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Her finances are no business of yours as your finances are no business of hers. You signed a legally binding rental contract and your sole obligation is to perform the contract. You have no legal standpoint whatsoever to try and mitigate your losses on your supposition that the landlord's finances are "shaky." Likewise your landlord would have no grounds on which to terminate her contract with you based on any similar supposition where your finances were concerned. Cheers!
Well it is true I may not have any standing to act, but I figured I would still try to look for a loophole even tho it is a stretch.
Actually, in my lease, the landlord did write in that the lease is subordinate to all mortgages on the property, so if there is a problem, my residence is in jeopardy.
But I do have to reiterate that the landlord's financial standing IS my business, because if the landlord is having problems then it could cause instability in my life and actually this did happen to me with a previous landlord here in Chicago. I have a right to know, and from here on out, I will demand to run a landlord's credit (you can do this on the internet for about $5 these days). With all of the real estate problems we have because of the cheap, easy-money lending bubble and toxic mortgages, there are a lot of amateur "get-rich-quick" landlords out there, who are not qualified to be landlords and THEIR financial problems are now causing problems to quality renters (such as myself) who never participated in the bubble.
Here are two problems I have had with "private" landlords in the recent past:
1. In 2005, I rented a condo in Chicago, for what I thought was ridiculously cheap. As it turned out, the "landlord" bought the condo as part of a plan to become wealthy thru real estate, ok fine no problem with that, but as it turned out, because I never ran a credit check on him, I never knew that the "landlord" never even owned the condo - his girlfriend did, and I was then asked 9 months later to move out, because him and her broke up and she needed a place to live. Because he was not the owner, I never had a valid lease to begin with and I was forced to move.
2. Last spring (before I moved into this current condo), I found a condo for rent, but after talking to the landlord, he then revealed that he wanted ALL 12 MONTHS of rent up front in cash ($17,400). To me, this is suspicious. What if, the whole time, he has been facing foreclosure, and I give him that amount of money, and files bankruptcy and runs out of town, the bank forcloses on the unit and I am out of the money AND have no where to live?
I am going to build a website, promoting the idea that renters run a credit check on the landlord and then tenants can turn down bad, unqualified landlords.
Last edited by SmartGXL; 11-11-2008 at 10:36 AM..
Reason: grammar
Meanwhile, I am wondering if there is a statute or law that states that the landlord has to have funds on hand etc in order to maintain the property, otherwise it is a breach of contract and I can get out. It is a stretch I know, but it is so small it is almost unbearable, plus I want to move to another city.
You CHOSE to rent that place and now you're just trying to weasel out of your lease. If you want out so bad, then pay the penalty for breaking your lease.
Actually, if she is loosing money on the condos, she may be using the loss to offset gains in other areas on her income tax. She could be saving a bundle on taxes.
At any rate, you have a legal contract. Her financial situation has no bearing on your contract.
Just keep trying to find someone to sub-lease for you.
Yes, I figure I will just keep trying to rent it out. Either way, I am only "stuck" there until June 30, if nothing else I will just leave at that time.
Well it is true I may not have any standing to act, but I figured I would still try to look for a loophole even tho it is a stretch.
Actually, in my lease, the landlord did write in that the lease is subordinate to all mortgages on the property, so if there is a problem, my residence is in jeopardy.
But I do have to reiterate that the landlord's financial standing IS my business, because if the landlord is having problems then it could cause instability in my life and actually this did happen to me with a previous landlord here in Chicago. I have a right to know, and from here on out, I will demand to run a landlord's credit (you can do this on the internet for about $5 these days). With all of the real estate problems we have because of the cheap, easy-money lending bubble and toxic mortgages, there are a lot of amateur "get-rich-quick" landlords out there, who are not qualified to be landlords and THEIR financial problems are now causing problems to quality renters (such as myself) who never participated in the bubble.
Here are two problems I have had with "private" landlords in the recent past:
1. In 2005, I rented a condo in Chicago, for what I thought was ridiculously cheap. As it turned out, the "landlord" bought the condo as part of a plan to become wealthy thru real estate, ok fine no problem with that, but as it turned out, because I never ran a credit check on him, I never knew that the "landlord" never even owned the condo - his girlfriend did, and I was then asked 9 months later to move out, because him and her broke up and she needed a place to live. Because he was not the owner, I never had a valid lease to begin with and I was forced to move.
2. Last spring (before I moved into this current condo), I found a condo for rent, but after talking to the landlord, he then revealed that he wanted ALL 12 MONTHS of rent up front in cash ($17,400). To me, this is suspicious. What if, the whole time, he has been facing foreclosure, and I give him that amount of money, and files bankruptcy and runs out of town, the bank forcloses on the unit and I am out of the money AND have no where to live?
I am going to build a website, promoting the idea that renters run a credit check on the landlord and then tenants can turn down bad, unqualified landlords.
Buy your own place already, and stay out of your landlord's business. I would absolutely not allow a tenant to view my credit report, despite the fact that it is quite good. It's none of their business what's on it. If you're so frightened of getting a bad landlord, buy your own property.
Buy your own place already, and stay out of your landlord's business. I would absolutely not allow a tenant to view my credit report, despite the fact that it is quite good. It's none of their business what's on it. If you're so frightened of getting a bad landlord, buy your own property.
I probably will buy a house once I move to Dallas (one reason I never bought a property in Chicago was because I never knew when I was going to be leaving this area). But, i will still promote the idea of tenants having the right to, at least, verify that the landlord owns the property they are leasing out.
I probably will buy a house once I move to Dallas (one reason I never bought a property in Chicago was because I never knew when I was going to be leaving this area). But, i will still promote the idea of tenants having the right to, at least, verify that the landlord owns the property they are leasing out.
LOL! There are many circumstances under which a person can legally lease out a property without owning it.
LOL! There are many circumstances under which a person can legally lease out a property without owning it.
Absolutely correct!
SmartGXL, you should probably do your homework on real estate contract law before you go to all the time, trouble and expense of creating a website to address meritless peripheral issues. Cheers!
LOL! There are many circumstances under which a person can legally lease out a property without owning it.
There are some legitimate circumstances (i.e., subleases!) but either way, I am going to promote the idea that someone has to prove that they have the legal right to rent it out. Unless someone can prove that to me, I will not rent out a unit.
I use to be a Regional Manager for a property management firm who was based in Chicago. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do but keep trying to sublet the apartment. The landlords financial situation has nothing to do with it unless they were accepting your monthly rent then in turn NOT paying the mortgage. The only other way out of a lease is if the landlord is not making proper repairs when you request them and its imparing your ability to live in the unit. Then MAYBE. You will have to wait until your lease is up or sublet it. You might want to read through the contract carefully and see if there is a lease termination fee, that might be an option. You can also have someone look at it who knows contract law and see if there are any major mistakes in the lease that would make it void such as spelling your name wrong, getting the address of the unit wrong etc.........sorry
Buy your own place already, and stay out of your landlord's business. I would absolutely not allow a tenant to view my credit report, despite the fact that it is quite good. It's none of their business what's on it. If you're so frightened of getting a bad landlord, buy your own property.
No landlord is going to allow you to run their credit, period. They can rent it to someone else. I understand your concern and certainly see your point but its never going to happen. You could however, run a public record on them WITHOUT them knowing......this can be done online also with just their full name and address. At least then you would have some information for your own piece of mind and could make a more educated decision about renting from them.
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