Q: My son has a learning disability & is on a school iep. My landlord is using my sons disability as a bargaining chip
My son is on an IEP at school & before signing a lease, I asked the landlord, if we were good tenants, would there be any problems when It came time to renew, as I didn't want to have to uproot my child from this program. He assured me everything would be fine. My 3 year lease was about to end in 6 months, I asked the landlord-far in advance about renewing. Scared that there was no other housing available here & he seen we were basically begging him. He then said, if we didn't end our original lease then-6 mo early & sign a new lease w/ 50% rent increase, when my original lease was up he wouldn't renew. The new lease was for a year & he claimed he'd keep renewing. We did it, the month before it was up we asked to paint & about the renewal next month, he said no worries, everything was fine. The next month, he then said he wasn't renewing, he wanted to sell. We've been month to month since & he constantly threatens us with new arrangements as far as rent.
A: That is a difficult situation, made worse by the landlord taking advantage of you, but landlord has no legal obligation to renew a lease. And if there are no local rent control ordinances, landlord can raise rent on a new lease. If you are now on a month to month, either you or landlord can terminate the lease at the end of any month by giving 30 days written notice. Notice given in November would terminate the lease on 12/31. If landlord sells the property, the new owner must honor the lease, but if it is month to month, the new owner does not have to renew it or offer a longer lease, and could terminate it and have you leave.
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