Landlord said they "might" raise rent when my partner moves in as a subletter but hasn't said how much 😖 I can already barely afford this...
It's just so infuriating because like come on. You're not providing anything more by letting us have one more person live here, filling the third room we're already paying for
Also he asked when they would be here and then didn't respond when I said 😖 please don't make me have to move or lie
if the apartment was advertised as a 3-bedroom at the price you are paying then there is no goddamn reason for him to raise the rent when the expected number of people are living there. Ive had this happen when a 3rd person moved into a 2 bedroom and she only raised it by $100 total, so it was more than offset by splitting the rent 3 ways. The excuse in that case was that a 3 ppl use more water than 2, which is factored into the rent assuming one occupant per bdrm. How ever much he raises it shouldnt be more than 100 dollars total, any more is utterly ridiculous.
thats illegal in Massachusetts 😡. landlord pays for water unless there are a number of very specific water efficiency improvements to the house that nobody fuckin does. yr landlord sounds like a crook, im sorry to say
Wait for real fdjsklh
You will love that they asked us to venmo them $250 to process paperwork about adding Tom as a subletter (which is the same as the entire rental application, requiring information about previous landlords and proof of income)
https://www.masslegalhelp.org/housing-apartments-shelter/utilities/water-rights-do-landlords-or-tenants-pay-water-massachusetts
that is also almost certainly illegal, though im not 100% sure how exactly. thats an unreasonable amount of money and clearly extorting you for made-up "fees".
i wish i had better advice. being like "hey this is illegal" to your landlord is not always the best option. its a fucked up rigged system that targets low and middle income people, and the few protections that exist only really "exist" if you can pay for your own lawyer to enforce them, ie, people who are too rich to be renting anyways.
if you have the energy it seems like the consumer support hotline is where the MA government is directing tenants with concerns or questions about your rights. ive never used it or heard of it before though so idk if thatll be helpful
Yeah ok thanks I'll look into it. And if I can be sure that it's not allowed, there's 5-6 units in this building, so I might be able to get some support from them to do something about it
