I have been renting my apartment for 6 years now and have always been month to month,?

Question

I do not have a lease and now after 6 years my landlord wants to raise my rent and my deposit, is this legal? and do I have options considering my apartment is in need of many repairs?

Answer 1

no lease? your landlord can do almost anything he or she wants. this is why renting month to month for a long period of time is ill-advised.

Answer 2

If you are renting month to month, your rental can be terminated by either party for any or no reason with 30 days notice. If the landlord wants to change the terms, and you do not accept the changes, you can expect a 30 day notice. Necessary repairs are legally a separate issue. You may be able to negotiate to keep the rent down in exchange for doing some of the repairs yourself. If you do, get the agreement in writing and sign a lease. Otherwise, you could do the repairs and lose the apartment the next month.

taminutall is mistaken. When a lease expires, you no longer have a lease. You have a monthly rental agreement. ALL the terms are subject to change EVERY month.

Answer 3

Concider yourself lucky that he/she is only raising it now after 6 years. Most landlords issue a notice of increase every year. Yes it's legal. Without a lease he can raise it every month with proper notice. You can't expect to live there forever under the same rental amount. If repairs are needed...follow you local landlord/tenant laws on notification to landlord of repairs needed.

Answer 4

check with your state and county laws. deposits are not usually adjusted. even though you have not signed a new lease in several years, since you are month to month, you technically still have a lease. it's the same lease you had when you first moved in, with the same provisions, it is valid for 1 month, and renews every month. unfortunately, when you are on a month to month lease, your landlord has the right to raise the rent every month and at any rate. so essentially, your rent could go up every month by $10 or $1000 until you sign a new 12 month renewal lease.

In response to the post below (and the asker):
I base my information on the facts that I live in Montgomery County, MD, and have been a property manager for the last 3 years. My answer states clearly the rules and laws for this situation being that they are a tenant in my local area. Hence my first sentence - check your state and local laws. Even in my state, the laws vary from county to county. given that, they most definitely vary from state to state, as I have lived in several.

However, no one is ever liable for a contract that they have never seen before. If you sign a contract that ends, and are on a month to month contract, your landlord cannot hold you liable to the provisions in a new one if you have never seen it or signed off on it - rules or regulations either.

They would like for you to believe that you have to, but if you right hard for your tenant rights, and live in a tenant friendly state (like MD), your rights will prevail.