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I would appreciate an advice on this issue:
I rented an apartment through a real estate management company with a one year lease. In my lease agreement that is between me and landlord, I signed that I will be paying rent to the management company and also that all communication between me and lanlord will be handeled through the management company.
Now the management changed and I am supposed to pay rent to the landlord through a building manager. Am I going to be breaking the lease by paying the rent to someone else (owner) that is written in the lease (management company)?
I don't have a landlord's address or a phone number so I am not comfortable with this change. When I was signing the lease I checked reviews for the management company and they were good so I signed. If I knew that in the future the owner himself is going to do handle repairs, I wouldn't have rented this place.
Should I request a new lease? Could be this a reason for me to end the lease early?
Thank you for any advice.
It's not a reason to end a lease as all state laws allow a landlord to change management companies or self manage at their descretion. Its standard every day stuff in the rental industry.
So long as you receibed proper notice of the change, its not a violation of the lease as once again, all state laws allows this type of change.
The only issue you have to deal with is to verify that the management company is in fact changing. You can do this by contacting the old company and have them verify they are no longer managing the property, you can contact the LL directly if you have their contact information, you may be able to check with the local government agency that registers rentals if required in your city/county as they often require the name of the manager, or whatever means to satisfy you that the change is authorized.
Is a slip of paper announcing the change (without any signature) qualify as a proper notice of change?
Legally? Probably so.
Is it a smart business practice to be so casual? Not even close.
Quote:
Also what about the other statements (for example giving notice)
that is referring to the management company.
Should I require written clarification?
Absolutely point out that their highly unprofessional approach is
creating more problems than not and worse, is now raising general questions
about what other shortcomings in competence haven't been revealed yet.
At the top of this subforum is a sticky post that directs people to individual state landlord tenanat regulations. If your state is listed (go through all the post as states are added as people find the laws) read the actual laws as it pertains to notices and any other references to management changes. What you think is a slip of paper may actually be the required notice. You didn;t mention how you got that "slip of paper" and that is a key part of notices.
As a general rule, if it looks shady, treat it as shady BUT do what is necessary and reasonable to verify it. The biggest danger is to withold, stop, or send rent payments to the old place just because you question the style of the notice. If the notice complys with your state law and you have verified its real, follow it. If the notice complys with state law but you still question it, you have to do what is necessary to resonably verify the change. If it does not compy with state law, I wouild still try to verify it because although you may be in the right, the hassles that can happen if you don;t pay the rent and getting it straightened out just isn't worth it.
Did they provide contact information on the notice? I would think that they need to provide some method of contacing the new manager for repairs ro emergencies.
The slip of paper was lying in front of the door. It would be much better to get it in the mail. There was no contact info for the landlord (no address, no phone number), just for the building manager who I know and who is actually helpful. I don't doubt who the owner is but I am not comfortable with having no proper agreement and I am not comfortable with having a statement in the lease that rent is payable to the management company... I feel like not paying to them is breaking the lease...
As a property manager, we've taken over quite a few leases from other property managers. Here is how it happens in our office.
The prior LL should send you out a written notice that tells you that the management is changing hands. I would always encourage a tenant to call their LL to verify that the notice is legitimate, because there are a lot of scams out there. The notice should ideally say who the new property management company is, and how to contact them, or if the owner will be managing it, how to contact them. It should say when you are to start making payments to the new party and, again ideally, where to send them to.
The new LL or the owner should then send you a written notice that says who they are. We usually ask to do a walkthrough, both to meet the tenant, examine the condition of unit and familiarize ourselves with the property. We also ask for a new lease to be signed with our company. We'll keep all the same terms as far as end date, rent amount, etc, and if something on our lease conflicts with the old lease, we let the tenant choose the better terms for them for the initial duration of the lease term. So if our lease is more lenient, we go with our terms, if their old lease is, then they can stick with that until their lease is up, but after that, they are bound by the terms in our own lease. A LL cannot unilaterally change the terms of your lease in the middle just because management changed, or even if ownership changed. But by signing a new lease, it makes it clear who the current LL is, provides the tenant with our contact information and tells them what our expectations are, and it also gives us the opportunity to discuss anything that might be different between the two leases and determine how to handle it.
Overall, I have found that that works pretty well. Everyone knows what is going on, and no one feels like someone is trying to pull something over on them.
Personally, I think a "slip of paper" that tells you management is changing is totally unprofessional, and I would definitely call them and ask for clarification. You need to know when you change, and to whom you make your new check to, and who has your deposit at this point, etc. January is coming up quickly. Who do you pay January's rent to? Did the notice say that?
Like Lacerta, if there is a change of management companies or ownership, the tenant will receive a written notice sent via mail from the old company that indicates their services are being termionated and a new company is taking over. This is followed up by letter from the new company mailed to the tenant. It will spell out the date the change will occur, the address all further mail correspondence is to be sent, the phone numbers for contact, and who to contact for any questions regarding the change over.
We do not provide new leases as state law is very clear that the management company or owner listed on the lease can be changed by proper notice and does not change or modify the terms and conditions of the lease.
A slip of paper at the door may not satisfy your state mandatory requirement for proper notice. But, its your responsibiltiy to take "reasonable" actions to verify the validity of the sub standard notice once you received it.
someone i know had this happen. they tried to raise the rent on them for no reason other than the fact they had taken over as owners. they taped a note to their front door letting them know the rent would go up over $100 per month
it was the weirdest thing i'd ever seen.
so my friend goes to the new landlord office and all of a sudden "we dont know who put that note on your door"
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