violation of standards for rentals? I’d look into your local tenant/landlord laws and see. If there are violations he’s been made aware of, and hasn’t attended to, that should give you all the leverage to you need.
OK, I’m going to sign my new lease tomorrow, so it’s time to bite the bullet and send a lovely and polite, but strongly worded, letter to my landlord (certified mail, return receipt, of course) notifying him of my intent to terminate tenancy. Anyone else have tactical ideas for me? I can’t believe I’m the only Doper who has faced these issues…
The problem isn’t my lease (I no longer have one, because my landlord is a flake and forgot to have me sign one, which was fine by me). It’s the local landlord/tenant ordinance, which states that month-to-month tenants must give 30 days’ notice before the start of the appropriate1-month period; each period is assumed to start on the 1st of the month. I am planning on asking him if he’s willing to prorate, and since it will probably be to our mutual advantage, I’m hoping he will agree. I was just wondering if there is some other negotiating angle that I’ve overlooked.
I can move into the new place at the end of May, if I want; it’s vacant right now, and they should be done painting and installing the new stove by then. The issue is the friends who will be helping me move; one batch is unavailable Memorial Day weekend, and the other is out of town the following weekend, so I might not be able to move in until the following Saturday. Of course, if it ends up saving me a month’s rent, I’ll hire a moving company.
If you have documentation of a six-year, unresolved roach problem, I don’t think you are obligated to give him 30 days notice. I believe you may move out at any time as he has already failed in his obligation to you as landlord. Contact your local renter’s rights association and talk to them for confirmation of your local laws, but I know for sure there are states where an unresolved roach problem is very much grounds for moving with no notice.
Some anecdotal information for you - I lived in California at one time; after signing the lease, the landlord informed me of the roach problem, despite our having specifically discussed the condition of the apartment and him telling me how it had been cleaned, etc. He claimed they’d sprayed and not seen any more roaches, so it should be fine. I moved in, and for the month I lived there not a week went by without roaches appearing (despite weekly spraying). I moved out and demanded my deposit back; they claimed I’d broken the lease, and I reminded them that there was a roach problem . . . I got my deposit and that was the end of the matter.
My mother had a similar situation in which an attorney actually contacted her for breaking the lease months after she moved. We provided the attorney with documentation of the roach problem and never heard another word. Needless to say, we both ask about roach history before we sign anything any more.
BTW - bug bomb your place before you move & be sure to go through all your stuff to make sure you don’t take any hitchhikers with you. That method allowed my mom & I both to move without taking the problem with us.
I did contact my local tenants’ rights organization, and I read the ordinance. The requirement in Chicago is to give the landlord 14 days’ notice to remedy the problem before breaking a lease. Once I threatened him in writing with legal action, he did indeed hire a real exterminator and do the whole building. It helped for a couple of months, but now the buggers are coming back again. So I don’t think I can legally break tenancy now without potentially being liable for June rent. Whether he would ever do anything about it is a big question mark, but I don’t want to go down that road, because I believe in following the law even if he’s an asshole. Lord only knows why, but I do.
(OTOH, if he tries to hang onto my security deposit, I will haul his ass into housing court. He would owe me a couple grand in penalties for other ordinance violations, like failure to pay interest on my security deposit, which I warned him about in writing when he tried to mess with me the last time.)
As for the bug bombing: I may try that, but it’s a bit of a pain as I have to find somewhere to house myself and my cat for a day or two, since neither of us reacts well to airborne chemicals (I’m asthmatic).
IAAL, but this is NOT legal advice, and you SHOULD NOT RELY ON IT AS LEGAL ADVICE!!! stomps foot, scowls, and shakes finger menacingly
That said, here’s my advice: sometimes I think the best thing to do in a situation is at odds with the absolute legal thing to do. If I were in your situation I would write him a letter telling him of your intent to vacate, and then just not pay any rent to him on June 1.
Let him sue you if he wants to, but (1) he probably won’t sue you, (b) if he does it will take forever by which time you’ll probably have more money than you have now, and (*) you may be able to win some sympathy based on the history of BS between you and him.
Did they have anything to say about this chronic type of problem? How many times do you have to notify him of the bug problem and allow him to try to remedy it before you are no longer obligated to provide notice? Just curious if you checked with them on that issue, because it seems kinda silly - you tell him of the problem, he sprays, it clears up, they come back, you tell him . . . it sounds like a vicious cycle & it seems there should be some provision for a chronic problem. If you did check on that & the 14 day notice thing applies without exception, you have my sympathies.
I would be inclined to agree with TaxGuy & just give the landlord notice you’re moving out by June 1 & see what the landlord says. IANAL either, though, so take that with a grain of salt.
Re: moving, since you can get into your new place early, I’d recommend you take your freshly-washed sleeping bag or bedding to the new place with your cat and sleep on the floor while you bug bomb over-night. Let the place air out a couple hours after that and then immediately start moving your stuff. I have a very sensitive respiratory system & this worked for me, so hopefully will work for you. If you decide not to do the bug bomb thing, just be sure to go through your stuff very carefully before you move it & then set traps in the new place to catch hangers-on.
