Can a landlord change the price of the rent with only giving a weeks notice?

Question

My roommate's boyfriend moved in with us, however we did not add him to our lease. Our landlord's live next door to us and knew that he was living there. At the beginning of the month we payed our rent and our landlords decided that our rent was going to be raised $150. We were told that we had to pay this within a week. Can our landlords legally do this

Answer 1

Seriously, you people have to *NOT* answer questions on this site if your completely misinformed. Landlord & Tenant legislation is the most skewed misinterpreted and abused piece of legislation out there, and people answering legal/legislative questions on it without any actual knowledge are just perpetuating the abuse further.

Let me answer your question.

A landlord has no right to tell you who or how many people live in your home, the only (and I mean ONLY) stipulation is if it's a number that exceeds fire code regulations.

A landlord CANNOT charge you more rent for having a roomate

Please review your state legislation for an exact answere

This is straight from the legal board that enforces the Landlord Tenant Act and Residential Tenancies Act

Can a tenant be evicted for having a roommate?

"No, a tenant cannot be evicted simply for having a roommate.  However, a tenant may be evicted if the roommate is causing a problem for the landlord or for other tenants.  For example, if the roommate is making a lot of noise, damaging the unit, or there are too many roommates (overcrowding), the landlord can serve a notice of termination and apply to evict the tenant and any other occupants of the unit. "

Please review the leg here:

a brief easy to read summary of rules and regulations:

http://www.ltb.gov.on.ca/en/Key_Informat...

the actual legislation:

landlord tenant act

http://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/statutes/ccsm...

residential tenancies act:

http://www.ontariotenants.ca/law/act.pht...

*note this is all for Canada, specifically Ontario. But having studied legislation specifically in college I know that these rules are pretty much streamlined across most of North America

Answer 2

Yes.  The landlord is now housing another person.   He has a right to collect more rent.  

Answer 3

Do you have a month-to-month lease or a term lease?  It would take agreement on your side in order for them to change the amount charged for rent unless otherwise noted in your rental agreement.  Without knowing any real specifics of your rental agreement I cannot say for certain, however I would guess that they probably cannot do this without your agreement.  If you don't agree, they could ask you to leave and not agree to rent the place to you anymore.

Answer 4

FIRST OF ALL - You cannot have someone move in without checking with your landlord FIRST. That was wrong and they can technically evict all of you for having an unauthorized tenant.

SECOND OF ALL - You do not say what state you are in.  Most states require 30 days notice of rent increases, but you will have to check your states landlord tenant law to be sure.

They probably raised it because you have an additional tenant - this is standard.

Answer 5

NOPE.

Lease sets out rent.

However they can tell you to get rid of the BF, tell you that you are breaching lease by having him in apt, etc.

They may have thought he was a short-term visitor, may have noticed him, may not have, maybe were waiting to see what was going on.

They can't change rent midterm, but you can't add additional tenant without their written permission.  They can agree to let him stay, but for additional rental, but this requires agreement between tenants and LL, and whatever you all can agree upon.

Answer 6

Not really, but you just can't move someone into his house either.

He can legally change it next month, but he can also legally file for an eviction today because you moved someone into his property.

Answer 7

Read your rental agreement. I'll bet it also says that they can give you a 72 hour notice to vacate if you move someone in without notifying them, too.....

Answer 8

I think legally if they want to do that, then they have to give you the option to move out now without them continuing to charge you for the remainder of your lease.  Of course, since you violated your lease agreement by taking in another roommate, maybe that goes out the window.

Answer 9

Yes he can. You are in the wrong by moving anyone else in with you.

Answer 10

No.  He has to give you 1-3 months notice, depending on the length of your lease.  That gives you a chance to tell him you're moving out if you don't approve of the increase.  

In Canada (you don't say where you live), Landlords can only increase the rent by a small percent of the current rent, and only on the date of lease renewal, with 3 months notice if it's a year long lease.  

That said, it might not be legal for you to have someone else move in with you either, without adding them to the lease.  You should check on that.  It might say on your lease.

Answer 11

I don't think so, but you should check with your local housing authority.

  More than likely your landlord is a scumbag that's trying to capitalize on the fact that there's another person living there.

   The lease is a form of contract and can't be changed or altered unilaterally. Certainly a rent increase (especially a sizeable one) is subject to adequate notice and your approval.