Sorry in advance for the length of this article.
My position is New Jersey. The issue is real estate and specifically the tenant's rights versus the landlord's rights. For added eco, the property owner lives in Florida but is represented by a realtor in New Jersey.
Please do not answer this if you are not an advisor. This is time sensitive and I wouldn't have time to get rid of legitimate advice already.
SAGA repayment
In May or June 2022 my roommates and I were looking to rent an apartment online. We created one that we loved that included 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, an office/lounge room, and a laundry in a common common area for a total price of $1,000/month. We went to view the apartment in person and loved it, although the office/restroom is downstairs, which is not accessible from the rest of our apartment. To hack that we were told we would be given separate keys and would have to go out and re-work through the side hall. Great, no problem (we mainly use this room as storage, but we definitely need the space).
We signed up for the package for the period July 1, 2022 to July 1, 2023 and after placing the deposit we were given access to two separate sets of keys, one for the main body of the apartment, and one for the downstairs/office/room area.
Fast forward a month and we find out that the property we're renting is actually for trade. This information was not disclosed to us at any time before we signed the package, because the realtor knew we were going to walk out of the deal. In fact, I only set up because I came across the property on Zillow and saw that it was an active table.
The months that followed were filled with excessive open houses. Brokers and tacit buyers were showing up—sometimes exposed, sometimes undisclosed—several times a month. Sometimes that was several times a week. Obviously, most people would not blindly trust groups of non-natives who populate their homes where they keep their valuables, favorites, etc., so one of us always had to be on guard to make sure our home and things were defended. This has led us to start cutting shifts at our separate jobs, as well as missing out on other job opportunities to make rich. Not to mention, some of us suffer from unnoticed disabilities akin to obsessive-compulsive disorder, which has made the constant, now-ending accompaniment of non-natives in and out of our home trying diminishingly on our inner health and overall well-being. We told our landlord of our establishment and we were told our disability was "not her problem" and when we said we were starting to miss work she said we didn't have to be present when groups of people took a flat trip. But of course, she didn't have the power to guarantee that anyone would be responsible for our property if anything happened during our fall, so we just kept making sure we were present.
As her landlord became more and more desperate for her house's trade, she became less and less ethical. and her estate-broker, who had no hope of getting his share of the commission, did not fare much better. But most people who come to see the property are unconcerned because she is trying to sell a property with an estimated value of about $1,000 for $999—a commodity many of whom constantly noticed when viewing the structure.
In February, a potential buyer is interested in the place and wants to buy it. The landlord will pay your asking price with one reservation, as they have full and immediate access to the downstairs space, which includes the laundry area as well as the office rec room space which we got with keys.
Hopeless in Trade The owner sends us out on March 17th and gives us until March 21st (hereafter) to vacate that space. Since it was advertised as part of reimbursement and included in the asking price of $000/mo, we politely declined this request. Not to mention paid earlier for the month of March. Her response to this was to shoot us in another textbook on March 18th out of the blue when we had to get our belongings out of the basement *at the end of that night* or they would be put on the road. At that point, we started looking for an attorney and told her not to contact us again, and if she did, we would consider it a no-brainer. Her response to this was the police calling us from Florida to say they might want to come check the property due to a suspicious person downstairs. So she basically told us to get things out of the basement, and also knowing someone was in there - because we're entitled to have the police called on us. To say we felt prepped and swayed because of this would be an understatement. We told the police that they were using them as pawns to kill us, and they left without incident.
Also a moment, the landlord supposedly told her lawyer about it
. The basement costs $350 a month in excess, and she's now paying us for it because she's a nice person
That we did indeed steal the keys to the basement and gave ourselves access by changing the keys and taking them from the top of the door, having been left there by the previous tenants. In fact, SHE HIRED real estate broker gave us access to those keys the day we paid our deposit and signed the package, according to the deal we got.
There's a lot more to this story than this, but I'm trying not to go off on too many unworkable trips. But I'm vulnerable to this situation and I feel totally upset, abused, and like a hostage in my own home (because she keeps moving people around to try to infiltrate our space, all the time, often without warning). I'm so upset that we get accused of theft when her realtor announces that the apartment includes a basement room for a flat rate of $000 a month, and suddenly it "costs more" and "we unjustly stole the keys."
Her attorney says that having our things come downstairs will adversely affect her ability to close on the trade of this house, which is listed in the afterlife. Meanwhile, we tried asking for the new owner's implicit contact information so we could strike a deal with them like reasonable human beings - only to be told they couldn't get us in contact with each other.
Our consultant says our parcel is not explicitly for basement use, but it is not explicitly sourced for powering any of our apartments. In fact, I think it's a source for the basement, as the parcel constantly mentions the "common areas" that need to be maintained. The only possible 'common area' that could be shared with the other tenants of this structure is the downstairs area off the office/recreation room, so I'm not sure why that didn't count. The rental ad also expressly shows our apartment ("No. 2") containing only the movie floor of our apartment, including two floors in the basement that we were first allowed to use. The schedule was removed a while ago, so unfortunately I wasn't fit to find the written part of this advertisement, but it was made clear that it was included in reimbursement.
We're not trying to be precise, we're not. We just want the space that was given to us and the space we paid for and are still paying for, at least until our package ends in July - which is when we'll be willing to talk terms, with the (hopefully new) landlord. Meanwhile, we want the lies, inconvenience and false allegations from your current landlord to cease incessantly.
I know I mentioned we kept a lawyer but I hope to get some answers too as we are hard beggars and probably unfit to spend the important time in his office as required.
We would still really appreciate it a lot, if anyone could advise us on this. We could really use all the help we can get on our legal advice blog
With that said, please don't hesitate to ask me so I can answer, if anyone has a question or if I'm missing any environment.
Thank you very much in advance for posting my topic in your community