Landlord increasing rent, is this permitted?

[MissLadyRea 206]

State: Alabama
We received a text a few days ago from our landlord, telling us that our rent will be increasing by $75 as of january first. These two sections seem to be the only ones in our lease that discuss payment, and rent increase. The conclusion my husband and I are getting at, is that this is NOT allowed due to the fact our initial term as written in that first photo is not over. We did have a different lease before this, but this one clearly states that the initial term is July 1st 2023 - June 30th 2024. 

The writing under the renewal terms are convoluted, and we don't want to make a mistake that would land us in legal trouble

So, is this legal, and if not what action should we take next? We have not replied to the landlords text yet.

[Crazy Cat 39,627]

Ask the landlord how he is raising the rent after only 6 months of a 1 year lease?  Maybe it is a mistake by him/her.  According to what you posted, he cannot raise the rent until June 30th, 2024.

Edited December 12, 2023 by Crazy Cat

[Crazy Cat 39,627]

What does paragraph 3 say?

[MissLadyRea 206]

7 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

What does paragraph 3 say?

I think technically paragraph 3 would be the part that says possession in the first screenshot, but I think its referring to the one below  that says 1. RENT

Nothing else is numbered 

 

[TBoneTX 43,420]

I tend to agree with Crazy Cat that perhaps this is a mistake.

Bear in mind that it's important to keep things as pleasant as possible.

If things go south between you and the landlord, an eviction notice may not be out of the question.

This all might be worth a quick consultation with a real-estate or tenant attorney.

[MissLadyRea 206]

Thank you both! We'll politely ask like Crazycat suggested, meanwhilst contacting an attorney. 

 

I appreciate both of your time

[TBoneTX 43,420]

Let us know what happens!

[MissLadyRea 206]

Not the best update but we have contacted countless real estate lawyers or attorneys in the area, trying to get a consultation but not a single one has gotten back to us. 
Today our neighbor seems to be moving out, so I wonder if that's related to the price change (Either the reason he increased it or they're leaving due to the abrupt not okay change.)
We are still trying, we contact more attorneys every few days that we get ghosted but it's getting frustrating. 

[milimelo 4,253]

Can't you go on reddit or something and look at some threads for tenants - I'm sure there are some out there (I don't do reddit but hear there's a thread/channel whatever is called for everything). 

 

Also as others have said if you just moved in in June 2023 and signed the lease then there's no hiking up the rent until that lease term is over. It may be the landlord is trying to have you retroactively change the terms of the current lease - that's a no-go. 

If you have universities/colleges around you - they have legal clinics - contact them as well. 

 

Edit to add - your initial term is through June 30, 2024. The last paragraph or rent increase would only come into effect AFTER the initial term is over - ie he can't hike up your rent now. You can point back to this and tell him you'd be happy to discuss in June but as you're still in the initial term rent increase would be illegal. 

 

Go find the tenant, renter, landlord laws for your county/area and arm yourself with that. Local county housing should be helpful as well. 

Edited January 16 by milimelo

[MissLadyRea 206]

4 minutes ago, milimelo said:

Can't you go on reddit or something and look at some threads for tenants - I'm sure there are some out there (I don't do reddit but hear there's a thread/channel whatever is called for everything). 

 

Also as others have said if you just moved in in June 2023 and signed the lease then there's no hiking up the rent until that lease term is over. It may be the landlord is trying to have you retroactively change the terms of the current lease - that's a no-go. 

If you have universities/colleges around you - they have legal clinics - contact them as well. 

The landlord claims its in the contract, only thing I can think of is that maybe the original contract (this is our second year) has something in it that claims he can now change it but we don't want to take risks, since the penalties in our contract are fairly large.

I'm sure there is reddit threads similar, but I am specifically looking for someone (the lawyers Ive been contacting I mean) with experience in the law to read through both contracts and let us know firmly, without a sheer of doubt, that there is nothing sneaky in the contracts I missed that permits this. Because if we are wrong, we end up liable. 

I'll give the schools a shot, I think we have some larger ones that is definitely worth a try thank you!

Edited January 16 by MissLadyRea
Clarified a confusing statement..