No, not the tenants, the landlords. And this time, they went BIG again! Every 7 – 10 years we seem to have to go through this . . . check out the notice many tenants recently got.
Here’s the quick and dirty:
First of all, you can’t change the rules in the middle of the lease, even a month to month lease, and any tenant asked to agree to these rules should refuse. You signed a lease, that was the agreement and if they want the agreement to change, they should have to negotiate with you. Including, allowing you out of your lease if you don’t want to agree to the changes.
Second of all, the fines listed in here are something called liquidated damages. The landlord can only charge you for the actual cost to them, not some random fining system.
Third of all, its just offensive to me that a landlord would threaten something such as “Not paying or contesting your violation, can lead to eviction for non-payment of rent.”. A) It’s not rent. B) They’re threatening eviction if you even contest the fines? Seems like they are trying to intimidate tenants into not complaining or enforcing their rights.
Fourth – read the rules . . . they include such gems as:
– Open containers – There are no open containers of alcohol allowed outside your apartment. (Ok, that was really mangled the way they wrote it, but I think that is what they meant.)
– No one in a group of more than 2 people per unit are allowed to be outside after 7 pm to 6 am.
– It includes fines for “verbal fighting”.
– No one can do any mechanical work on vehicles while they are on property except for changing of a tire.
– If you do damages to the apartment, they charge you for the damages, plus $100.
– $20 fine for a barking dog.
No grilling out and having a beer, and if you do your dog better not bark while you are doing it. And no more than 2 people if it is after 7pm. And gosh, don’t get into a heated debate about whether Kathleen Falk should have resigned! And, whatever you do, don’t attempt to help jump start your neighbors car!
On a positive note, the head of the Landlord Association did call me and invited me to the next meeting and agreed that there might be some issues here, but he thought I should come and talk to the landlords . . . I agreed. That should be fun.
My understanding is that this security company also has landlords who hired them on the SW side of Madison as well. I wonder if they will invite me to come talk to their landlords?
While this is the wrong way to go about it, I can understand why the landlords feel the need to come down hard on various behaviors. After all, the City has shown that property can…and will…be seized if too many laws are broken by rental tenants.
Yeah, some of the issues are real, but you just can’t do it this way. And, they have month to month tenants and if they are problems, don’t renew their lease. Or, if they have a written lease for a certain period of time, enforce the provisions in the lease . . . through eviction! That way there is due process for the tenants. Don’t intimidate people so they don’t enforce their rights!
I’m confused – didn’t this come from the security company (rather than the landlords?) Also, I believe the comment about contesting the fines probably meant that if you don’t pay and/or you don’t at least call to say you contest it (meaning you ignore the notice), then they’ll take action. I don’t think it was meant to discourage tenants from contesting the fine. While the fines and response may not be legal or appropriate, I can empathize with their frustration.
I agree with Purplepenguin – this may not be the way to do this, but I can understand the landlord’s perspective. While I’m not a landlord, I’ve been a long time renter and I can appreciate the attempt to deal with obnoxious, disrespectful and problematic neighbors. Especially when it comes to extra costs when local police are called to deal with the situation or unnecessary repairs are required.
The fact that the landlords have extended an invitation to you to discuss the issue, seems to demonstrate their willingness to not only resolve but problem-solve the situation. Yes, they should know the law, but I think there comes a point of constant frustrations and expense where people react rather than think things through.
Even good tenants can be expensive. A former landlord once told me about a tenant that failed to tell him for 3 months that their toilet was running continuously and needed repair. The resulting water bill to the landlord was almost triple the normal cost (nearly $1,000 per month). He didn’t pass the cost on to the tenant, but explained the resulting expense so they could appreciate what it cost him and encourage them to report repairs sooner. If this kind of thing happens with good tenants, I can’t imagine how upsetting and expensive these “fine-able” offenses must be (the big ones, not the barking dogs and open containers). If a prohibited behavior/action is on the list, it’s because SOMEONE has done it.
I agree, it is confusing. The security company did it on behalf of the landlords. Apparently it came from many of the landlords in the area and they are going to all be adopting this or putting it in their leases. I also empathize with the frustration, but you still have to follow the law. And they do have solutions, these are month to month tenants, if they are that big of a problem, non-renew them! Why are they renting to them in the first place? They have tools available to them.