Posted on 01/23/2024 8:49:44 PM PST by know.your.why
Hello fellow FReepers. I have just been given the shocking news that my monthly rent for a 1-bdr apartment in N. Alabama is going up by $300 which works out to a 45% increase. The apartment complex has been recently bought by a NJ based company and apparently they have resolved to raise every tenant's rent. The reason that the manager told me was that materials costs are up "such as drywall". Ridiculous excuse. I just cant believe that this has happened. People here cant afford this kind of increase. Wages have not gone up AT ALL. I just dont get it. Any help is appreciated.
“For this kind of stuff you need a Better Call Saul junkyard dog lawyer.”
For a case such as this, that is spot on! A young and hungry lawyer will spend time searching every law, regulation, and loophole hoping to do his best for you. If he can win for you, he knows he will make a name for himself in the field of tenant/landlord disputes, and at the same time gain your references of family and friends.
Also, many young lawyers take those cases they call “bread and butter” cases in hopes that the same client will remember him when the client has a really big claim (as a Pepsi-cola truck rear-ending his car and sending his 4 year old daughter to the hospital with a broken arm and concussion). Look for one of those young lawyers. One that wants to do a great job and win your case. When he does, be loyal to him in the future.
Here in Huntsville, they are building thousands of new apartments...tens of thousands...and 2 bedroom apartments in these new upscale places are going for $1500-$2000 a month....
I have a 3400 sq ft 5 BR 4 bath home that was built in 2004..my mortgage payment is $1480...and my escrow payment is $493 a month... (around $1950 a month payment)
So what is the better deal...go buy a house..it’s cheaper.
Another suggestion I can make is that, if you know fellow renters that you can trust with your life, form a REIT and buy a house and share the costs.
Yup—we live in a world that is a tangle of federal, state, local jurisdictions with all kinds or laws, ordinances, zoning stuff....it goes on and on....
A tough lawyer who wants to do the hard work is so valuable.
Alabama Landlord Tenant Rights
According to this section though, they cannot raise your rent during the lease term unless the lease agreement allows for it.
Check with your state, county and city tenant laws.
Current Mortgage rate info:
Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/mortgage-rates/
Did your apartment have renovations done?
there is billboard in Houston for a cowboy hat wearing lawyer whose last name is Dick. His slogan is “When you need a lawyer, you need a real dick!” He needs someone like that.
Perfect—lol.
I must live in a decent area. city of 25,000. You can get a nice apartment from anywhere from 350 to 500 dollars a month. My two-story house mortgage payment was $500 a month.
Rent isn’t arbitrary. These days most landlords of multifamily housing set rent using yield control software. The purpose of the software is to... you guessed it.. maximize ‘yield’ (= profit). Yieldstar is one of the most popular.
https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent
what do comparable places go for???
The Sands Hotel in Reno. I used to stay there really cheap. Price started going up as the quality of the place went down. Neighborhood was dead.
Someone came in new and refurbished the whole neighborhood tearing down a lot of cheap motels. Put $100k into each of the sands hotel rooms.The whole hotel looks very upscale now. I don’t see how it was a worthwhile investment unless Reno begins thriving again. With gambling available in Ca. there’s less reason to go there.
What does it have to do with rents in Alabama? Somebody knows how to let places go to hell and clean up cheap for a profit. Just look at all the homes Blackrock is buying up. A bank can build government housing and rent it out for 30 years and then take it back. Local governments will administer the ‘affordable’ housing. The tenants come and go while the bank bides it’s time for the 30 years. When the building reverts back to bank ownership and the homeless advocates howl they get compensated somehow.
Same thing here in NC about 3 years ago but the increase was more than double, 120% and it was also a firm from New Jersey that bought the buildings.
It depends on the laws where you live. Usually there are organizations that help tenants for free. Search online for one.
Spot on.
With millions of illegals flooding the US, rents are going up everywhere. Outrageously so. I heard on the news yesterday that the US has immediate shortage of over seven million homes.
Some cities and maybe some states limit the amount rent can increase but I doubt Alabama is one of them.
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In my state(Oregon) there are homes that homeless squatters takeover until removed, many of these properties haven’t moved since 2008-2009.
As far as foreigners, which are predominantly from Mexico, no large presence is noticeable if anything it’s receding.
The death rate for at least 4 years is higher than the birthrate, which has never happened since Oregon’s first census.
Also, a bunch of Boomers are going to be dead in the next 20 years, leading to the biggest transfer of assets in United States History.
Generation X while small demographically, should have a lot financial opportunities over the next couple of decades.
My rent went up $300 back in October, but it was allowed because it was the end of the contract.
I am sure, as long as your original contract is valid (by the contract beginning/ending date), that they shouldn’t be able to change anything.
I could be wrong, but don’t think so...
It depends on whether the jurisdiction has rent control. If not, then it's whatever the market will bear.
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