Landlord getting pushy about moving

[WolfeMacleod]

A while ago I posted about having to move soon,

Now the Landlord is getting downright pushy about the whole thing.
Our lease isn't up till the beginning of March.... according to our landlord. However, I show that we didn't start moving into the house until the beginning of April...we made our first payment March 27th...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the lease end on April 1st? Or at the very earliest, on March 27th? We moved in over the month of March.

In any case, he's getting very pushy about us moving out by Jan 1st now. He wants to come over this weekend with a "move out" contract for me to sign, or else he withdraws his offer of $2500 to move out by Jan 1st.... because he "needs to know" or else he'll have to rent an apartment. IMO, his $2500 offer is a bit low. Hell, if I broke the lease, I'd have to pay the rental amount for every month early that I left... he should have to, as well.

Well, for that to happen, we'll need to find a place and take posession by the end of the November. It'll take an entire month to sort, pack, and move our stuff and my shop.

Thanks for boffing the holidays, arse'ole

[Geronimo '74]

If he has no legal grounds to throw you out, you can stay up until the end of the lease. Whether he likes it or not, that is his problem, not yours.
Don't let him push you around.
You can leave whenever you like anytime before the lease ends, but I guess he can't make you.

[genrex]

Geronimo is right.

http://www.wsba.org/media/publications/pamphlets/landlord-tenant.htm

Do you have a six-month or one-year lease which becomes month-to-month after that? If you have a signed lease for six months or one year, the landlord can make NO CHANGES during that time. In plain language, he can take a hike. He must abide by the law.

When the lease converts to month-to-month (in March or April), then the landlord can give you 20 days' notice to move out.

[GH85Carrera]

He must really want to move back. Just tell him if he does not make it worth your while you will be there until you get the eviction notice. You have every right to stay the full term of your lease. Tell him you have no intenion of moving during the holidays.

[stomachmonkey]

Landlord is trying to make his problem your problem.

Move before/during the Holidays? Disrupt your business/income?

Tell him to pound sand or get serious about making it worth your while.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Landlord is trying to make his problem your problem.

Move before/during the Holidays? Disrupt your business/income?

Tell him to pound sand or get serious about making it worth your while.

Totally agree. If he wants to pay you extra to move by 1 Jan, then the figure better be enough to totally disrupt your schedule, or go by the lease.

[herr_oberst]

You're holding the winning cards in this one, Wolfe.

I'd still hear him out, but you are the one with the final say as to when you move.

Good luck, bud.

[Steve Carlton]

Do you have a copy of the lease?

[Talewinds]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Landlord is trying to make his problem your problem.

Move before/during the Holidays? Disrupt your business/income?

Tell him to pound sand or get serious about making it worth your while.

Perfectly stated.

[jyl]

When you find the next place, it may well not be available for move-in exactly when your current lease ends. Sounds like you have the flexibility to move any time over the next 5 months, since the current landlord wants you out as soon as possible. And, if you play your cards right, you'll get a "moving incentive" from him. I'd take advantage of the situation. You should find a new place now, holidays be damned.

[john walker's workshop]

tenants always have the upper hand in this town.

[WolfeMacleod]

QUOTE=Steve Carlton;5663738]Do you have a copy of the lease?[/QUOTE]

Yep, sure do. It states that the lease commences on 3/27 and ends on 3/26.

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Totally agree. If he wants to pay you extra to move by 1 Jan, then the figure better be enough to totally disrupt your schedule, or go by the lease.

Yeah, you could say it has disrupted my schedule. This time of year I get pretty busy doing preperations for the trade show season, making parts for intruments that are going to be displayed at the NAMM show, and Christmas stuff that peopel buy. It doesn't let up till about a week before NAMM, in the middle of Jan.

Originally Posted by jyl

And, if you play your cards right, you'll get a "moving incentive" from him. I'd take advantage of the situation. You should find a new place now, holidays be damned.

His $2500 offer was his "incentive" Unfortunately, I can loose far more than that in a day or two's work if we're exceptionally busy, and it would nowhere near cover moving costs. We've been lookign for places since the beginning of October... so far, we've found one that would suit our needs... but we can't get a call back from the owner to set up a viewing time!
(Make that two places - one had a 30x60 foot shop, but the house was a total POS, and it woulnd't be ready for move in for quite a while)

[Zeke]

This brings back memories. I had a 6 month lease on a home in NV in '94. The owners were not expected to want to come back to NV. But they did. I had to move on Christmas Day 1994 to be out in time.

[Dantilla]

Tell him to play nice, or you will stay until the Sherriff shows up. If you know the game, that will be a couple months after 3/26, as he cannot start eviction proceedings until after that. You have every right to stay until 3/26. After that (or one month before), he can give you a 20-day notice to vacate. Only after that 20 days are up can he start the eviction process. Keep paying rent, of course, or he can instantly give you a 3-day notice to pay or vacate.

Or he can up the incentive until you agree to move early.

You could spend a couple bucks with a good Landlord/Tenant attorney to both explain your rights, and rattle his cage until he behaves.

Are you within Seattle city limits? Seattle has their own Landlord/Tenant laws, that are more restrictive than Washington State law.

-Missed you at the last Autocross!

[Erakad]

The other tack is to ask him to sweeten the deal. $2500 is all well and good, but that really only amounts to a deposit on a half-way decent place. If he really wants you to move, he needs to pay the $2500, all fees to a moving company to move your belongings, first and last month's rent, plus something for the "inconvenience". He's offered his opening offer, give him yours, otherwise it appears you'll be out of the home on or about 27 Mar 11.

[scfeind]

I noticed you were in the Seattle area. If you are still in need of a new place I might be able to help you out. I work for a Property Management company in the Seattle area and we have several open properties. Also we are very nice landlords. Sometimes individual owners will be desperate to remove tenants because they have a sale pending the move out but who knows. If you are still in need pm me and i can email you some listings. Hope it works out.

[Rich76_911s]

I may have missed something, but from what you've said it seems like he just wants an answer as to whether you are going to move out or not.

It also sounds to me like your answer is you don't want $2500 to move out early. So let him know that is your decision so he has a chance to find a place to live from Jan 1 to March 27th.

Any chance you could continue to rent the workspace, while he resides in the house? That way you only have to move the house before Jan 1, and disruptions to the business can be kept at a minimum.

The only problem I can see with staying at the place, is that an upset landlord could try and "make it up" on the backend with your security deposit. I had a landlord try to stiff me on the security deposit a couple years ago. That still gets my blood boiling when I think about that guy.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

You could spend a couple bucks with a good Landlord/Tenant attorney to both explain your rights, and rattle his cage until he behaves.

Are you within Seattle city limits? Seattle has their own Landlord/Tenant laws, that are more restrictive than Washington State law.

-Missed you at the last Autocross!

Good idea, I'll start looking up LL/Tenant attys now.
We're in Edmonds.
Didn't realise AutoX was on Halloween!

Originally Posted by Rich76_911s

Any chance you could continue to rent the workspace, while he resides in the house? That way you only have to move the house before Jan 1, and disruptions to the business can be kept at a minimum.

Unfortunately, no. He wants to use the shop for his own needs, add another door, etc....

He's already been informed that our moving out by Jan 1st would be entirely dependent on our finding a suitable place before then. If we can't, then there's no way we can move....

[RWebb]

Seattle is bound to have a tenants help group- maybe thru the City govt.; JWW sounds like he knows...

be sure everything is in writing (Email works); review your lease, and help your LL out if you can w/o harming yourself

Seattle is bound to have a tenants help group- maybe thru the City govt.; JWW sounds like he knows...

be sure everything is in writing (Email works); review your lease to be certain you have no violations, and help your LL out if you can w/o harming yourself

when you move out, have a friend video tape the entire place to ensure you your deposit back - request a walk thru with the LL and video that; be sure he knows you are documenting any holdbacks

this is an intrinsically difficult relationship & I've been on all 3 sides of it many times (3rd side is Mgr.)

[Laneco]

No.

angela