Landlord wants us to sign an entirely new contract!

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VictoriaF
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Re: Landlord wants us to sign an entirely new contract!

Post by VictoriaF »

inbox788 wrote:
Epsilon Delta wrote:
inbox788 wrote: Have you ever leased an apartment? Did you have a discussion and conversations before even talking about paperwork and signatures? Or did you just ask for the lease and sign it?
When I lease an apartment I ask for the lease, read it, negotiate the objectionable parts and sign the amended lease. Prior discussion with the landlord is worth the paper it's printed on. It's a waste of time to discuss details without a draft contract and a red pen. When I've come to an oral agreement I've still had to keep amending the contract produced by the landlord to get the agreed terms in writing. Sometimes they don't even get the address right.
You must be a lawyer. :happy Do you ask about washer/dryer vs laundry room and location? Parking spaces and location? I'd say that's another common important discussion item. Lease probably says less about these things than you'd like.

I'm guessing/hoping you're in the minority here. I just don't see landlords freely handing out leases without a discussion or tenants not talking to potential landlords. If I was a landlord, I would make it a point to make clear what I was providing and paying for and what the tenant was responsible for. So even if you didn't ask, I'd tell you the what I'd consider the major points, which are the items being discussed here. And as a tenant, I'd ask about them as well, and I would expect this starts with the first conversation when screen potential rentals.
The more experience one has with renting, the more areas she or he pays attention to. I do ask about parking and laundry, because I use them regularly.

Victoria
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interplanetjanet
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Re: Landlord wants us to sign an entirely new contract!

Post by interplanetjanet »

Zabar wrote:
morbster wrote:The main things that are affected are the services provided. Rent would be unchanged, but in the current contract, lawn care, water, trash, and sewage are all part of the lease agreement. The landlord would remove those responsibilities in the "correct" contract.
These are reasonable expenses traditionally borne by the tenant of a single family home but not the tenant of an apartment. All but the lawn care are probably trivial. It sounds like an honest mistake by the landlord. Be a mensch and sign the new lease.
Again, I don't think this is true. At the vast majority of houses I've rented (all but one, and even that one covered it at first), the landlord covered water & sewer.

Water/sewer/trash for a sizable house here can run around $200/mo in my area in town, and is set to go up. I don't call that trivial.
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