07-21-2009, 07:44 PM
This is a one year lease renewal. Coincidentally, the one year lease hasn't even started yet, and will go into effect at the same time as this change I was just notified of. If they had increased my rate by $5 or added the garbage fee at the time I signed the renewal, I would have agreed and it would be no problem. Nothing was mentioned at that time, and this is apparently some spur of the moment decision. But this change is affecting every tenant regardless of where they are in their lease term.
The lease includes a clause "Landlord, where not required by law, may discontinue any facilities, amenities, gratuities or such services rendered by Landlord and furnished to several residents on a common basis, not expressly covenanted herein; it being understood that they constitute no part of the consideration for this Lease." They claim that free trash disposal was such a thing, and that they are discontinuing it. But the reality is that they are just charging for it, and it becomes a mandatory fee that I have not agreed to. Whether legal or not, it is a breech of trust from my point of view.
The lease includes a clause "Landlord, where not required by law, may discontinue any facilities, amenities, gratuities or such services rendered by Landlord and furnished to several residents on a common basis, not expressly covenanted herein; it being understood that they constitute no part of the consideration for this Lease." They claim that free trash disposal was such a thing, and that they are discontinuing it. But the reality is that they are just charging for it, and it becomes a mandatory fee that I have not agreed to. Whether legal or not, it is a breech of trust from my point of view.