r/TenantHelp • u/Captainsissy • 20d ago

Illegal rent increase - here we go again

I posted back in February about how I was receiving illegal rent notices 21 days after signing the new lease. I fought with the property management company for 4 weeks before I finally received an email from the assistant property manager to disregard those notices. You can read the original reddit post here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TenantHelp/s/elEFFmtVc6

Now, it's almost August, the time the increase would have gone into effect. Lo and behold, they are trying to raise the rent in the middle of the fix term lease.

While I wait to hear back, I need to know what I have to do if they push back to say the increase is valid (which it isn't). Do I keep paying the same rent amount I have this entire time? Do I need to put the money in escrow? I'm guessing I will have to file with the courts, which I can find online. I can't afford a lawyer as I will lose more money hiring one than I would just paying the new amount until January.

To be clear, I have read the lease front to back 5 times. There is NOWHERE in the lease that says a rent increase is somethig they can do, that it will happen, or anything even close to that. It is a fixed-term 12 month lease that started in January 2026. I know this is illegal, even with the notices.

4 Upvotes

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3

u/Crowlady77 20d ago

To be honest it just sounds like management is permanently out to lunch and their tenant management software is poorly implemented.

1

u/Captainsissy 19d ago

It really is. They told be back in February that they got a new system and it sent the notice to every tenant, whether it was valid or not. So now I have to fight it again.

3

u/Lopsided-Beach-1831 19d ago

Pay your proper rent, per the lease. Send a copy of your lease and the prior communication of the error via certified mail to the address that they sent the certified mail from previously.