Landlord wants $250 extra per month because city finally cleaned up trash pile across the street: 'It is just a blatant cash grab because he did not do a single thing to earn that money'

Should you pay extra just because your neighborhood got a little nicer?

Landlords love to take credit for stuff that they really had nothing to do with. It's part of the job. A job that some argue shouldn't even exist in the first place. They own an apartment, and you pay them for the privilege to live there, and you hope that they maintain it well. Do they often maintain it well? Not really. If you've ever lived in a rental, you know what the "landlord special" is. You know that they paint over everything in white and call it a day. They don't care that your oven never worked and that the roof is caving in. They're just waiting for you to move out so they can move in a new crop of unwitting fools and charge them 20% more. But just because it's common doesn't mean that we don't need to call it out. 

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  • 01
    A man cleans up trash by a traffic light
    via Denisse Leon

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    My landlord wants an extra 250 a month because the city finally cleaned up the trash pile across the street.

    I honestly cannot make this stuff up anymore. I have lived in this unit for three years and the view out of my front window has always been a literal illegal dumping ground. Old tires, broken furniture, and bags of trash that the city just ignored for months at a time. It was disgusting and it smelled every time the wind blew toward my building. My landlord always used
    via CipherJetstream
  • 03
    that as an excuse for why he would not fix the peeling paint or the drafty windows because he said the neighborhood was low value. Well last month the city finally sent a crew and a couple of backhoes and cleared the whole lot out. They even put up a small
    via CipherJetstream
  • 04
    fence and some grass seed. It looks like a normal street now instead of a wasteland. Yesterday I get an email from my landlord saying that since the local amenities and aesthetic value of the property have significantly improved he is adjusting the rent up starting next month. He is calling it a market rate adjustment but it is just a blatant cash grab because he did not do a single thing to earn that money.
    via CipherJetstream
  • 05
    He did not plant the grass and he did not pay for the cleanup but he feels entitled to take more of my paycheck because the air does not smell like rotting garbage anymore. Meanwhile my kitchen sink has been leaking since January and he keeps saying his handyman is too busy to come by. It is just so typical of these people to profit off of public improvements they had zero part in creating. He is literally trying to tax me for the city doing its job.
    via CipherJetstream
  • 06
    I told him that the lease agreement does not mention anything about external view adjustments but he just replied with a link to a clause about month to month renewals and market conditions. These landleeches really are just parasites waiting for any excuse to s k more blod out of the working class. I am seriously considering talking to the guys in the other three units to see if they got the same email because this feels like a coordinated shakedown.
    via CipherJetstream
  • 07
    A man signs documents from his landlord
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • It feels good to rag on your landlord. You should do it more often. And you should do it in a public forum, like the internet, so it inspires other people to call out their landlord. It forms a great sense of community, and it's not one that you should take for granted. If you can't get together with other tenants to complain, then are you really living? Plus, you might even find out some valuable information about your living situation. You might find out what's normal and what's not, and have leverage to complain to the higher-ups. That's what happened in this story, where a tenant thought that their rent price was being raised unfairly. The city made some improvements in their neighborhood, which should have had nothing to do with their building. They had been complaining for months that a pile of trash made their block a little worse, but the only reward they got for the city removing it was the privilege to pay more money in rent. Doesn't sound totally fair to me. Keep scrolling to decide whether or not you think it was justified, and see what other tenants had to say.

  • 08

    Commenters gave their takes on the story.

    Orbit_3Monolith It is wild how they use "low value" as a shield to avoid repairs, but the second the view improves by zero effort of their own, it is suddenly market rate. Definitely talk to your neighbors, a rent strike or collective pushback seems needed here.
    via Orbit_3Monolith
  • 09
    SolarSaboteur Tell him you will pay the extra 250 once he fixes that leaking sink and the peeling paint from three years ago. If he wants market rate, he should probably provide a unit that actually functions at a market standard first. Such a parasite.
    via SolarSaboteur
  • 10
    JeryActive This is a quintessential example of how and why the housing market is run in the country is so f ed up.
    via JeryActive
  • 11
    human-in-a-can It's but if you're month to month, your best bet is to find a new place. You're not locked into any rate.
    via human-in-a-can
  • 12
    RiftBandolier Landlords really think they deserve a cut of public taxes. The city spends money to clean up a street, and this guy thinks that money belongs to him now? Make it make sense. I hope you and the other tenants can shut this down together.
    via RiftBandolier
  • 13
    Jmfroggie Check your lease and state laws. If you are 6month- yearly lease, he cannot raise rent or fees. If you truly are month to month- first off why if you've been there for three years? Even if you are month to month there's a legal notification period before he can.
    via Jmfroggie
  • 14
    IN SOME STATES, living on the property over a year means you actually do have what would be considered a yearly lease and not month to month and everyone has to treat it as such. So this depends on where you live. Month to month is meant to be for short term and in those states, living in one place for an extended period of time invalidates the month to month to protect all parties.
    via Jmfroggie
  • 15
    RiftWayfinder The audacity is unreal lol. He literally waited for the city to do the work so he could pocket the reward.
    via RiftWayfinder
  • 16
    k_dilluh "The market may be better, but my apartment still has the same problems i told you about before"
    via k_dilluh
  • 17
    boston_shua Tell him you'll pay it after he refunds you $250/month for all the months the trash pile was outside
    via boston_shua
  • 18
    lonedroan Just focusing on the legality of the increase, is your lease month to month or for a term? If it's the latter, he can pound sand (but renewal may not be in the cards). If it's the former, although
    via lonedroan
  • 19
    the reasoning is /nonsense, the terms. of your lease are up for negotiation at each monthly renewal. That lack of stability/certainty is a major downside of being month to month instead of having a lease term.
    via lonedroan

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