Q: Can landlord change amount required for renters insurance, mid lease?
We signed a 16 month lease in Dec. We are now 7 months into said lease. It was required that you have a minimum of 100k liability insurance on your renters insurance. We did that. Our lease is not up until April 2024. They are saying we now need to up the insurance from 100k to 300k. Can they do that mid lease? Our signed contract/lease for the apartment states 100k. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
A:
Q. Can landlord change amount required for renters insurance, mid lease?
A. No. Not unless the lease permits it for various possible reasons.
Jack
Steven Warren Smollens agrees with this answer
A:
Dear Albany Tenant
No. Of course not. You have a signed contract. I'm sure you will locate the clause in the lease that states the lease is the entire agreement and cannot be amended or modified without a written agreement signed by the tenant and the landlord.
Your landlord is not obligated to renew the lease and may require you move out on the last day. All the landlord needs to do is provide sixty days advance written notification of the end of the tenancy. If you plan to move when the lease is over then there is
no point in satisfying the landlord by upping the insurance. That is something beyond the power of the landlord to unilaterally enact.
A:
Dear Albany Tenant:
Look over your lease agreement with the landlord. Likely there is a clause that states changes to the lease agreement are not effective unless written and signed on by both tenant and landlord. Otherwise, the general rule of contracts is no alteration in the terms and conditions when the contract is in place.
You could stand on your legal rights and not accept this modification to the lease only seven months into the sixteen-month lease term. Do not be surprised if the landlord decides not to offer you a new lease or a renewal or offers a lease at double or triple the current rent.
If moving is not an issue for you come April 2024, say no. On the other hand, how much would your insurance charge to up the liability to $300,000.00? Perhaps your landlord would accept a proposal that you could deduct the extra expense from the rent. This is a judgment call on your part. So far, New York Housing Law does not compel a landlord to offer a reasonable renewal lease with a reasonable rent increase to a tenant. Instead, New York recently facilitated the right to evict (that is, end a tenancy) for no good reason at all.
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