Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC
“Dear PoPville,
I live at the Allegro apartments on 14th street NW. It is currently managed by Bozzuto after they took over about a year ago. I have been in the building for almost two years and we’ve had to replace roommates twice. We were never fined or asked to pay any kind of roommate transfer fee to switch names on the lease and release the old tenant from legal obligations (in legalese: novation).
That is, until recently. At the start of September, we got a new roommate and are now in the process of transferring names on the lease. However, when we looked over the new lease we saw one very serious change. Contained in the Occupancy section at the very end of the paragraph in normal type and font is a clause that says for any future name changes on the lease, the tenants must pay a non-refundable roommate release fee of $1500.00! It is worth noting that this was in an uninitialized section of the lease and there has never been any building-wide announcement of the change. After some inquiry, we learned that this fine will also be imposed at lease renewal if one of the current tenants leaves and the lease must be changed. So essentially departing tenants are penalized for leaving the apartment at the end of their legal obligations to the building, and remaining tenants are penalized for choosing to stay if at least one person leaves. The administration has also refused to recognize the tenants association that was started when they came on last year, and will only handle problems on an individual basis and wouldn’t give us any contact information for the Association.
Basically, I’m interested in learning what folks out in PoPville land know about such novation/release fees and what is reasonable under DC tenant law. I always thought that such penalties were instituted to cover the costs associated with having to rewrite the lease, not to be used as a weird form of extortion.”
Anyone with experience evicting squatters?
“Long story short, my ex-wife and I still own a property in DC but have not resided in it since 2009. She no longer lives in the area and I’m moving back from MoCo to DC at the end of this year. It’s come to her attention that there has been someone living in our house since this time last year. House was due to be foreclosed on but the bank is in no hurry to do that so they told us we could take take up residence in it again if we wanted while she works out a loan modification.
We’ve spoken with MPD and they said if we arrange a time, they will send a couple cars with us to evict whoever is living in the place. Having helped my parents run an apartment complex in Chicago back in the day, I know it’s not going to be that easy. She is going to show up with the cops, I will show up at the same time with a locksmith and then arrange for a security company to install a system.
Aside from that, what else should we be aware of and take steps to. I suggested to my ex that she send a certified letter to whoever is living there announcing our intent to take back the property by such and such date and they should vacate beforehand or be evicted. I’m also wondering if I should show up with a couple of mover-types to get any contents inside out to the curb.
Anyone else have to go through something like this?”
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Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80
“Dear PoPville,
My roomate and I have found an apartment we would like to move to. We currently live in a managed apartment building and are going month to month right now. We thought that you could give a 30 day notice to vacate on any day, and then we would pay a prorated amount of rent for the following month until the 30 days were up. They tell us that the 30 day vacancy notice is only accepted on the first of the month. Do you guys know if that’s legal? I can’t seem to find a clear answer while searching online.”
Photo by PoPville flickr user yostinator
“Dear PoPville,
I just moved into an English basement and, as you would expect, it is a little damp and humid. I looked into getting a dehumidifier but have found that decent models can be quite expensive. My question for the PoP community is: Is purchasing a dehumidifier the occupant’s or landlord’s responsibility? Are there any codes on this, regarding providing a healthy living space? Have any basement dwellers had their landlords provide a dehumidifier for them?”
Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC
“Dear PoPville:
Due to an ongoing rodent problem in my apartment (in a converted rowhouse in Logan), my landlord is proposing to completely redo our kitchen. This will supposedly seal all the cracks and holes where the mice and rats are getting into the house, and give me a new kitchen to boot. The landlord is also repairing or replacing the roof, which leaks and has caused water damage in the walls. All told, he estimates that there will be about two weeks of work outside and two to three weeks of work inside the house.
The landlord is currently asking for our thoughts on moving forward with the project, including scheduling. Obviously I want to deal with the rodent problem, and a full reno of the kitchen seems like the best way to accomplish this. However, I’m not looking forward to losing my kitchen for several weeks, nor the possibility of having to move out of the apartment. My question to the commentariat is: what should I ask the landlord for in compensation, if anything? I think that if we have to move into a hotel room for any period of time, he should cover that cost. Should we also ask for a rent abatement for the time that the kitchen is unusable? If our rent is close to $2000 a month, how much should we ask for?
Thanks!”
Photo by PoPville flickr user fromcaliw/love
“Dear PoPville,
Two roommates and I just signed a lease in a great new place that came partially furnished. We understood this to mean the living room furniture (a couch, ottoman, some side tables) and the dining room table. We originally saw the house, it looked great, and we saw that the bedrooms clearly would come unfurnished. When we moved in this weekend, we were surprised to see much more stuff in the house than we expected. Upon emailing the landlord, we found out that much of the miscellaneous (Ikea dresser, large storage boxes, side tables, desks, rugs) was his, and he wanted us to keep it in the house. It’s not a huge place, and we each have our own items we would like to store in the closets and rooms we are paying rent for. I feel as though our landlord is using our apartment as a personal storage unit, and charging us for space we cannot use. My roommates don’t want to address it with the landlord or the management company, as “the house is his so he can use it as he likes.” I disagree, but I wonder if anyone knows the legality of this situation, and what, if anything I can do about it.
Another problem is that the lease indicated that all utilities were included. Our landlord made it clear that if we had excessive electricity usage, that we would discuss the limits of that agreement, which is fine. However, one of our small trashcans was stolen (not sure if it was our unit’s or the upstairs units), and now we are expected to replace that on our own. Furthermore, we told him we needed 4 cable boxes (one for each bedroom one for downstairs), and the house only came with 3. He ordered us a new one, but we will be responsible for the extra $10 or so per month for that additional box. It’s not so much the costs as the feeling of being taken advantage of. Unfortunately I am the only one of the three roommates who feels this way, and the other two feel that we shouldn’t sour the relationship over a few dollars here or there. To me it is more the principle. I’m wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation, and what the best way to proceed is.”
A good lesson to make sure you have a clear/detailed lease signed before moving in. Personally, I see no harm if you wanted to talk to the landlord to see if there was any room to negotiate.
What do you guys think – should the reader speak with the landlord even though the roommates don’t want to rock the boat?
Photo by PoPville flickr user Takka-San
“Dear PoP,
I know you have posted questions about renting out a basement, which includes its own entrance and is a self-contained rental unit, as well as issues when someone rents out their entire house — but what do I, as the owner/resident of the property, need to do to legally rent out the third floor of my house. Anything? And how are the tax deductions affected? Do I still get them even though I live there? Can I deduct half the depreciation of my house because I am effectively renting half of it out? I realize you have posted questions like this before, but thought I would give it a shot as I imagine a lot of people have similar issues/questions, particularly considering that the summer intern season is upon us.”
Anyone rent out a room or a floor of their house?
Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80
“Dear PoP,
I read your blog regularly and the posts on landlord/tenant questions have helped me figure out that my landlady is acting in a dangerous and illegal fashion. I rented a room in a large house in Columbia Heights last fall.
It seemed like a really good deal. The woman who rented it to me, never met with me in person but had another tenant show the room. She didn’t ask for any information from me, all she cared was that I deposited cash into her bank account the next day. I suppose that should’ve been my tip off that something wasn’t kosher.
But I moved in and everything seemed okay for a month for so. Then the electrical started failing. I called / texted the long distance landlord to no avail. The other tenants complained also. I ended up calling pepco out 3 times. Pepco said that because part of the electrical wouldn’t turn back even with breakers being flipped back on, that that might indicate a problem in the walls. They also told me that the breaker box was behind an illegal wall and that it needed to be torn down.
On top of this, other problems started arising. The people who lived in the building’s basement apartment started having huge drunken fights and the police/ ambulance/ fire department were called out. Because the breaker bx is/was located in their basement ‘bedroom’ I was scared to even enter their apartment to try and flip on the electric.
Finally after breaking the glass in the door to the apartment in a drunken rage, the tenants in the basement left.
On top of that a roommate who lived in room near mine was also an alcoholic. Shortly after the raging tenants left, he started to fall apart. Drink all night, start fires in the fireplace and then pass out while they were still burning.
I finally confronted my landlady on the phone. She was utterly dismissive. She said I could leave if I didn’t like it.
So I started to do research on the building and reading posts on your blog.
I figured out that she wasn’t even the real owner, merely the building manager. Also the building is being illegally rented out and she doesn’t have a BBL.
I called DCRA and tweeted with Mike Rupert about making an appointment to have building inspected.
I also told my landlord that I would be putting my rent into escrow if things didn’t get fixed and straightened out with DC Zoning.
Then someone snitched to her that I made an upcoming appointment with the DCRA to do inspection. She went ballistic on me.
I actually recorded her swearing at me and telling me that she would take my cats to the SPCA and throw my things on the lawn if I caused more problems for her. I told her that I know my rights and that only US Marshals can make people move out in DC.
She replied that just because there are laws that that doesn’t mean she follows them. I was so shocked and scared that I placated the crazy woman, canceled the DCRA inspection while she watched me do it and paid rent.
In the meantime I left the building and an acquaintance has been staying in my room where I still have my bed and furniture. I caught my landlady in a good mood and have a text with approval for someone to stay in my room. I am afraid if I leave the room furnished but don’t stay there that she will throw my stuff out and replace me.
Now things have come to a head again and landlady has flipped out again.
Long story short I need a good suggestion for a decent tenant lawyer.
If you have any suggestions I’d appreciate it.”
I think you should just go with a friend and remove your belongings immediately. I don’t think this situation needs to be drawn out. And that is exactly what I would do. It sounded like she would let you out of the lease, right? So is the only concern getting your belongings? Getting your deposit? I feel like this is a cut and run and situation.
What would you guys do in this situation?
Photo by PoPville flickr user AWard Tour
This morning I received an email from DCRA’s Helder Gil asking if I could ask for readers’ thoughts on how the city could simplify the licensing process for someone looking to rent out their home/condo/basement. I think it’s great DCRA is soliciting feedback like this:
“Dear PoP,
“Generally, we have different license types depending on whether renting out a multi-unit building, a condo unit, an entire house, or a basement. We list the info on requirements here.
We often hear complaints from small landlords about the time and hassles it can take for them to get a rental license from us. Partly that’s because we require the property to pass an inspection before we’ll issue a license. One idea that’s been suggested to us is to issue the license and conduct a property inspection afterwards (we also conduct inspections any time we receive a tenant complaint). I’m interested in gauging people’s reaction to that idea, as well as to try to get other thoughts on how that process could be simplified.”
How would you like to see the process changed?
Photo by PoPville flickr user ekelly80
“Dear PoP,
I own my condo and rent out the second bedroom to my roommate. She expressed interests in subleasing her bedroom during the holidays for 3 weeks, which I was ok with initially, but then I remembered that I wasn’t going to be home either. So if she ends up subleasing to a complete stranger, that person is going to have the place to him/herself for at least 2 weeks. My condo is completely furnished with my stuff, not to mention I have all my personal information stored there. If anything gets stolen, what legal actions can I take? Would my roommate be responsible for replacing the stolen items, will condo insurance cover things like this? What are the steps I need to take to protect myself from liabilities (other than telling her no she can’t sublease)?”
Hmm, with concerns like this (which I think are valid) I probably wouldn’t permit a sublease for such a short term. But if you already said yes, not sure what can be done about it now. What do you guys think?
