Landlords

We rent our home. After 1 1/2 years, the original landlord sold it. He's a developer, he doesn't hang on to property if he can help it. The current landlord is now selling. I think she's in a fiscal bind. They were both typical landlords (in other words, evil or stupid).

The first transition went smoothly enough, in that it didn't affect us. So I wasn't too worried when she told me she was selling. But recent events have given me concern. I'm worried we might get sold to someone who wants to live in the house, and won't renew our lease, or that she'll try to get us to fix up the place, or the new landlord will have unreasonable terms such as higher rent.

I hate moving. Nothing affordable is in a decent school attendance area. I hate landlords. We aren't ready to buy though, my husband has 2 years of school, I have 2 years left on my postdoc fellowship, future jobs are uncertain. The recent problems have started us looking into options, which is exactly what we did the first time our house was sold to a new landlord.

Thoughts? Ideas? Anyone know how much a landlord can hassle a tenant when they're wanting to sell a property? Just what are we responsible for? We used to own a house, and when we sold it, boy howdy I worked my tail off night and day keeping it spotless. I'm not about to do that for her.

It does depend on the state you are in. Being a landlord myself, I'm fairly familiar with the British Columbia (Canada) Residential Tenancy Act. You should be able to find the similar document for your state online.

Here, if I sell my rental house, the new owners must give 2 months notice to the tenants that they are going to move into it, and I think they have to give the tenants one month of free rent.

Tenants are supposed to cooperate with the landlord with regards to having the house ready to view, and are always supposed to be given 24 hours notice.

Check into the rules in your area. You may have some protection, but, if a landlord wants to move in, or sell again, there's only so much you can do.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

Most of what you want to know should be in your lease.

If I were you, I'd try to comply with your landloard's needs. If she's selling for financial reasons, she could end up in foreclosure, and then you'll have no chance of staying in your home. If, on the other hand, you show your place in good condition, and she is able to find a buyer in this terrible housing market, the next owner may see you as an asset to the building, and want you to stay. It's not fun for a landloard to look for a tenant.

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Originally Posted by redrhodie

It's not fun for a landloard to look for a tennant.

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as a former landlord I can certainly attest to that.

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Originally Posted by zencentury

as a former landlord I can certainly attest to that.

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I was just wondering how many landlords on TE have now been called evil, stupid, and hated.

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Originally Posted by Starfish

I was just wondering how many landlords on TE have now been called evil, stupid, and hated.

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hehehe

We have a similar thing going on and I was just thinking of posting about it.

We have lived in this apartment for 5 years (month to month). I'm starting to hear things about the landlord selling the place and the new owner want to make these into condos. We have a small real estate boom going on here (due to oil and gas drilling) amid all the housing crisis in the rest of the country.

There was a surveying crew here this week. I asked them what they were doing and they were surveying and measuring it for condos, they said.

My landlord ok an ok guy (not great, but ok). A fellow tenant we are friends with has been doing carpeting and flooring work in the landlords house and the landlord has not said anything about the sale of the apt buildings. There are a couple of elderly ladies here that have lived in the complex for 20+ years.

I'm not sure what people look for in condos. These apts are in ok to mediocre condition. Most are <1000sq ft. They all need new windows and doors. The windows are single pane and let the cold in. Heat had been included in the rent, so they all heat off one or two boilers. They also share water heaters. Can condos do that? None of them have washers and dryers in them, they have to use a common room of them.

There are not many apartments for rent in this town now, especially for renters with 2 cats. I hate to move out of this neighborhood, we are friends with many folks here in the complex and in some of the houses nearby. This is walking distance to many things for us also.

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Originally Posted by Starfish

I was just wondering how many landlords on TE have now been called evil, stupid, and hated.

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I sure am glad I'm not a landlord (landlady?) any longer! :eek: ;)

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Originally Posted by Starfish

I was just wondering how many landlords on TE have now been called evil, stupid, and hated.

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I did say only "typical" landlords are evil or stupid. I am always open to the possibility that there exists, in theory, a landlord who is not typical. Or that the earth is actually flat. ;)
Seriously...I know people whom I believe to be basically decent people, who are landlords. However, I personally have never had a landlord who fell into that category.

Thanks for the thoughts & feedback. I guess we'll probably cooperate and do what we can to help her, I just really hate this situation. I've heard horror stories about terrible tenants and I just want to scream, "We're good tenants!" We pay on time, we don't destroy the place with unruly pets, parties, drug habits, or negligence. Why can't anyone appreciate that?

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Originally Posted by Melalvai

I did say only "typical" landlords are evil or stupid. I am always open to the possibility that there exists, in theory, a landlord who is not typical. Or that the earth is actually flat. ;)

<snip> Why can't anyone appreciate that?

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Many people can appreciate it. Just not the ones you are dealing with, apparently. It is too bad that, somehow, over the years you have been associated with so many bad landlords.

And, having been a renter for years upon years, as well as also being involved with property management, I can say that as a residential tenant, I have never had a landlord I would call evil or stupid. Not saying there aren't plenty out there or that I don't know of any, I just haven't personally had one. I'm sorry that you have. So, in my experience, the typical landlord is neither evil nor stupid.

I bristle at huge generalities and stereotypes of "typical" anything being tossed around on TE.

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Originally Posted by surlypacer

We have a similar thing going on and I was just thinking of posting about it.

We have lived in this apartment for 5 years (month to month). I'm starting to hear things about the landlord selling the place and the new owner want to make these into condos. We have a small real estate boom going on here (due to oil and gas drilling) amid all the housing crisis in the rest of the country.

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It sounds like that is what's happening based on all your info. There may be laws that govern if/how/when tenants can be removed for condo conversion. It's worth checking into. At the very least, you should be entitled to some relocation...but you say you are month-to-month, so without a longer lease, those rules might not apply. Still worth finding out, though.

I'm a landlord and a renter (long story). I think I'm a pretty good landlord, and I know I'm a good tenant, probably because I'm also a landlord (and vice-versa). I am looking forward to purchasing the condo I've reserved so that I can not be a tenant anymore, however. I'm finding it hard to make this apartment a real home for me, since I can't do what I want with it. It's also expensive, and my condo will be alot less.

after being evicted twice in two years, we decided never again and bought our first house. The first eviction was without cause (the land lady decided that the house I was living in was finally nice enough for her own daughter after i fixed it up) and with a 2 week old baby we had to find another place to live. I'd lived there for 3 years and had never been even a day late with the rent.
the second time was due to my husband's less than stellar reaction to the landlord the day that he went into the small building which we used as storage and laundry room and painted the inside of it without covering our things. He also re-hooked up the washing machine backwards so that we were washing our baby's diapers in COLD water and couldn't figure out why he was getting such nasty rashes.

-happy homeowner.

I like to think that I'm not an evil or stupid landlord. I've got a property management company that handles the rental for me, and I've never said no to repairs or upkeep, except when a new tenant wanted me to cut a hole in the basement wall and install an egress window, when we explicitly told them before moving in that the basement was not a legal bedroom.

So I hope my tenant doesn't think badly of me, but as long as the rent comes in on time I don't really care.

I certainly don't think all or even most landlords are evil or bad; I just prefer to have that modicum of control over my life that you don't get as a renter.

if i want to put a hole in my wall or paint a horse mural on it, I don't like having to get permission

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Originally Posted by Starfish

I bristle at huge generalities and stereotypes of "typical" anything being tossed around on TE.

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I don't think anyone on TE is ever the typical anything. :D

I had the greatest landlord ever when I lived in England. I miss him.

Now I rent from a large company that is terrible. Last year our rent went up by 48% yet when I put in a repair order to get the leaky taps fixed the repair guy argued with me and said they're supposed to leak. When I put in a repair order because our toilet wouldn't flush I got a letter in the mailbox a month later informing me that it was fixed. No one had come to fix it. I guess they hoped I would just believe the letter. At least we had heat this winter. The first winter we lived here I submitted a repair order in October about the heating and it didn't get fixed until the following April. We spent most of that winter huddled under blankets with one electric heater cranked up. Most of our neighbours have moved to Saskatchewan. I don't know how much longer we can stay here either.

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Originally Posted by kat_h

I don't think anyone on TE is ever the typical anything. :D

I had the greatest landlord ever when I lived in England. I miss him.

Now I rent from a large company that is terrible. Last year our rent went up by 48% yet when I put in a repair order to get the leaky taps fixed the repair guy argued with me and said they're supposed to leak. When I put in a repair order because our toilet wouldn't flush I got a letter in the mailbox a month later informing me that it was fixed. No one had come to fix it. I guess they hoped I would just believe the letter. At least we had heat this winter. The first winter we lived here I submitted a repair order in October about the heating and it didn't get fixed until the following April. We spent most of that winter huddled under blankets with one electric heater cranked up. Most of our neighbours have moved to Saskatchewan. I don't know how much longer we can stay here either.

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Sounds like it's time to move. Aren't there other places to live in Calgary without having to move to Saskatchewan?

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Originally Posted by divingbiker

I like to think that I'm not an evil or stupid landlord. I've got a property management company that handles the rental for me

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I bet "property management company" is a key phrase here. All of our landlords have tried to that themselves, and were utterly incompetent.

Sorry for the vitriolic attitude. Between this, and some unrelated stuff going on, I've had a rotton week. I probably should have put it on the Dear So and So thread instead of making its own thread.

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Originally Posted by surlypacer

We have lived in this apartment for 5 years (month to month). I'm starting to hear things about the landlord selling the place and the new owner want to make these into condos. We have a small real estate boom going on here (due to oil and gas drilling) amid all the housing crisis in the rest of the country.

There was a surveying crew here this week. I asked them what they were doing and they were surveying and measuring it for condos, they said.

I'm not sure what people look for in condos. These apts are in ok to mediocre condition. Most are <1000sq ft. They all need new windows and doors. The windows are single pane and let the cold in. Heat had been included in the rent, so they all heat off one or two boilers. They also share water heaters. Can condos do that? None of them have washers and dryers in them, they have to use a common room of them.

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(Caveat, all my information is based on California law, but the UBC applies to everyone so I am fairly confident in making generalizations.) Condos can't share water heaters, boilers, etc. so condo conversion will often involve a substantial amount of construction - new plumbing and gas lines, for example. Depending on how old the apartments are, the construction can be substantial - taking the units down to the studs to upgrade for revisions to the building codes including firewalls (new drywall), new windows, doors, roofs and exterior siding. From what you've described, these units simply couldn't be sold as condos in the condition they're in. They don't meet code.

I would not expect that anyone could live in the units while conversion is going on. If your lease is month to month, I would not be surprised if the new owner terminates the lease. Sorry. :(

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Originally Posted by tulip

Sounds like it's time to move. Aren't there other places to live in Calgary without having to move to Saskatchewan?

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Housing prices tripled and quadrupled in the last couple of years. It's at the point where over 50% of the homeless people in the city have full time jobs. We need to get significantly better paying jobs, pray for a bust, or leave. I've applied to go back to university so right now we're waiting to hear about that before doing anything.

I'm wearing two pair of oven mitts right now ;)

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

(Caveat, all my information is based on California law, but the UBC applies to everyone so I am fairly confident in making generalizations.) Condos can't share water heaters, boilers, etc. so condo conversion will often involve a substantial amount of construction - new plumbing and gas lines, for example. ...

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Not the case in Virginia. But it's more cost effective to renovate when all the units are empty. There are laws (in US) about relocating tenants, but with month-to-month, I don't think it applies.

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Originally Posted by zencentury

I'm wearing two pair of oven mitts right now ;)

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Like these :D?

It's not only cost effective to renovate when the unit is vacant it's more humane. I'm living in a remodel right now. I would not ask anyone to do this. Not even for free/waved rent.

With the market what it is now many are giving up on selling and renting out instead.