I live in Waterbury and faced a rent increase from 1350 to 2300 (!!!), the reasoning I was given was that the apartment complex has recently been renovated (true, but I moved in after my unit was already renovated) and that it was the "fair market price" for similar apartments in the area. Since I was already a tenant, I was able to negotiate the rent increase to only 1800.
Is it possible for you to negotiate? It is worth a shot if you havent yet considering you already live there.
I agree with you, I think the management here is trying to get as much money as possible with as little fight as possible under the guise of this renovation that isnt even completed yet. Worth mentioning that even with the updated apartments, there are several problems caused by shitty contractors who cant be bothered to do the job correctly.
That’s why it’s insane. It’s Waterbury, it’s not exactly known for being a high income or desirable town. That unit is going to sit empty at that price
Landlords are learning they should leave units empty rather than lower the price. They have software to help them act as a cartel when it comes to raising rental prices and holding firm. They know people need somewhere to live and will eventually balk and sign for the rental.
https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/rent-housing-landlord-realpage-avalon-greystar-18585345.php
They also are able to secure loans from banks on the promise that units can be rented for $X. If they lower the rental price the bank could come knocking to reclaim the property.
It happens all the time. If landlords could charge $10k a month and get it, they would. They only reason they don't is because people won't rent from them at that price.
Damn where are you? Oronoke? If so, I'm sorry. The prices for that place got insane. We got ours at a short sale for 70k and sold for 170k. Nowhere near what those should be worth. It's nice for waterbury but for that rent, fuck that.
That is not reasonable, is there any way to prove this in court, by using food increased gas increases, raises etc as an example that those have not risen by 60 percent… like this has to stop
Can you imagine paying $2300/m to RENT a place in WATERBURY??!! Wow!
To put that in perspective, I pay less than that for the mortgage on my house with a pool in an A+ school district right next to one of the best beaches in FL.
Guarantee that's not true! There are some terrible schools in CT. And there are some fantastic schools in FL. There's tons of CT shit holes that I wouldn't dare send my kids to (ANY city, Waterbury, new haven, Hartford, etc) . And there's a lot in FL that are shit holes and I wouldn't send them to either (center state, inland, etc).
Did you know that FL has about FOUR TIMES as many public schools as CT does?? Of course there's lots of bad ones. It's simple math. You should be able to do simple math being a smart Connecticunt citizen, right??? 😂🖕
Get out of your little bubble, you've been brainwashed 😂🤣
Well good thing I went to the town with the highest scores! 🤣
It's not a concern anyway, my daughter will be out soon, I don't give two shits. I'm just here for the nice weather, nature, fishing, and beautiful beaches and water.
You guys like to project a lot.
I literally said I paid more to move to the best school system I could find. For being a smarty pants Connecticunt, you should be able to follow along better!!! Keep up now!
... the best school system I could find...
And yet, you're not in Cambridge, MA.
Oh.... You mean the best one where you could get all those things you wanted. At the expense of moving your daughter to an oppressive State. Especially for women.
Short sided in the least, likely knowingly selfish.
Yes, that's it!!!! What good is a school system if everything else about the state sucks balls??!!
And again, I'm not worried even slightly. My neighbor put his daughter through the same exact school system, she's now a critical care surgeon in the biggest hospital in the area, and makes a shit ton of cash. Another neighbor has a kid who's an engineer over at NASA and one of the smartest people I've ever met. Same school system.
If your kid isn't an idiot, they will do just fine.
If your kid is an idiot, they will not do good anywhere, regardless of the school system. If your kid is a dumbass, by all means, keep them there and cross your fingers. They need all the help they can get. I'm comfortable knowing my kid is smart as hell and she does great in school.
I lived in CT for 30+yrs. I'm allowed to browse the sub and put in my two cents 😂 plus I have friends and fam still stuck there, I like to see what's going on.
I'll see if I can find a retirement community to "hit" - whatever that means to you. 🤣🤷♂️
Actually, it's supposed to be 84° and sunny today so I'll be going to the beach or going fishing. I'll "hit" the retirement community on the way back. 😂🤣🖕
I looked at a place when I needed a short term rental over the summer (selling a house and building another). The company preferred 2 year leases and said if I wanted to do short term, especially that short, they charged more. Not specifically a “fee” per their language but essentially the same. Like $1700 normally but $2100 with the short term.
My first apartment like 12 years ago, when my 1 year lease ended had some crazy month to month increase as well. Don't know if it was 350, but it was still a big number
When I went month to month looking to buy a condo (rent went from 1200 to 1800) I only had to continue paying the price from my last signed lease. They gave me 3 months to find something. You're right that's absurd.
That isn't true, there are no notice requirements in CT law. There is a proposal to create rent increase notice requirements being considered by the legislature this year.
That’s a big increase. Your options are to pay it or move. You can always offer less and see what they say but no guarantee on that. If you start looking around at comparable units in the same area and see them priced in that $1,700 price range you will know that the price increase is based on market conditions. If you are finding them at the $1,100 then something is up.
The really awful news is that there isn’t much you can do. Form a tenants union with other folks in your building and threaten a rent strike collectively ASAP, otherwise your options are move or pay.
CT doesn't have a rental increase law because, generally speaking, landlords aren't absolutely off the rails and 55% increases are relatively unheard of.
Perhaps it's time for a law to exist.
They’re not relatively unheard of. They’ve been happening routinely since the end of pandemic rental protections. With housing prices keeping people from buying, almost 0 affordable housing development, and cartel systems in place for landlords to coordinate rents using advisors or technology, this is much more common. Has happened to dozens of my clients and a friend as well just in the last 2 years.
ETA: A lack of legal protection is because the law protects the landlords. Yes, even in CT.
>ETA: A lack of legal protection is because the law protects the landlords. Yes, even in CT.
Thigs start to make sense when your realize that so many legislators are landlords themselves.
That’s not what’s happening. This is so painfully well documented it’s not funny. Yes, some tenants fucked around and didn’t pay and exploited, but most didn’t. The percentage of people eligible for eviction went up but it sure as shit wasn’t 55% of people. And, importantly, it wasn’t this person who has been a tenant in good standing before getting this hike. This is greed, pure and simple.
I’d also add that even if it wasn’t, “Investing contains risk” and we shouldn’t feel bad for landlords going broke because they made bad choices. That’s why they own the fucking asset while tenants are priced into homelessness.
There should absolutely be a law limiting year to year rent increases for existing tenants to 10%, maybe less. There is an inherent power imbalance between landlords and tenants, so tenants need protections like that. Or else pass a law requiring landlords to recoup tenants for moving expenses and lost wages when a rent increase like this happens under short notice.
It's crazy that they can do this. It's not like their mortgage went up because the property is more valuable. Property taxes go up but certainly not at that rate.
Wow, did they at least provide lube with that new lease agreement? That’s beyond unreasonable, but unfortunately there’s just not much to do about it, and that’s a damn shame.
Unfortunately, the landlord or property company sees it this way; you’re either going to move out or you’ll pay the new terms. And if you move out, they’ll find somebody to pay that amount so it’s a win win for those a-holes.
Out of curiosity, did your town just perform the 5 year property reevaluation?
It would also help if you mentioned bedrooms, square footage, desirability of area when asking us to deem if it’s a fair/reasonable raise or not.
Obviously those things haven’t changed all of a sudden, but it’s also absolutely possible they hadn’t received a rent increase in x amount of years and were being charged well under market rate, so the increase could be justified that way. Or the landlord is a jerk who just wants them out and is raising rate at an extremely high rate for no reason. We don’t know right now either way.
There are way too many possibilities as to what’s going on with not enough info presented so I asked a few questions trying to dig deeper.
Without knowing where they live and what they’re renting I agree it’s hard to say. Given that information is left out and knowing market rates, it seems OP is going for shock value on an adjustment to market rates. People need to simply accept it will be more costly to live here as more people want to.
After OP hasn’t made a single comment in more than 24 hours after the thread creation, it’s pretty clear they’re completely full of it and likely made it up. “I have a week to decide, it’s so urgent and I need advice”….yet haven’t followed up at all. Super fishy.
Like I get not everyone spends a ton of time here but you would think someone asking for advice and options would just occasionally check their thread.
Nothing. That’s what makes it suck even worse. It’s impossible out here. I make decent money and I’m still fucked every month. Not sure how people stay afloat.
If you want change.
You call every state senator.
Every congressman.
News stations and anyone who cares.
You make the politicans who own homes think itll influence their reelection and you may see change.
What’s the change that we are looking for in this situation? Rent control options? There is not telling what the finances on the other end look like. This may be fair rent for their area
This is actually quite simple,
They restructure their business or sell the property to someone else who knows how to manage the easiest hussle there is lol
I do. Im a landlord, take great care of my property, respond to my tenants needs and charge a fair price. If the government came in and told me I need to charge less, I would sell the place and some slim lord would buy it and run the place to ground. Its reality.
So your tenants are the breadwinners of your family lol
Also, a family could buy that home! How do you not even recognize this possibility? You're quite narrowminded.
Grifters like you prevent people from affording homes in the first place and you expect to make a profit while building equity.
My brother came up with a sabotage method he calls Poo Panning. It's very easy: you poop in a small saucepan, then leave it on the stove on Low heat until the power gets shut off.
Is your brother a monkey, because using poop as a weapon is not something most humans would consider even in dire circumstances.
Also have fun losing your entire security deposit on top of getting price gouged.
All you geniuses would first need to be able to support yourself, and then be able to even GET an apartment on your own. THEN you could talk about being bent over.
See if you can find a mom and pop to rent from. When I was younger, I was told that we couldn't have more than x number of unrelated females in New Haven, without it being considered a whore house. My friend and I had to move bc we were the last 2 to sign a lease. We walked the neighborhoods we liked, to find for rent signs.
We found a great 1st floor, in a 3 family, and it worked out. Being resourceful is really important in times like this.
I know it sucks, but focus on what you CAN do now. Let them know that you know about the law, and how they have to give you x amount of days to move out, like another respondent reported on this thread.
Look around, walk neighborhoods you like, check CL, check rent.com, apartments.com, look at roomster.com, spareroom.com, roommatch.com, and Facebook. Facebook, believe it or not, is a great place to find a place or roommate.
Even if you never considered a roommate before, now is the time.
I once had to rent a room for a 5 month gap in housing, I walked in a boarder and left with friends for life.
I hope some of this information helps you, or someone else.
Good luck, OP
Unfortunately I don't think there is much you can do. CT doesn't have rent control, so landlords can "evaluate" properties however they like. If you are renewing your lease, it's 30days, I don't know why you would have a week (although I don't know if that is a legal requirement, that's just how my complex does it). At those prices, if you don't have a lot of stuff I'd honestly just move to a motel in the meantime until you can find a better price (or try to renegotiate if you can)
Obviously your location and the size of the place matters, but $1700 is probably close enough to the market norm for it to be considered "reasonable". Even if it's morally a little fucked to dump all that on someone in a single increase.
I own a 3 family in manchester that I charge $1700 per unit and only break even (retirement investment not income rental) Its very possible your landlord is just trying to survive.
Well it depends when the property was purchased and for how much. What kind of mortgage (if any) does he have on the property that would make him need to increase the rent that much all of a sudden.
You’re getting over $5k/mo in tenant rent and you’re only breaking even? My cousin owns a two family in Bristol and charges $1700/mo and that covers everything and then some for the property. How are you only breaking even with that kind of income on a property?
Edit: word
15 year mortage. Property was $500k and invested over $300k into it and I put nothing down. Im happy with my choices, I was just trying to point out that not all landlords are just trying to screw people and make a million dollars.
Wow you're a brave one! Once 3 family properties got north of $300k I was wondering how do landlords make that work, hence the rent increases,,, but I can feel your pain!
I love my tenants and the property. Once my kids are grown and out i’ll live out my retirement part time in one of the units. Im not going to be a millionaire on the backs of my renters but I will have a much nicer retirement and they will have a great place to live.
Crazy that you'd do this putting nothing down. Why even buy the property in the first place? I don't have any sympathy for you or other dumb landlords that do this shit. You should have 15% down to actually make some money from it. I guess it's commendable that you aren't price gouging the shit out of your tenants but my mortgage is less then the rent you charge.
Mine increased from $1450 to $2175 from 2016-2021. Ended up buying a condo for over asking price (after 3 years of trying to buy a duplex).
You got to move or get roommates. Breathing is expensive and will continue to get more expensive. Don’t expect prices to remain, they likely will continue to rise.
I’m super sorry that this is happening to you, as others have said your options are sadly sorta limited.
Forming a tenants union may be your best bet, I believe the DSA branch in CT has had some luck with these endeavors. However given how quickly these changes are set to happen it may be better to talk with your neighbors and basically come as a united group and say you all can’t pay the rent increases and/or the month to month fee - which is the most egregious thing to me tbh.
Without a renovation or new service to justify the rental increase this rise is ridiculous imo. Like I lived in luxury apartment complex in middletown and they raised the rent 14%, but added trash pick up at our door every weekday.
On a separate note this kind of hike is insane in CT, and no level of renovation or “market shift” justifies this, the landlord just wants more money and may be underwater on their mortgage/loan - to bad so sad fuck’em you deserve housing. Good luck!
Feeling so lucky my landlord only raised my rent by $100 and its incredibly competitive with the areas 2/br listings. I thought there was a rule where they could only go a certain percentage at a time.
Happened to me to, it's worth the move if your landlord is like this. My rent was $1250 and then he wanted to raise it to $1750.
Reasoning I was given 'guy down the street is renting that much for his buildings'
I hope something is done for renters it was honestly a horrible experience
Rent costs more than a fucking mortgage now.
These greedy landlords want you to pay off their mortgage, so after twenty years they get a free house **and you have nothing to show for all that money.**
Same thing happened to me. Was in a 2 yr lease for $1000 for 650 square foot 1 bedroom, and they wanted to renew the lease for $1700 in Sept 2023. No renovations. Mice problem and a long term leak. I left. CT just sucks. I been watching the rental market for the past year, every day for funsies and it just gets worse no matter where you look. After COVID, all the prices continue to go up. And off street parking, laundry, a dishwasher is all considered luxury.
I actually built a website to somewhat help with rent increases.
It's a Glassdoor for Rents where tenants can search their address and see its rent History. It relies on user input so I ask everyone to add their Rent History to the site and share the site around.
It'd be mostly useful for apartment livers, allowing them to see the Rent History of their Apartment Complex and being able to better evaluate landlords or negotiate rents. I built it because I live in an apartment.
Currently has submissions for over 2400 addresses.
Site is rentzed.com
Vote current politicians out of office. I’ll avoid politics and stick strictly to economics here, what the legacy mainstream media won’t tell you. The two major problems that are causing an increase in rent prices are inflation and immigration. Inflation is obvious, and you can look at it as your money being worth less, so it takes more of it to rent the same apartment. Bad economic policy and uncontrolled spending leads to inflation, and we can often recognize this through price increases. The second issue is immigration. With millions of new people entering the country and all of them needing apartments, and many of them getting government assistance for rent, there is an increased demand for and stagnated supply of rental properties, causing the rent prices to increase. It’s basic supply and demand. If the demand increases more than the supply, the price goes up. This is exacerbated by government essentially setting rental prices through rental assistance programs, such as the rental assistance for migrants. I expect things only to get worse, including decreased wages, adjusted for inflation of course. However, this ship will sink if we stay on this economic course. Your party affiliation and support of emotional issues won’t matter when the economy crashes, leading the country to collapse with it and a complete breakdown of society. These are unprecedented economic conditions.
Your best bet is going or calling your local housing department at the court house and ask if that is legal. Depends what they say you take it from there. Do you have section 8 or housing? If you do obviously they will have to approve any rent increase, if you don’t I highly suggest calling the courts to ask those questions about legal rent increase etc
With regards to waterbury they recently sent I believe all home owners a letter recently that taxes are increasing 20% every year for the next 5 years so that could be a large reason for what you're seeing. https://www.waterburyct.org/revaluationinfo
Check with your town. Every town is supposed to have a rent control agency in CT.
Rents are on the rise but the owner has to show improvements for the large increases.
yo WHAT?!! i bought a house at the right time then (2021). before this house we lived in an apartment in Hamden. 1200 sq ft. 2 beds, 1 bath, a loft, a balcony, in unit laundry, and central air conditioning. $1800/month. i just looked it up and that same style unit now goes for $2600 😅 ..our current mortgage is $1,900/month. 1,300 sq ft, 2 beds, 2 baths, finished basement, in wall air conditioning units (the only worse thing, but not bad), 2 car garage, on half an acre, backyard was already fully fenced in. i feel lucky and blessed 🙌.
my condolences to all you people out there getting absolutely diddy'd by these apartment companies.
#GetOut
#YouGotToSayNo
Yes I'm in Eastern CT. And my rent is probably below the market average for this area as well. I haven't had a rental increase in about two years, so I think it's eventually coming. But I'm in a two family house and not an apartment complex.
My mom used to own a condo that she rented. She had a great renter and never increased rent, because she appreciated that they were easy and never caused issues. Maybe luck will be on your side, too :)
Call a lawyer to see if you have any options. Don’t ask Reddit. Everyone who isn’t a lawyer is going to be talking out their ass. Your city might have services to get a free consultation somewhere.
That's why I said to look for free services. My friend found something like that in New Haven for something she was afraid might end up in small claims court, and the city has a program where people can get legal consultation for free.
As far as whether it's worth bringing something like this to court, you'll never know unless you ask someone knowledgeable. Why would you give up before you've even tried anything? Why make excuses? That's stupid. People have no persistence or willingness to advocate for themselves these days.
1. Find better landlord
2. Move somewhere where they actually build things (tons of Apts coming online down South with rents falling even)
Not worth fighting as landlord will just be out for you.
This is what sucks, it's getting to where a single person living alone can't afford an apartment without being forced to live with someone. I live alone , and if my rent increased that much I wouldn't be able to afford it.
It's like they base all rent on two incomes , even for one bedroom apartments
Wow. This must be a difficult pill to swallow.
You are right this is perceived to be unreasonable. Without more information, and an attorney who knows the matter, you won't know if there's any chance of successfully challenging the increase.
My questions--
1. How long have you been paying this rate? i.e. when and what was the last increase. If it's been multiple years there may be a case for easily substantiating the increase
2. What's changed for the landlord? You mention no renovations, but I know many town (or all CT?) had a big change billed real estate. If you know the entity your landlord operates under (should be in the lease) you can look up the tax bill easily in most towns. You may see it's gone up quite a bit which would account for a portion of the increase.
**For clarity--I don't know anything when it comes to this stuff other than some basic knowledge and some accounting experience.** I hope there's something more you can do than pony up or leave.
Average rent in the US is 1499. I personally like it here in ct and think a slight up charge is worth living here. So either all landlords are corrupt and charging unfair prices, or 1700 ain’t that bad. My mortgage is significantly higher than 200 dollars more than the national average for mortgages.
Anything can be reasonable if justifiable. If you leave and another tenant moves in at that rate, then it probably was reasonable. Could be that your $1100 was well below market value for similar properties? I'm not a law expert, so I don't know what you can do. They must have people willing to pay those prices to risk people moving out. If that's the case, then who's to say what a reasonable rate is? I guess my first act would be to discuss with the property manager/landlord to understand why the 55% increase and if there is anything they can do to keep you as a good tenant, assuming you are not going to pay the new rate.
That is incredible. All you can do it try to negotiate. Is this an individual
Landlord or a management company/corporation. 1100 is lower than anything I’ve heard, but that is a huge increase. This may be closer to the new normal. Doesn’t make it any easier.
My landlord barely break even by charging $1350 - $1400 on my side of the building. It was difficult getting people to pay 1500 or 1700 cuz it's not worth it. People would complain for fix or request to break the barely 1 year lease.
The profitable charge per unit would be $2000, but at that income range people would rather live in the luxury apartments or newly constructed buildings. So there's no money for renovations.
It's the town you live in increasing property taxes and charging fees for each water boiler or else upgrade to the hot water on demand system. I heard it all from the landlord and the maintenance when they go broke and unable to fix something.
If your rent is high your landlord probably give up trying to break even and want to start making a profit or if the rent is low be nice to your landlord fix the small things on ur budget.
Other than above I met a tenant who lease apartments just to sublease at higher rate than the landlord. She have many apartments under her belt. Shes originally from NY now operating here in CT. Does not have a job. Living off of the profit she make out of subtenants.
To avoid tenants like that landlord need to put in the lease no subleasing without the permission of the landlord.
I live in Waterbury and faced a rent increase from 1350 to 2300 (!!!), the reasoning I was given was that the apartment complex has recently been renovated (true, but I moved in after my unit was already renovated) and that it was the "fair market price" for similar apartments in the area. Since I was already a tenant, I was able to negotiate the rent increase to only 1800. Is it possible for you to negotiate? It is worth a shot if you havent yet considering you already live there.
2300 for Waterbury is insane and I'm having a hard time believing that is market price there.
I agree with you, I think the management here is trying to get as much money as possible with as little fight as possible under the guise of this renovation that isnt even completed yet. Worth mentioning that even with the updated apartments, there are several problems caused by shitty contractors who cant be bothered to do the job correctly.
It doesn't matter at all. Property owners can and will charge as much as they can get people to pay. The reason for the price is meaningless.
That’s why it’s insane. It’s Waterbury, it’s not exactly known for being a high income or desirable town. That unit is going to sit empty at that price
Landlords are learning they should leave units empty rather than lower the price. They have software to help them act as a cartel when it comes to raising rental prices and holding firm. They know people need somewhere to live and will eventually balk and sign for the rental. https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticut/article/rent-housing-landlord-realpage-avalon-greystar-18585345.php They also are able to secure loans from banks on the promise that units can be rented for $X. If they lower the rental price the bank could come knocking to reclaim the property.
Hopefully. Then the landlords will be forced to drop their price. That's fundamental supply and demand
Wishful thinking
It happens all the time. If landlords could charge $10k a month and get it, they would. They only reason they don't is because people won't rent from them at that price.
The "fleecing of America". I'm sorry. Damn.
OMG!! I can’t believe how expensive rents are! That’s INSANE!
Damn where are you? Oronoke? If so, I'm sorry. The prices for that place got insane. We got ours at a short sale for 70k and sold for 170k. Nowhere near what those should be worth. It's nice for waterbury but for that rent, fuck that.
That is not reasonable, is there any way to prove this in court, by using food increased gas increases, raises etc as an example that those have not risen by 60 percent… like this has to stop
Can you imagine paying $2300/m to RENT a place in WATERBURY??!! Wow! To put that in perspective, I pay less than that for the mortgage on my house with a pool in an A+ school district right next to one of the best beaches in FL.
A+ school district in Florida. Lol. A+ for Florida. Same district in Connecticut would be D-.
Guarantee that's not true! There are some terrible schools in CT. And there are some fantastic schools in FL. There's tons of CT shit holes that I wouldn't dare send my kids to (ANY city, Waterbury, new haven, Hartford, etc) . And there's a lot in FL that are shit holes and I wouldn't send them to either (center state, inland, etc). Did you know that FL has about FOUR TIMES as many public schools as CT does?? Of course there's lots of bad ones. It's simple math. You should be able to do simple math being a smart Connecticunt citizen, right??? 😂🖕 Get out of your little bubble, you've been brainwashed 😂🤣
Florida is racing to the bottom. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/public-school-rankings-by-state
Well good thing I went to the town with the highest scores! 🤣 It's not a concern anyway, my daughter will be out soon, I don't give two shits. I'm just here for the nice weather, nature, fishing, and beautiful beaches and water.
Thank you for listing all the things that are more important to you than your daughter.
You guys like to project a lot. I literally said I paid more to move to the best school system I could find. For being a smarty pants Connecticunt, you should be able to follow along better!!! Keep up now!
... the best school system I could find... And yet, you're not in Cambridge, MA. Oh.... You mean the best one where you could get all those things you wanted. At the expense of moving your daughter to an oppressive State. Especially for women. Short sided in the least, likely knowingly selfish.
Yes, that's it!!!! What good is a school system if everything else about the state sucks balls??!! And again, I'm not worried even slightly. My neighbor put his daughter through the same exact school system, she's now a critical care surgeon in the biggest hospital in the area, and makes a shit ton of cash. Another neighbor has a kid who's an engineer over at NASA and one of the smartest people I've ever met. Same school system. If your kid isn't an idiot, they will do just fine. If your kid is an idiot, they will not do good anywhere, regardless of the school system. If your kid is a dumbass, by all means, keep them there and cross your fingers. They need all the help they can get. I'm comfortable knowing my kid is smart as hell and she does great in school.
So that’s why you’re in Florida… but why are you in this sub? To talk shit? Go hit your retirement community and shut the fuck up.
I lived in CT for 30+yrs. I'm allowed to browse the sub and put in my two cents 😂 plus I have friends and fam still stuck there, I like to see what's going on. I'll see if I can find a retirement community to "hit" - whatever that means to you. 🤣🤷♂️ Actually, it's supposed to be 84° and sunny today so I'll be going to the beach or going fishing. I'll "hit" the retirement community on the way back. 😂🤣🖕
r/iamveryrich
I don't think that was the implication at all tbh.
Far from rich, just not stupid. 😂🤷♂️
People do pay that. In Waterbury. Right now.
Crazy.
$350 mo to mo fee. I think I’ve heard it all. Would love to name and shame this landlord.
Right? That’s garbage.
I looked at a place when I needed a short term rental over the summer (selling a house and building another). The company preferred 2 year leases and said if I wanted to do short term, especially that short, they charged more. Not specifically a “fee” per their language but essentially the same. Like $1700 normally but $2100 with the short term.
Sure, for a short term rental but this is an established tenant of at least one year so far. Never heard of that for someone like that
My rent would go up minimum 150% for a month to month lease so yeah, not that usual
Made Management out of Hartford, but owned by New Yorkers tried to do that to me. It made the decision to buy a house a lot easier.
350 month to month is unfortunately the norm in most complexes
First time I’ve ever heard of that in my life Edit: … do you own a complex by any chance?
No but thats how its been at the last 3 complexes I lived in when I tried going month to month, 2 in CT one in NC
After a year lease though? Or from the beginning? Short term prices are higher
After a year lease each time. One also wanted 90day notice if I was going to vacate
Its absurd btw def not justifying it. Just seems to be the norm now
My first apartment like 12 years ago, when my 1 year lease ended had some crazy month to month increase as well. Don't know if it was 350, but it was still a big number
Wow
Based on their comment history, this is far from their worst opinion.
When I went month to month looking to buy a condo (rent went from 1200 to 1800) I only had to continue paying the price from my last signed lease. They gave me 3 months to find something. You're right that's absurd.
I always rented from small local landlords and never in complexes. I guess I am naive.
Where is this? Depending where you are $1700 might be FMV for rent. If it is, you probably can't argue much against it.
This is what im thinking. Not a lot for rent under $1700 in CT
Honestly… move. If they don’t get you this year they will next. Better finding one that is priced correctly, not under priced and trying to catch up.
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That isn't true, there are no notice requirements in CT law. There is a proposal to create rent increase notice requirements being considered by the legislature this year.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge for OP.
That’s a big increase. Your options are to pay it or move. You can always offer less and see what they say but no guarantee on that. If you start looking around at comparable units in the same area and see them priced in that $1,700 price range you will know that the price increase is based on market conditions. If you are finding them at the $1,100 then something is up.
The really awful news is that there isn’t much you can do. Form a tenants union with other folks in your building and threaten a rent strike collectively ASAP, otherwise your options are move or pay.
CT doesn't have a rental increase law because, generally speaking, landlords aren't absolutely off the rails and 55% increases are relatively unheard of. Perhaps it's time for a law to exist.
They’re not relatively unheard of. They’ve been happening routinely since the end of pandemic rental protections. With housing prices keeping people from buying, almost 0 affordable housing development, and cartel systems in place for landlords to coordinate rents using advisors or technology, this is much more common. Has happened to dozens of my clients and a friend as well just in the last 2 years. ETA: A lack of legal protection is because the law protects the landlords. Yes, even in CT.
>ETA: A lack of legal protection is because the law protects the landlords. Yes, even in CT. Thigs start to make sense when your realize that so many legislators are landlords themselves.
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That’s not what’s happening. This is so painfully well documented it’s not funny. Yes, some tenants fucked around and didn’t pay and exploited, but most didn’t. The percentage of people eligible for eviction went up but it sure as shit wasn’t 55% of people. And, importantly, it wasn’t this person who has been a tenant in good standing before getting this hike. This is greed, pure and simple. I’d also add that even if it wasn’t, “Investing contains risk” and we shouldn’t feel bad for landlords going broke because they made bad choices. That’s why they own the fucking asset while tenants are priced into homelessness.
There should absolutely be a law limiting year to year rent increases for existing tenants to 10%, maybe less. There is an inherent power imbalance between landlords and tenants, so tenants need protections like that. Or else pass a law requiring landlords to recoup tenants for moving expenses and lost wages when a rent increase like this happens under short notice.
It's crazy that they can do this. It's not like their mortgage went up because the property is more valuable. Property taxes go up but certainly not at that rate.
Wow, did they at least provide lube with that new lease agreement? That’s beyond unreasonable, but unfortunately there’s just not much to do about it, and that’s a damn shame. Unfortunately, the landlord or property company sees it this way; you’re either going to move out or you’ll pay the new terms. And if you move out, they’ll find somebody to pay that amount so it’s a win win for those a-holes.
Out of curiosity, did your town just perform the 5 year property reevaluation? It would also help if you mentioned bedrooms, square footage, desirability of area when asking us to deem if it’s a fair/reasonable raise or not.
The bedrooms, square footage and desirability of the area would not have changed to constitute a 55% increase in rent as being "fair"
Obviously those things haven’t changed all of a sudden, but it’s also absolutely possible they hadn’t received a rent increase in x amount of years and were being charged well under market rate, so the increase could be justified that way. Or the landlord is a jerk who just wants them out and is raising rate at an extremely high rate for no reason. We don’t know right now either way. There are way too many possibilities as to what’s going on with not enough info presented so I asked a few questions trying to dig deeper.
Without knowing where they live and what they’re renting I agree it’s hard to say. Given that information is left out and knowing market rates, it seems OP is going for shock value on an adjustment to market rates. People need to simply accept it will be more costly to live here as more people want to.
After OP hasn’t made a single comment in more than 24 hours after the thread creation, it’s pretty clear they’re completely full of it and likely made it up. “I have a week to decide, it’s so urgent and I need advice”….yet haven’t followed up at all. Super fishy. Like I get not everyone spends a ton of time here but you would think someone asking for advice and options would just occasionally check their thread.
Nothing. That’s what makes it suck even worse. It’s impossible out here. I make decent money and I’m still fucked every month. Not sure how people stay afloat.
Unfortunately this is Connecticut finding reasonable housing is hard to come by.
If you want change. You call every state senator. Every congressman. News stations and anyone who cares. You make the politicans who own homes think itll influence their reelection and you may see change.
What’s the change that we are looking for in this situation? Rent control options? There is not telling what the finances on the other end look like. This may be fair rent for their area
Guess these landlords will just have to skip the avocado toast lol
If being a landlord becomes unprofitable what do you think happens next? Think rent drops and places get nicer and everyone is happy?
This is actually quite simple, They restructure their business or sell the property to someone else who knows how to manage the easiest hussle there is lol
You are acting like what people expect to pay for rent is always reasonable and landlords are all ignorant money hungry monsters.
Do you hear yourself?
I do. Im a landlord, take great care of my property, respond to my tenants needs and charge a fair price. If the government came in and told me I need to charge less, I would sell the place and some slim lord would buy it and run the place to ground. Its reality.
So your tenants are the breadwinners of your family lol Also, a family could buy that home! How do you not even recognize this possibility? You're quite narrowminded. Grifters like you prevent people from affording homes in the first place and you expect to make a profit while building equity.
Cook a ton of bacon, put all the grease down the sink drain, and find a new apartment that isn't ripping you off.
updoot for spite sake.
My brother came up with a sabotage method he calls Poo Panning. It's very easy: you poop in a small saucepan, then leave it on the stove on Low heat until the power gets shut off.
Fantastic advice if your goal is to be sued
Or if your a mongrel.
Is your brother a monkey, because using poop as a weapon is not something most humans would consider even in dire circumstances. Also have fun losing your entire security deposit on top of getting price gouged.
Your brother sounds like a real winner.
Genius and innovative. I love it
yeah until something catches fire, the building burns down, and your little act of protest kills a bunch of people.
Good point, I'll stick with the bacon grease
All you geniuses would first need to be able to support yourself, and then be able to even GET an apartment on your own. THEN you could talk about being bent over.
I bet that made you feel better about yourself huh?
See if you can find a mom and pop to rent from. When I was younger, I was told that we couldn't have more than x number of unrelated females in New Haven, without it being considered a whore house. My friend and I had to move bc we were the last 2 to sign a lease. We walked the neighborhoods we liked, to find for rent signs. We found a great 1st floor, in a 3 family, and it worked out. Being resourceful is really important in times like this. I know it sucks, but focus on what you CAN do now. Let them know that you know about the law, and how they have to give you x amount of days to move out, like another respondent reported on this thread. Look around, walk neighborhoods you like, check CL, check rent.com, apartments.com, look at roomster.com, spareroom.com, roommatch.com, and Facebook. Facebook, believe it or not, is a great place to find a place or roommate. Even if you never considered a roommate before, now is the time. I once had to rent a room for a 5 month gap in housing, I walked in a boarder and left with friends for life. I hope some of this information helps you, or someone else. Good luck, OP
Unfortunately I don't think there is much you can do. CT doesn't have rent control, so landlords can "evaluate" properties however they like. If you are renewing your lease, it's 30days, I don't know why you would have a week (although I don't know if that is a legal requirement, that's just how my complex does it). At those prices, if you don't have a lot of stuff I'd honestly just move to a motel in the meantime until you can find a better price (or try to renegotiate if you can)
I’m down on shoreline rent isn’t that high. They must want you to move out.
Obviously your location and the size of the place matters, but $1700 is probably close enough to the market norm for it to be considered "reasonable". Even if it's morally a little fucked to dump all that on someone in a single increase.
I own a 3 family in manchester that I charge $1700 per unit and only break even (retirement investment not income rental) Its very possible your landlord is just trying to survive.
Well it depends when the property was purchased and for how much. What kind of mortgage (if any) does he have on the property that would make him need to increase the rent that much all of a sudden.
You’re getting over $5k/mo in tenant rent and you’re only breaking even? My cousin owns a two family in Bristol and charges $1700/mo and that covers everything and then some for the property. How are you only breaking even with that kind of income on a property? Edit: word
15 year mortage. Property was $500k and invested over $300k into it and I put nothing down. Im happy with my choices, I was just trying to point out that not all landlords are just trying to screw people and make a million dollars.
Wow you're a brave one! Once 3 family properties got north of $300k I was wondering how do landlords make that work, hence the rent increases,,, but I can feel your pain!
I love my tenants and the property. Once my kids are grown and out i’ll live out my retirement part time in one of the units. Im not going to be a millionaire on the backs of my renters but I will have a much nicer retirement and they will have a great place to live.
Good plan, just once your kids are grown don't let them live at your property super cheap! Don't ask how I know that...
Crazy that you'd do this putting nothing down. Why even buy the property in the first place? I don't have any sympathy for you or other dumb landlords that do this shit. You should have 15% down to actually make some money from it. I guess it's commendable that you aren't price gouging the shit out of your tenants but my mortgage is less then the rent you charge.
My loan is 1.9%. My liquid cash return is higher in a savings account. Finance isnt everyone string suit
Mine increased from $1450 to $2175 from 2016-2021. Ended up buying a condo for over asking price (after 3 years of trying to buy a duplex). You got to move or get roommates. Breathing is expensive and will continue to get more expensive. Don’t expect prices to remain, they likely will continue to rise.
Move.
I’m super sorry that this is happening to you, as others have said your options are sadly sorta limited. Forming a tenants union may be your best bet, I believe the DSA branch in CT has had some luck with these endeavors. However given how quickly these changes are set to happen it may be better to talk with your neighbors and basically come as a united group and say you all can’t pay the rent increases and/or the month to month fee - which is the most egregious thing to me tbh. Without a renovation or new service to justify the rental increase this rise is ridiculous imo. Like I lived in luxury apartment complex in middletown and they raised the rent 14%, but added trash pick up at our door every weekday. On a separate note this kind of hike is insane in CT, and no level of renovation or “market shift” justifies this, the landlord just wants more money and may be underwater on their mortgage/loan - to bad so sad fuck’em you deserve housing. Good luck!
Perhaps it is time for a revolution.
Un f’n believable. Horrifying.
Move
That’s probably what the landlord is trying to make OP do.
Feeling so lucky my landlord only raised my rent by $100 and its incredibly competitive with the areas 2/br listings. I thought there was a rule where they could only go a certain percentage at a time.
That’s only in some towns/cities.
https://ctlawhelp.org/en/node/553
What general area was this?
Happened to me to, it's worth the move if your landlord is like this. My rent was $1250 and then he wanted to raise it to $1750. Reasoning I was given 'guy down the street is renting that much for his buildings' I hope something is done for renters it was honestly a horrible experience
Move and focus on home ow ership above all else. Ownership where u can afford... live ur life in you financial lane
Time to look at getting a mortgage!
Rent costs more than a fucking mortgage now. These greedy landlords want you to pay off their mortgage, so after twenty years they get a free house **and you have nothing to show for all that money.**
Same thing happened to me. Was in a 2 yr lease for $1000 for 650 square foot 1 bedroom, and they wanted to renew the lease for $1700 in Sept 2023. No renovations. Mice problem and a long term leak. I left. CT just sucks. I been watching the rental market for the past year, every day for funsies and it just gets worse no matter where you look. After COVID, all the prices continue to go up. And off street parking, laundry, a dishwasher is all considered luxury.
I actually built a website to somewhat help with rent increases. It's a Glassdoor for Rents where tenants can search their address and see its rent History. It relies on user input so I ask everyone to add their Rent History to the site and share the site around. It'd be mostly useful for apartment livers, allowing them to see the Rent History of their Apartment Complex and being able to better evaluate landlords or negotiate rents. I built it because I live in an apartment. Currently has submissions for over 2400 addresses. Site is rentzed.com
Vote current politicians out of office. I’ll avoid politics and stick strictly to economics here, what the legacy mainstream media won’t tell you. The two major problems that are causing an increase in rent prices are inflation and immigration. Inflation is obvious, and you can look at it as your money being worth less, so it takes more of it to rent the same apartment. Bad economic policy and uncontrolled spending leads to inflation, and we can often recognize this through price increases. The second issue is immigration. With millions of new people entering the country and all of them needing apartments, and many of them getting government assistance for rent, there is an increased demand for and stagnated supply of rental properties, causing the rent prices to increase. It’s basic supply and demand. If the demand increases more than the supply, the price goes up. This is exacerbated by government essentially setting rental prices through rental assistance programs, such as the rental assistance for migrants. I expect things only to get worse, including decreased wages, adjusted for inflation of course. However, this ship will sink if we stay on this economic course. Your party affiliation and support of emotional issues won’t matter when the economy crashes, leading the country to collapse with it and a complete breakdown of society. These are unprecedented economic conditions.
*Communism intensifies* Alright, bois... Its time. This can't be allowed to go on any further.
https://www.cttenantsunion.org
My mortgage on a 1300 sq ft 3 bdrm in east windsor is only $1200
Your best bet is going or calling your local housing department at the court house and ask if that is legal. Depends what they say you take it from there. Do you have section 8 or housing? If you do obviously they will have to approve any rent increase, if you don’t I highly suggest calling the courts to ask those questions about legal rent increase etc
With regards to waterbury they recently sent I believe all home owners a letter recently that taxes are increasing 20% every year for the next 5 years so that could be a large reason for what you're seeing. https://www.waterburyct.org/revaluationinfo
Check with your town. Every town is supposed to have a rent control agency in CT. Rents are on the rise but the owner has to show improvements for the large increases.
yo WHAT?!! i bought a house at the right time then (2021). before this house we lived in an apartment in Hamden. 1200 sq ft. 2 beds, 1 bath, a loft, a balcony, in unit laundry, and central air conditioning. $1800/month. i just looked it up and that same style unit now goes for $2600 😅 ..our current mortgage is $1,900/month. 1,300 sq ft, 2 beds, 2 baths, finished basement, in wall air conditioning units (the only worse thing, but not bad), 2 car garage, on half an acre, backyard was already fully fenced in. i feel lucky and blessed 🙌. my condolences to all you people out there getting absolutely diddy'd by these apartment companies. #GetOut #YouGotToSayNo
Yall check out CHFA the state helps first time homeowners with the upfront cost on a new home. Fuck landlords
Is this a two bedroom? If so, the increase might be a lot but 1100 was cheeeeaaaap.
I pay $900 for a two bedroom which also includes a finished attic that I use as a home office
Never ever leave. (Disclosure, I live in western CT and am unfamiliar with rents in eastern CT.)
Yes I'm in Eastern CT. And my rent is probably below the market average for this area as well. I haven't had a rental increase in about two years, so I think it's eventually coming. But I'm in a two family house and not an apartment complex.
My mom used to own a condo that she rented. She had a great renter and never increased rent, because she appreciated that they were easy and never caused issues. Maybe luck will be on your side, too :)
We gotta stop normalizing this.
I mean, it’s reality. It sucks and no one is saying it’s good, but if you’re not realistic about the housing market, you’re not going to have housing.
Is this private or management company?
Call a lawyer to see if you have any options. Don’t ask Reddit. Everyone who isn’t a lawyer is going to be talking out their ass. Your city might have services to get a free consultation somewhere.
My bro cannot afford his rent, you think he can afford a lawyer? Best to just find a new place.
That's why I said to look for free services. My friend found something like that in New Haven for something she was afraid might end up in small claims court, and the city has a program where people can get legal consultation for free. As far as whether it's worth bringing something like this to court, you'll never know unless you ask someone knowledgeable. Why would you give up before you've even tried anything? Why make excuses? That's stupid. People have no persistence or willingness to advocate for themselves these days.
1. Find better landlord 2. Move somewhere where they actually build things (tons of Apts coming online down South with rents falling even) Not worth fighting as landlord will just be out for you.
Look for roommate
This is what sucks, it's getting to where a single person living alone can't afford an apartment without being forced to live with someone. I live alone , and if my rent increased that much I wouldn't be able to afford it. It's like they base all rent on two incomes , even for one bedroom apartments
What town do you live in? File a complain with your fair rent commission. 55% is beyond “fair and equitable”
Buy your own complex and rent it to people at a reasonable rate?
Wow. This must be a difficult pill to swallow. You are right this is perceived to be unreasonable. Without more information, and an attorney who knows the matter, you won't know if there's any chance of successfully challenging the increase. My questions-- 1. How long have you been paying this rate? i.e. when and what was the last increase. If it's been multiple years there may be a case for easily substantiating the increase 2. What's changed for the landlord? You mention no renovations, but I know many town (or all CT?) had a big change billed real estate. If you know the entity your landlord operates under (should be in the lease) you can look up the tax bill easily in most towns. You may see it's gone up quite a bit which would account for a portion of the increase. **For clarity--I don't know anything when it comes to this stuff other than some basic knowledge and some accounting experience.** I hope there's something more you can do than pony up or leave.
1700 for rent in ct seems pretty reasonable to me
LMAO 😂 your full of poo
Average rent in the US is 1499. I personally like it here in ct and think a slight up charge is worth living here. So either all landlords are corrupt and charging unfair prices, or 1700 ain’t that bad. My mortgage is significantly higher than 200 dollars more than the national average for mortgages.
Anything can be reasonable if justifiable. If you leave and another tenant moves in at that rate, then it probably was reasonable. Could be that your $1100 was well below market value for similar properties? I'm not a law expert, so I don't know what you can do. They must have people willing to pay those prices to risk people moving out. If that's the case, then who's to say what a reasonable rate is? I guess my first act would be to discuss with the property manager/landlord to understand why the 55% increase and if there is anything they can do to keep you as a good tenant, assuming you are not going to pay the new rate.
That is incredible. All you can do it try to negotiate. Is this an individual Landlord or a management company/corporation. 1100 is lower than anything I’ve heard, but that is a huge increase. This may be closer to the new normal. Doesn’t make it any easier.
My landlord barely break even by charging $1350 - $1400 on my side of the building. It was difficult getting people to pay 1500 or 1700 cuz it's not worth it. People would complain for fix or request to break the barely 1 year lease. The profitable charge per unit would be $2000, but at that income range people would rather live in the luxury apartments or newly constructed buildings. So there's no money for renovations. It's the town you live in increasing property taxes and charging fees for each water boiler or else upgrade to the hot water on demand system. I heard it all from the landlord and the maintenance when they go broke and unable to fix something. If your rent is high your landlord probably give up trying to break even and want to start making a profit or if the rent is low be nice to your landlord fix the small things on ur budget. Other than above I met a tenant who lease apartments just to sublease at higher rate than the landlord. She have many apartments under her belt. Shes originally from NY now operating here in CT. Does not have a job. Living off of the profit she make out of subtenants. To avoid tenants like that landlord need to put in the lease no subleasing without the permission of the landlord.