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Tenants continue to have problems with Rainier Management wanting to change their leases in the middle of the contract and charge the tenants for gas and trash, services previously paid for by the landlord. To read a Fox 7 story about this issue, click here.
If you are in this situation, review your lease. Are the boxes checked stating that the landlord will pay for these services? If yes, you should not have to pay for gas and trash until you renew your lease. If the boxes are NOT checked, the answer is less clear. Our position is that a landlord may not change the lease terms in the middle of a contract without the tenant’s consent. Write a letter to the management company stating that you are X months into your lease and have not been required to pay for gas and trash until now. State that you believe this attempted change is a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. If you refuse to pay for the gas and trash, the landlord may try to evict you. You would have an opportunity to present your side to a judge who would decide the case.
If you have NOT signed the lease addendum, don’t sign it! File a complaint with the Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Texas Attorney General. If you have any questions, call the Consumer Protection Hotline at 800-621-0508 or 512-463-2100.
If you have signed the lease addendum, we recommend that you send a certified letter to Rainier Management. State in your letter that the company has admitted twice in a public forum that the lease addendum notice was a mistake. State that you want the lease addendum rescinded because you were coerced to sign it out of fear of eviction.
Call the ATC’s telephone counseling line, 512-474-1961, if you have any questions.
January 10th, 2008
The following new tenant-landlord laws took effect January 1, 2008. Call ATC’s telephone counseling line (512-474-1961) if you have questions about any tenant-landlord issue.
Make, Model, and Serial Number
A landlord may require a tenant to provide the make, model, color, year, license number, and state of registration of the vehicle to be parked in a parking area that the landlord has made available for tenant use.
24-Hour Emergency Hotline
A landlord who has an on-site management office must provide tenants with an emergency telephone number that will be answered 24 hours a day. This phone number must be posted prominently outside the on-site management office.
Landlords who do not have an on-site management office must provide tenants with an emergency telephone number, but the number is not required to be answered 24 hours a day.
Mobile Home Park Closure Notice
Landlords must provide mobile home tenants with 180-day notice prior to the closure of their mobile home park. (Landlords may give 60-day notice for non-renewal of a lease unrelated to the closure of a park.) During the period, tenants must continue to pay all rent and other amounts due under the lease agreement.
January 5th, 2008
In early December, Rainier Management, which manages 17 apartment complexes in Austin, informed its tenants that it would no longer be paying any utilities at their properties. (Currently, the company pays tenants’ natural gas and trash bills.) The letter notifying tenants of this policy change stated, “January rental payments will not be accepted unless this addendum is signed and returned.” To watch a video about this story on KVUE, click here.
Besides employing this strong-arm tactic to persuade tenants to sign the addendum, Rainier Management violated tenants’ rights in other ways. For one, a landlord may not change the lease terms in the middle of a contract without the tenant’s consent. Many of the tenants affected by Rainier Management’s policy change had signed lease contacts where the company had agreed to pay for gas and trash. Second, when a landlord changes a policy, especially one that increases the dollar amount that a tenant owes, tenants must be given at least 30 days’ written notice of the change.
After complaints to the Austin Tenants’ Council and the Texas Apartment Association, Rainier Management has reversed its position: January rent will be accepted and utility fees will be added as leases are renewed.
December 19th, 2007
