Q–The soaring costs of natural gas for heat is are really hurting the profitability of my apartment buildings. I’d like to know if I can raise the rents for my tenants so that I will be able to afford the gas bill.
Also, is it legally possible for me to break the existing leases for this purpose?
A–Most probably you are powerless to take either action to try to recover some of your unanticipated building expenses.
When you agreed on the rent with your tenants, both you and your tenants were bound to the lease, which is, in essence, a contract between you.
As in the case of most contracts, once you’ve formed one with another party, you are bound by that contract for better or worse. The only major exception is if both parties were mistaken when entering into the contract. That is not likely to be the situation in your case.
When you entered into the contract with your tenant, you became bound to provide the tenant with the apartment and the attendant services for a set price. Your tenant became obligated to pay that set price for a stated period of time, the lease term.
Neither one of you is the business partner of the other. If you found yourself making more profit than expected, it is unlikely that you would roll back the rents, declaring that you were making excess profits.
Conversely, you are not legally entitled to raise the rents because you are making less profit than you expected. This is even the case if you are making no profit, or even if you are suffering a loss at the current rental rates.
The tenant is equally bound to you. The obligation to pay the rent for the lease term remains, even if the tenant loses his or her job, or if the tenant’s financial circumstances change.
For the same reason that you cannot change the terms of the lease, and each of you must abideby its current terms, you cannot simply break the other tenant leases to avoid your obligations as landlord.
If you do so, and if the tenants are forced out of the apartments which you agreed to provide, you will probably become liable, at a minimum, for the increased costs of substitute housing, the costs of relocation and any other damages the tenants sustain as a result of your wrongful action. You might also be responsible for attorneys’ fees and costs under some ordinances and statutes.
Q–I rent an apartment in a small condo building. Due to leaking caused by heavy snow on the roof, our ceiling has fallen down, and others appear ready to fall.
My landlord says that these repairs are the responsibility of the condominium association, and I should deal with the association in this matter. He also said that neither he nor the association can do anything about this damage until the weather breaks.
Do I have to get this work done through the condominium association, and do I have to wait until spring to get the work done?
A–It is not your place to deal with the condominium association, because your contractual relationship is with your landlord, presumably the condominium owner.
It is up to him to deal with the condominium association to orchestrate completion of the work. Furthermore, you have the right to expect performance from him. The landlord has the obligation to handle this matter with the association, as he is a member of the condo association.
Realizing that this might put the landlord in a precarious position, if the landlord requires the cooperation of the association, that is not your problem.
Further, the landlord’s obligation to respond to the need for repairs cannot be reasonably stalled until spring. Each time a ceiling falls, there is the prospect of someone being hurt. Obviously, this is a substantial threat to your safety, and to the safety of those in your apartment. At a minimum, temporary repairs and bolstering of the ceiling can be done to alleviate this hazard on an interim basis.
If you don’t get any satisfaction from your landlord, your next call should be to the local building department. These conditions constitute substantial building code violations, and if you can’t get the voluntary cooperation of the landlord, your municipality has enforcement powers which it can use to require repairs, to attempt to prevent any of the building’s residents from sustaining a life-threatening injury.
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Robert A. Boron, a Chicago attorney concentrating in leasing matters, writes about landlordand tenant issues for the Tribune. Questions may be sent to him c/o Your Place Section, ChicagoTribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60611. Questions may also be sent via e-mail torabltd@aol.com. Sorry, but he cannot make personal replies.
