Entry bubble Kicked Out!

By: Colleen | March 12, 2008 | Category: General

While out of town over the weekend I received a most disturbing phone call from my roommate. In the elevator of our apartmentapartment building building she overheard two other girls talking about how they were being forced to move out due to renovations that would occur shortly. Nervous, my roommate went to the leasing office where they gave her some run-around story about our building being completely re-done and that we'll need to move out sometime in the next three months. This is more than a little sketchy seeing as we signed a lease that runs through August.

We immediately got out our copy of the rental agreement to see what it said about early termination of the lease by both the tenant and the rental agency. What we found was a lot of legal jargon neither of us quite understood. Luckily for us, my sister is an attorney and she offered to take a professional look at our situation.

In the meantime, before I become homeless, I decided to consult the Consumer Action Handbook for advice. Here I found out that each state has its own tenant rights, laws, and protections. For a state-by-state directory visit http://www.hud.gov/local.

The reality of the whole deal is I'm going to have to do something I hate more than seeing the Red Sox win the World Series - move.

I must say, I've been kicked out of far better. Has anyone been caught in a similar situation? Any advice?

| Comments [1] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: apartment   cah   colleen   lease   moving   rent   tenant  

 

Entry bubble Apartment Hunt!

By: Jake | September 24, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

Hi! My name is Jake and I’ll be your Monday blogger for Gov Gab. I look forward to writing, but I didn’t really know what to do my first blog about.

For rent signThen it hit me. I was notified a couple weeks ago that my rent will go up substantially next month. It’s too much for me to pay and I need to find a new place. I plan to be a renter and I’ve looked at private rental sites, but there are government sites that have proved useful too.

Every municipality tends to have a website with some sort of rental and housing information. I have lived in Virginia most of my life and I would like to stay here. Both the City of Alexandria and Arlington County have apartment housing websites where I can get rent prices and information about cost of living.

It’s been a while since I put my signature on a lease so I need to jog my memory about what to look for in a lease. The Consumer Action Handbook has a bunch of tips on that. I remember most of these tips, but when the pressure is on to find a new place I don't want to overlook these things and wind up in a bad situation later. The best government resource for looking for housing is the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They have a very useful resources for renters webpage. Alright that'll do it for now. Please feel free to comment below. Have a great week!

| Comments [11] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: apartments   housing   rent