Renewing your lease

anonymous · August 2006

Our lease renewal is coming up soon and our landlord sent us the new least to complete. He's raising the rent 5% which I suppose isn't too bad. He's also asking for something else which I've never seen before. He wants additional security deposit in proportion to the amount of the increase. Does anyone know if this is legal or commonplace?

precious williams · August 2006

I find that really weird. What is your landlord like?

pitu · August 2006

Subject: Re: Renewing your lease

willregistersoon wrote: Our lease renewal is coming up soon and our landlord sent us the new least to complete. He's raising the rent 5% which I suppose isn't too bad. He's also asking for something else which I've never seen before. He wants additional security deposit in proportion to the amount of the increase. Does anyone know if this is legal or commonplace?

that's totally normal, and legal.
If I'm understanding you anyway -
LL is just asking for a security deposit that is equal to your rent.

fersinstance,
rent was $1000. New rent is $1050. LL is asking for additional $50 security deposit, to match up with new rent amount.

livetotravel · August 2006

pitu is correct. perfectly legal and consistent with common practice.

precious williams · August 2006

Livetotravel wrote: pitu is correct. perfectly legal and consistent with common practice.

Not in my experience. Not even once has this happened to me. Rent gets increased and the landlord never asks me to pay additional security. Also, say your rent went from $1700 to $1800 wouldn't it seem very petty for you to have to send an additional $100? Surely after you'd been a good tenant for a year, your landlord would give you the benefit of the doubt and not imagine you're about to do a runner in the night or cause damage to the property that will exceed the security deposit...

trixienyc · August 2006

it absolutely is the case. rent goes up, security deposit goes up to accomodate. in my prior rental experience this has always been the case. it is legal, it is the norm.

armchair_warrior · August 2006

its legal and fair. some landlords do that others dont.

pitu · August 2006

Precious Williams wrote: [quote=Livetotravel]pitu is correct. perfectly legal and consistent with common practice.

Not in my experience. Not even once has this happened to me. Rent gets increased and the landlord never asks me to pay additional security. Also, say your rent went from $1700 to $1800 wouldn't it seem very petty for you to have to send an additional $100? Surely after you'd been a good tenant for a year, your landlord would give you the benefit of the doubt and not imagine you're about to do a runner in the night or cause damage to the property that will exceed the security deposit...

I never took it as petty on the part of my LLs, or as a slight on my character - just how biz is done.
Plus who wants to keep track of how much your initial deposit is, for when you get it back . . .

pitu · August 2006

great source of NYC housing info is
http://www.tenant.net/nyc.html

they have excellent message boards

precious williams · August 2006

not suggesting this practice is illegal merely that it seems odd to me.

meanderthal · August 2006

Raising the security deposit is just keeping up with inflation. Your 2004 deposit of $1000 won't buy $1000 in repairs today. In asking for additional deposit, the landlord is not capturing additional value, but just protecting him/herself at the level established in 2004. It's not only legal, it's logical.

precious williams · August 2006

meanderthal wrote: Raising the security deposit is just keeping up with inflation. Your 2004 deposit of $1000 won't buy $1000 in repairs today. In asking for additional deposit, the landlord is not capturing additional value, but just protecting him/herself at the level established in 2004. It's not only legal, it's logical.

In that case I'm kinda curious as to your explanation of my situation. Rent in my current apartment has been raised twice, never have I been asked to provide additional security deposit. Exact same scenario in my previous apartment. And also in the one before that...

livetotravel · August 2006

If you signed a standard NYC lease that falls under the rent stabilization laws, then here is the operable language . . .

When a lease is renewed at a higher rental amount, or the rent is increased during the term of the lease, the owner can collect additional money from the tenant to bring the security deposit up to the new monthly rent.

The security deposit must be kept by the owner in an interest-bearing account in a New York State bank. The owner must notify the tenant of the name and address of the bank and credit the tenant the full annual interest, less 1% of the security deposit per year for the owner's administrative costs. The tenant can choose whether the interest is to be subtracted from the rent, held in trust until the end of the tenancy, or paid in a lump sum at the end of each year.

A security deposit should not be used as a final month's rent. At the end of the lease, if the tenant honored the terms and conditions of the lease and left the apartment in the same condition as it was when rented, except for normal wear, the owner must return the full security deposit. If damage was done, the owner may apply part or all of the security deposit to the cost of repair.

From http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/dhcr/dhcr9.html

meanderthal · August 2006

Precious Williams wrote: [quote=meanderthal]Raising the security deposit is just keeping up with inflation. Your 2004 deposit of $1000 won't buy $1000 in repairs today. In asking for additional deposit, the landlord is not capturing additional value, but just protecting him/herself at the level established in 2004. It's not only legal, it's logical.

In that case I'm kinda curious as to your explanation of my situation. Rent in my current apartment has been raised twice, never have I been asked to provide additional security deposit. Exact same scenario in my previous apartment. And also in the one before that...

I can't explain your particular situation. I'm just saying the practice is legal and logical. Your landlord isn't bound to raise your deposit amount, but he can--and now, has.

quijibo · August 2006

Livetotravel wrote: A security deposit should not be used as a final month's rent. At the end of the lease, if the tenant honored the terms and conditions of the lease and left the apartment in the same condition as it was when rented, except for normal wear, the owner must return the full security deposit. If damage was done, the owner may apply part or all of the security deposit to the cost of repair.

From http://www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/dhcr/dhcr9.html

this part. the part about the landlord being legally allowed at his discretion to return all or part of the security deposit at lease-end
always bugged me

i've had my share of bad landlords
and if it were up to them, they would always keep ALL of the deposit

kmc · August 2006

My rent has gone up by over 30% since I've been here (9 years). They've never asked for an increase in security deposit, but they could.

Signed,
Flexichick (who hopes her landlord doesn't read this board)

8thandprez · August 2006

We just renewed our lease. Our rent increased by $100 (3.7%) and we paid an additional $100 into our security deposit. I though this was pretty standard. If your deposit = 1 month rent and your rent increases, you kick in to bring it up to the new monthly rate.

precious williams · August 2006

8thandPrez wrote: We just renewed our lease. Our rent increased by $100 (3.7%) and we paid an additional $100 into our security deposit. I though this was pretty standard. If your deposit = 1 month rent and your rent increases, you kick in to bring it up to the new monthly rate.

If I was a landlord, had had the tenant for some years without a single problem and had no reason to believe they'd try to stiff me, I wouldn't bother to ask them for additional security.

raw · August 2006

Subject: Re: Renewing your lease

pitu wrote: [quote=willregistersoon]Our lease renewal is coming up soon and our landlord sent us the new least to complete. He's raising the rent 5% which I suppose isn't too bad. He's also asking for something else which I've never seen before. He wants additional security deposit in proportion to the amount of the increase. Does anyone know if this is legal or commonplace?

that's totally normal, and legal.
If I'm understanding you anyway -
LL is just asking for a security deposit that is equal to your rent.

fersinstance,
rent was $1000. New rent is $1050. LL is asking for additional $50 security deposit, to match up with new rent amount.

Yes, it seems like a typical scenario. Your landlord is most likely abiding the law. However, it never hurts to re-read your lease ten times with a magnifying glass or, if you're very concerned, pass it on to a lawyer friend.

8thandprez · August 2006

Precious Williams wrote: [quote=8thandPrez]We just renewed our lease. Our rent increased by $100 (3.7%) and we paid an additional $100 into our security deposit. I though this was pretty standard. If your deposit = 1 month rent and your rent increases, you kick in to bring it up to the new monthly rate.

If I was a landlord, had had the tenant for some years without a single problem and had no reason to believe they'd try to stiff me, I wouldn't bother to ask them for additional security.

I'm a landlord and have learned to expect the unexpected. Tenants that have been angelic have a way of turning up unconscious from an overdose in the middle of the street, selling drugs from the apartment, sexually assaulting their girlfriend, punching a hole through the wall, kicking in a door, or taking in the neighborhood's laundry. I know bc we've experienced all these things... and most of the tenants were fairly normal beforehand.

Renewing your lease

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