miramani
12-02-2008, 05:18 AM
My landlord has been charging me a monthly community "fee" of $50 over and above my rents, basically it is a "rent fee" as my rent is not accepted until I pay this "fee" first. I have been told if I don't pay it or it is late, then they will add a late charge to boot! And they have done.
When I sat down to go over the past 8 years of all checks paid since I moved here, I realized that from the very first month I have been ALSO been paying an OVERCHARGE of a full $50 per month on my rent, my lease says $50 less, this is in addition to this $50 "rent fee". So from the first, they have had me paying an additional $100 over the rents.
It was all very confusing when I moved in, they explained it in circles which made my eyes cross trying to make sense of their "reasons" and I had understood the "fee" was a one-time thing. They use it for church-community (no, I am NOT a member) expenses and that it HAD to be paid monthly! They continue to refuse to put in writing what it is used for, never explaining how they can legally charge any monthly fee over and above rents. If I ask, they harass me and accuse me of causing problems for the manager and bookkeeper! ("It's just not spiritual, you should meditate more, not focus so much on the physical" - they don't do any repairs either, and simply ignore my repeated written requests.)
What I want to know is this - Can I take the landlord to court to recoup these overcharges, as they had to have known or even if they didn't, the fact that I found it simply doesn't alter the fact that they have been over charging my monthly rents by $50 for over 8 years. They are tenacious at retaliation towards any tenants who rock their little boat of greed, with 30-day cancellation of tenancy notice. So far they have avoided going to eviction court with any single tenant, they are so practiced at intimidation.
What recourse do I have? The 2 lawyers I spoke with were at a loss, so not real helpful there, which doesn't help me to resolve this and recoup my monies. Though I have research the ORS tenant-landlord laws, I cannot find a single specific ORS where it states that a landlord can or cannot overcharge a written lease rent amount by a single cent.
I'd like to start paying $50 per month less as soon as my next rent.
Any advice as to how to approach this in a letter to the landlord so as to reduce the rent to where it should be? (They never have us sign new leases when there is a rental increase, I think this is intentional so they can skim the rents and their books reflect other amounts. My original lease says my monthly rate is $135 less than what they are charging, plus the extra $50! (I have created a chart of the whole history, with original lease amount, rent increases, all "rent fees" etc. which clearly prove that they have been having me pay more than the lease allows.) I am armed with proper information should they hit me with one of their notices and then try to evict me when I don't respond.
Lately they are finding ways to constantly harass me, as they want me gone so they don't have to do the many repairs needed. Also I want to write a letter of deduction of rent because of the safety and lack of insulation issues they ignore, which lessens the value of this rental and makes my electric bills sky high, and I'm still cold. Have you ever had 3 heaters on and still had to wear longjohns and gloves INSIDE? (They once gave me a written estimate of what materials would cost them in order to insulate my main walls, then told me they didn't want to spend the money and that I could pay for it myself to the tune of $2000! This is a rental - what are they thinking?)
PS. Cannot get a building inspector, code compliance official, city inspector because this is in UNincorporated county, though inside 3 city limits. I spent 3 weeks making calls to appropriate renters' rights officials to investigate and validate all of these issues, only to be told time and again that "we don't service unincorporated areas"!
This is rental hell, my advice is don't ever live in UN-INCORPORATED Counties anywhere if you are renting!
When I sat down to go over the past 8 years of all checks paid since I moved here, I realized that from the very first month I have been ALSO been paying an OVERCHARGE of a full $50 per month on my rent, my lease says $50 less, this is in addition to this $50 "rent fee". So from the first, they have had me paying an additional $100 over the rents.
It was all very confusing when I moved in, they explained it in circles which made my eyes cross trying to make sense of their "reasons" and I had understood the "fee" was a one-time thing. They use it for church-community (no, I am NOT a member) expenses and that it HAD to be paid monthly! They continue to refuse to put in writing what it is used for, never explaining how they can legally charge any monthly fee over and above rents. If I ask, they harass me and accuse me of causing problems for the manager and bookkeeper! ("It's just not spiritual, you should meditate more, not focus so much on the physical" - they don't do any repairs either, and simply ignore my repeated written requests.)
What I want to know is this - Can I take the landlord to court to recoup these overcharges, as they had to have known or even if they didn't, the fact that I found it simply doesn't alter the fact that they have been over charging my monthly rents by $50 for over 8 years. They are tenacious at retaliation towards any tenants who rock their little boat of greed, with 30-day cancellation of tenancy notice. So far they have avoided going to eviction court with any single tenant, they are so practiced at intimidation.
What recourse do I have? The 2 lawyers I spoke with were at a loss, so not real helpful there, which doesn't help me to resolve this and recoup my monies. Though I have research the ORS tenant-landlord laws, I cannot find a single specific ORS where it states that a landlord can or cannot overcharge a written lease rent amount by a single cent.
I'd like to start paying $50 per month less as soon as my next rent.
Any advice as to how to approach this in a letter to the landlord so as to reduce the rent to where it should be? (They never have us sign new leases when there is a rental increase, I think this is intentional so they can skim the rents and their books reflect other amounts. My original lease says my monthly rate is $135 less than what they are charging, plus the extra $50! (I have created a chart of the whole history, with original lease amount, rent increases, all "rent fees" etc. which clearly prove that they have been having me pay more than the lease allows.) I am armed with proper information should they hit me with one of their notices and then try to evict me when I don't respond.
Lately they are finding ways to constantly harass me, as they want me gone so they don't have to do the many repairs needed. Also I want to write a letter of deduction of rent because of the safety and lack of insulation issues they ignore, which lessens the value of this rental and makes my electric bills sky high, and I'm still cold. Have you ever had 3 heaters on and still had to wear longjohns and gloves INSIDE? (They once gave me a written estimate of what materials would cost them in order to insulate my main walls, then told me they didn't want to spend the money and that I could pay for it myself to the tune of $2000! This is a rental - what are they thinking?)
PS. Cannot get a building inspector, code compliance official, city inspector because this is in UNincorporated county, though inside 3 city limits. I spent 3 weeks making calls to appropriate renters' rights officials to investigate and validate all of these issues, only to be told time and again that "we don't service unincorporated areas"!
This is rental hell, my advice is don't ever live in UN-INCORPORATED Counties anywhere if you are renting!
