So since early Feb our realty company has been showing off our apt and constantly asking us if we're staying and we're getting really fed up

yes they have the right in the lease to do so but its february and id be hard pressed to find a ton of replacements ready for august at this point

today im gonna stay during the showing because i left it trashed (they always give exactly 24 hours of notice and i dont plan to clean everytime). i suspect they dont even show it they just schedule times during the day when we're at work so we think they are to pressure us into resigning which we're definitely not doing at this point but im not going to tell them until my rightful 60 days notice.

3/5/2010 8:22:16 AM

yo holmes

3/5/2010 9:26:12 AM

If you are planning on moving out, what is the problem with them showing your place?

Economy is bad, might as well get a head start.

You could prevent that by letting them know your intentions.

Also, nothing wrong with leaving it trashed.

[Edited on March 5, 2010 at 9:27 AM. Reason : it just sounds like you are whining.]

3/5/2010 9:27:16 AM

^

3/5/2010 10:24:25 AM

cool story bro.

3/5/2010 10:37:04 AM

read your lease

some i've had have had language that deals specifically with this situation. typically they couldn't show it until either i gave notice or it was the last 60 days of my lease. if i read your post right it sounds like your lease isn't up until August? in which case yeah, they're being somewhat unreasonable and probably trying to get you to sign an extension. but that's also their job, to keep apartments full. if you signed it, they've got the right to do it and you really don't have much of an argument.

you'll also want to review the lease for the condition the place needs to be in when showing. for the leases i had that included this language, i amended them to give 48 hours notice so that if the place was trashed, i could clean it up. of course if yours includes this and you didn't amend it, you're violating your lease unless you clean up.

of course i've never kept my entire apartment a pigsty either.

3/5/2010 10:38:28 AM

That is odd and would irk the hell out of me. Sounds really childish on the apartment manager's part. I'd fight fire with fire.

Start leaving the toilets unflushed and grab the most disgusting porn mag you can find and pin pictures from it on the walls.

[Edited on March 5, 2010 at 11:12 AM. Reason : l]

3/5/2010 11:11:48 AM

^Are you serious??

Why can't a landlord rent out the place as soon as possible?? If he shows the house and gets it done now, then the current tenant won't have to worry about him doing it later on down the road...possibly when he's getting ready to move out and shit is all over the place.

The way the economy is now, the landlord should try and get the place rented out as soon as possible instead of waiting until is it "convenient" for the tenant and possibly risk having no one in the house paying rent for a couple of months.

You people are fucking ridiculous.

3/5/2010 11:32:23 AM

Quote :

"Can my landlord come into my apartment periodically just to check its condition? Maybe. Many leases give the landlord the right to enter the property to inspect it to see if the tenant is complying with his obligations, to make necessary repairs, to place "for sale" or "for rent" signs on it, or to show it to prospective purchasers or tenants. Still, entry must be at reasonable times and upon reasonable notice. If your lease doesn't address it, the landlord has no right to enter your apartment during the term of your lease. "

http://www.ncrec.state.nc.us/publications-bulletins/Renting.htm

It seems pretty unreasonable to me to start showing an apartment 6 months before the lease is up. I mean even if you are not intending to re-sign at the moment, things can change in that 6 months.

If it were me I would just let them know that, at the moment, I am fully intending on signing another lease. Although, it doesn't make sense for me to sign another lease halfway through the previous one, as I cannot predict what will happen 4 months from now (60 days before lease expiration). If that didn't stop the showings I'd probably hang around for as many showings as possible and bitch to the prospective tenants that the lease, as-is, allows their apartment to also be a model/show apartment and could also be used to bully them into signing a new lease 6 months before their old lease is up.

3/5/2010 11:36:27 AM

Dude...It's the first week in March and it's an apartment. Who are these weirdos who go apartment shopping and sign a lease 6 months ahead of time?

Sounds like they are using his apartment as their "model home" rather than walking people through the actual apartments that might be for rent. Either that or they're trying to make it seem like they better sign another lease or they might lose this valuable and rare piece of real estate (which is neither valuable or rare.) Either way it would annoy the shit out of me.

[Edited on March 5, 2010 at 11:39 AM. Reason : s]

3/5/2010 11:36:49 AM

thats the thing though, we hadnt decided we were moving when they started showing they just were being so aggresive that we have NOW decided we don't want to stay with them

i told them i need to hear back from 3 law schools in march/april before i can make the decision and they were like well we're going to try and do 2 showings a week anyway

[Edited on March 5, 2010 at 11:38 AM. Reason : f]

3/5/2010 11:37:11 AM

I'd be worried too about the type of people they are bringing into the apartment. Sounds like an easy way for someone to grab watches/jewelry or maybe scope it out to come back later. It's a fact of life that they might have to show the apartment, but I don't think showing it two times a week six months before the lease is up is within reason. Hence my statement that I'd make them not want to show my apartment.

3/5/2010 11:42:34 AM

Quote :

"Who are these weirdos who go apartment shopping and sign a lease 6 months ahead of time?"

I was moving to Charleston in August of 2005 but I was still living in Wilmington. I was trying to get in a specific area of the city, so I began searching for places to stay right when I got accepted to law school in December. I found a place by January, went and visited and signed a lease by the end of January.

It happens more often than you would think. I might start trying to re-let that early if I were a landlord...but if I were strapped to pay the mortgage (like everyone and their grandma is at this point), I would be trying to make sure that house is rented out as soon as possible so I didn't miss a month and possibly not be able to pay the mortgage.

3/5/2010 11:50:29 AM

Yeah, but imagine how pissed you'd be if 60 days before you were supposed to be moving in, the property manager told you that the guy that leased the apartment you were looking at decided to renew his lease, so now there aren't any open until after you start law school. On top of that, what is the likelihood that you'd even want to live there, now that they've burned you.

It just seems unreasonable to either:
1)Show an apartment for which there are months before a prospective tenant could legally sign a lease. I mean they can't sign a lease for an apartment that already has a lease which could be renewed, I assume.
2)Use your apartment as a model to help get leases signed for other apartments.

[Edited on March 5, 2010 at 12:29 PM. Reason : ]

3/5/2010 12:28:25 PM

This might be the one area of landlord/tenant law that I'm fuzzy on, because I haven't encountered it yet....but once I sign that lease...that property is mine (for all intents and purposes).

The landlord can't turn around and give it to the current tenant just because he wants to re-lease it. It's entirely up to the landlord on who he wants to live in his property. Unless there is some clause in the lease that states the current tenant has first option to rent the place out (a landlord would be retarded to put that in a lease because of the all too common problem of getting stuck with a shitty tenant), then whoever signs the lease shouldn't have to worry about any of that.

If the landlord does decide to fuck over the "new guy", then he has his legal options. It might be a pain in the ass...but it's also a scenario that isn't likely to happen.

3/5/2010 12:35:25 PM

my landlord gave me a Stevie Wonder double vinyl album last night...he sounds cooler than your landlord

3/5/2010 12:44:39 PM

Quote :

"The way the economy is now, the landlord should try and get the place rented out as soon as possible instead of waiting until is it "convenient" for the tenant and possibly risk having no one in the house paying rent for a couple of months."

If they are having such a hard time keeping apartments rented out, why do they insist on jacking up the rent? The rent in my last apartment was $613/month. They wanted to jack my rent up another $70...I ended up buying a townhouse instead. I then saw my apartment listed for LESS than what I was paying originally. How does that even make any sense? Between making less money off of rent for the next year, having the apartment empty for some period of time, AND having the apartment cleaned, how is this a wise economic move?

As far as the OP, yeah, if youre still six months out on the end of your lease, thats pretty ridiculous. No, I dont blame them for wanting to keep the apartment rented, but I would blame them for poor customer service...just because they have a reason to do it doesnt mean they should do it.

3/5/2010 1:25:17 PM

Quote :

"They wanted to jack my rent up another $70...I ended up buying a townhouse instead. I then saw my apartment listed for LESS than what I was paying originally. How does that even make any sense? Between making less money off of rent for the next year, having the apartment empty for some period of time, AND having the apartment cleaned, how is this a wise economic move?"

It's in the landlord's best interest to try to raise the rent if the tenant will just keep paying it.
I had this happen several times.
Every time I just called, explained that I was taking care of their place and paying my rent on time, and asked if they were really prepared to lose a good tenant over $50 a month. My rent never went up as a result. Pushovers get taken advantage of. There is no secret there.

[Edited on March 5, 2010 at 1:47 PM. Reason : l]

3/5/2010 1:46:19 PM

expensive jewelry is missing. shit just got real. police may now be involved.

3/5/2010 3:43:09 PM

As a landlord, I will NOT ask for a home to be shown ANY sooner than 3 months before the lease is up, and 3 months is pushing it. I actually believe I have that time frame in my leases. Otherwise that is harassment.

If the lease is vague, I'm not sure how firm your footing is to tell them to shove off...

3/5/2010 3:51:53 PM

^^ May be involved? That should be your first call.

3/5/2010 4:03:07 PM

we are eliminating the possibility that the cat knocked it into the sink since it was on the counter. as soon as the roto rooter guys clears the drain ill know who to be calling ASAP.

3/5/2010 4:15:36 PM

turns out the cat did do something to it, she knocked it on some dirty laundry which my fiancée picked up and put it in the hamper. she remembered this after the $100 rotorooter guy left.
better that than the alternative though.

3/5/2010 5:30:16 PM

At least your landlord didn't didn't tell you that you could stay in the place as long as you'd like, waited until you broke ground on a new home, then told you she changed her mind.

We put an offer in on a home in mid-November, about 2 weeks after the couple living there started new construction. They have 2 kids, 2 dogs, and 3 cats and because of all the rain their home isn't going to be anywhere close to ready by the end of this month when we close.

Fortunately, they've known about this for awhile so presumably they've been able to figure out what to do with their stuff and their dogs. I'm just hoping they don't pull some real whack shit and just stay in the home and force us to walk from the deal or go ahead and close then give them 30 days notice to get their shit out as it seems the owner is somewhat sympathetic to their needs.

3/5/2010 5:37:01 PM

Quote :

"It's in the landlord's best interest to try to raise the rent if the tenant will just keep paying it. I had this happen several times. Every time I just called, explained that I was taking care of their place and paying my rent on time, and asked if they were really prepared to lose a good tenant over $50 a month. My rent never went up as a result. Pushovers get taken advantage of. There is no secret there."

Oh I realize they want to raise rent if they can...but is it in their best interest to let the apartment go empty when I leave? I made it pretty obvious that I wouldnt be paying anymore, reminded them several times the end of my lease drew near, and eventually turned in my notice and left....obviously I wasnt a pushover in that case...seems like when I call their bluff and make it obvious Im not bluffing, it would be in their best interest to cave.

3/5/2010 6:13:31 PM

so a full story of what happened and this details exactly why we are pissed at these people

they call me up at 5pm yesterday to tell me that they are going to show the place at 2pm today, i literally go through my lease and see if it details the need for 24 hours notice or just notice and unfortunately its just notice so no luck there

at 2pm a van arrives and parks in one of 4 (3 if you count how big this van was and there are 4 cars who need to park here) reserved spots
my fiancee waits around a bit to get a look at them and starts doing some loops around the area figuring they shouldnt be more than 15 min
40 MIN LATER they are still there in our parking lot and not only that but the realtor just arrives as the van was just the people who wanted to see the place
my fiancee had already come back inside and discovered the ring was missing by this point and so we refused to let them in until we cleared that up and the realtor tries to make an excuse that she did not have confirmation they were coming at 2pm yet they called me the day before? bullshit

we talk to the neighbors and these people were snooping around the side of the house and the yard so believe me i had very good reason to believe if something went missing it was these strangers who were waiting for 40 minutes unsupervised

3/5/2010 6:32:10 PM

At my last house, the landlord started showing the place about a month before I moved out. I didn't have a huge problem with it, it just sucked because I have a dog and had to be there EVERY time they showed it.

I had to draw the line when the landlord called me and said "Hey, do you mind showing this couple the house this afternoon?". Fuck no dude, I'm not doing your job unless you knock some money off my rent.

3/5/2010 7:15:03 PM

Why are people saying it's weird to be shopping for a 2010-2011 year housing now? Besides the fact that NCSU HARP makes you choose in this time frame, I heard that most leases get signed for next year in Feb. and March.

I'm looking for places now.

3/6/2010 3:40:00 AM

you missed the bigger point

they're scaring away current renters who would be considering staying more years by aggressively pushing to resign before they even have a chance to make their own plans

and maybe this is around the time students need to find housing but ive been here for 2 years and i havent been one in that time period and usually sign the lease in april

so no, not many nonstudent houses advertising availability for august at the moment, trust me, we tried to start looking and couldn't find much (houses, not apts), if you come across some good ones please share

[Edited on March 6, 2010 at 4:14 AM. Reason : f]

3/6/2010 4:06:50 AM

Quote :

"they were like well we're going to try and do 2 showings a week anyway"

Totally insane IMO. If I pay for the right to live somewhere, I expect some privacy. I was shown an apartment that was being lived in once and I didn't like it. I could've stolen or broken something and I wouldn't want my stuff to be in that position when I would've moved out.

3/6/2010 3:44:34 PM

There's a whole lot of conjecture itt, so I'm just going to address a few key points from the OP:

1. Every NC standard lease ever made reserves the landlord's right to show the property with reasonable notice. No exceptions.

2. Motives aside, the rental company is most likely a brokerage. They get paid to keep the house rented or to get it sold, and then to continue renting it if possible. That is typically their goal and perspective.

3. Concepts like making a tenant's dwelling the 'model home', or scheduling bogus showings to pressure you to leave goes against the right to peaceful enjoyment of the property. Regarding the former, they certainly can't do it without the tenant's consent, and that's assuming that is a right that the tenant can even give up.

4. Best way to get them to quit showing it is to stay at the property during the showings, everytime. Think about going to a property you're interested in, and the person living there is there. It creates a socially uncomfortable situation for the visitors, and can easy have the effect of discouraging future visits.

3/6/2010 10:09:24 PM

well i work from home now so that shouldn't be too hard to be present, plus i'm letting the Realtor know they will not have access to our parking (4 people live in the apts, there are exactly 4 spaces, its one of the negatives we deal with, they can deal with it too).

i'm also going to request that they make a standing appt for one day a week so that it doesnt become a burden on us further. if we know its a possibility they are coming every friday it makes it more likely that they wont come into a shitstorm (the result of me working at home)

3/6/2010 10:19:15 PM