Anonymous wrote:The lease number is almost certainly just a boilerplate thing so that you can effectively sublet without permission. Wouldn’t apply to children, who I don’t think are treated as “people” for occupancy purposes in DC until they turn 1 anyway. I would inform the landlord just so it didn’t seem like I was hiding anything and to get out in front of any issue.


FWIW, I also live on the Hill and have no idea why people are giving you such a hard time. I would also think there was some chance a landlord would decide not to raise your rent for a year given the twins... I must also be naive and entitled.

Thank you for this.

My main goal was to see if anyone had experience with our exact situation (a previous paper lease that had wording that was obviously just boilerplate and contradicted DC tenant occupancy law) and telling/not telling the landlord explicitly about expected children. A few people did help with that and I'm convinced not to proactively tell him, at least unless/until I'm able to talk with the tenant advocacy office.

I don't think I'm "entitled"--I've lived in DC for 17 years, all of them renting, and know what it is to pay very large rents, and really, I was just expressing the maybe, possibly, hope that our landlord would be nice and choose to make this year one of the years he doesn't raise our rent--he hasn't raised it every time. I don't think he HAS to do that nor do I think I'm ENTITLED to that, it was just an aside to my main question.

I suppose I'm clueless in the sense that no, I don't have experience raising kids here yet, but neither does anyone when it's your first pregnancy. We realize we will be stretched and spending out of savings for several years while daycare is most expensive.

To the poster who mentioned the lead in the water pipes also, thank you. We actually had the free testing from the city for that a year or two ago and have since had the lead-filtering filter added to our kitchen faucet, and have a lead-filtering (not Brita) pitcher.

To the poster asking about how we're "not under a lease" now, in DC, once your first one-year paper lease expires, you automatically move to a month to month lease and your landlord I believe has the right to raise the rent no more often than every 6 months.

Anonymous wrote:

sarah1513 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a twin mom sitting here laughing at OPs naïveté

Thanks for the support?

It’s an incredibly silly post. Not sure if it’s the hormones talking but nobody cares that you’re having twins except your family.

by that logic, why participate in parenting forums if no one cares about anyone else's concerns/questions? Geez.

He has not raised the rent every year, just once or twice.

Anonymous wrote:

sarah1513 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

sarah1513 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to tell him but you also shouldn't expect a break simply because you are having twins. If the rent is too expensive for you then you should move to a different place.

+1
you live on the hill - you could move to, say, rockville and rent for less money. welcome to the commute/size/schools/budget dilemma.

We're fine with the schools--big supporters of public schools--and not able to move at this time, especially not so far out. The fact of moving in and of itself is an expense we couldn't take on now for one thing.

I'm not EXPECTING the landlord not to raise our rent, just expressing a hope. The current rent is not too expensive (other than by the standard that ALL rent in DC is too expensive) but the longer we can go without a rent increase the better off we will be. (Duh.)

We have had money saved toward potentially buying a place at some point, but that will now all be spent down as we supplement our monthly income to cover daycare and other child expenses.

i see - you simply must keep living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods, it's the only way?

I know this was sarcastic but: basically. We can't afford the actual moving expenses and the decreased quality of life from the length of that commute for each of us (my husband works in Suitland and I work on the Hill) would outweigh any potential savings in rent.

you don't seem to understand the meaning of "afford"
"we can not afford unpleasant life" is the same as saying "I can not afford not to be a genius" or "I can not afford not to be a Victoria secret model"
reality not your desires dictates what you can afford
if you don't have enough money to move from a place you are overspending on your housing
with your income you should not have rented a 2 bedroom to begin with - there were only two of you; it was a luxury

You don't know our income, and we rented a 2 bedroom home knowing we wanted to start a family and wouldn't want to move right away. The twins part was a surprise, obviously.

OF COURSE we're overspending on our housing, that is life in a city like DC. There is almost no way to spend only the % suggested on the generic real estate guidelines. And if we were not expecting twins we would be able to afford a move, but we aren't able to spend that extra money at this time when we're trying to save toward that.

I was just looking for advice based on others' experiences. I'll look elsewhere for helpful nonjudgmental advice.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a twin mom sitting here laughing at OPs naïveté

Thanks for the support?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

sarah1513 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all a business transaction. Dont think you are something special and rare bc you're expecting twins.

Not saying we're special (although technically, it IS rare!) but given that we're dealing with huge financial costs for all of this, and that we're dealing with an individual landlord, not a corporate one, we're thinking of it as trying to make a human appeal and see what happens.

yeah, this is kind of ridiculous. we moved a lot and were renters for a long time by DCUM standards. 2 out of 3 children were born to apartments we rented. the thought of it having any kind of favorable effect on rent never crossed our minds.

As a landlord on the hill this would make me want to increase your rent. I, too, am a parent and know how kids can cause problems to a house. I’m not talking about coloring on the walls with markers but innocent things like dragging toys on hardwood floors that’s causes scratching. He isn’t going to reduce rent because he feels bad for you and he won’t send you a baby gift. Would you tell your dry cleaner or grocer hoping for a discount? Welcome to the expensive world of children.

If you could see the state of our hardwood floors (predating our living here) you might not be so concerned.

Anonymous wrote:

sarah1513 wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to tell him but you also shouldn't expect a break simply because you are having twins. If the rent is too expensive for you then you should move to a different place.

+1
you live on the hill - you could move to, say, rockville and rent for less money. welcome to the commute/size/schools/budget dilemma.

We're fine with the schools--big supporters of public schools--and not able to move at this time, especially not so far out. The fact of moving in and of itself is an expense we couldn't take on now for one thing.

I'm not EXPECTING the landlord not to raise our rent, just expressing a hope. The current rent is not too expensive (other than by the standard that ALL rent in DC is too expensive) but the longer we can go without a rent increase the better off we will be. (Duh.)

We have had money saved toward potentially buying a place at some point, but that will now all be spent down as we supplement our monthly income to cover daycare and other child expenses.

i see - you simply must keep living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods, it's the only way?

I know this was sarcastic but: basically. We can't afford the actual moving expenses and the decreased quality of life from the length of that commute for each of us (my husband works in Suitland and I work on the Hill) would outweigh any potential savings in rent.

Anonymous wrote:I am a landlord and I rent/deal with my own landlord and I have twins.

NO! Don't tell and don't try to illicit pity. It is a huge financial cost but every landlord I have dealt with (mostly in Boston) have been horrible horrible money grubbing people. Having kids is a private matter.

Now, I do suggest you check for lead paint because lead poisoning sucks and it is harder to corral 2.

Thank you for the specific advice based on your experience. If we have the no lead paint confirmation in our lease do you feel like that covers that issue?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't need to tell him but you also shouldn't expect a break simply because you are having twins. If the rent is too expensive for you then you should move to a different place.

+1
you live on the hill - you could move to, say, rockville and rent for less money. welcome to the commute/size/schools/budget dilemma.

We're fine with the schools--big supporters of public schools--and not able to move at this time, especially not so far out. The fact of moving in and of itself is an expense we couldn't take on now for one thing.

I'm not EXPECTING the landlord not to raise our rent, just expressing a hope. The current rent is not too expensive (other than by the standard that ALL rent in DC is too expensive) but the longer we can go without a rent increase the better off we will be. (Duh.)

We have had money saved toward potentially buying a place at some point, but that will now all be spent down as we supplement our monthly income to cover daycare and other child expenses.

Anonymous wrote:This is all a business transaction. Dont think you are something special and rare bc you're expecting twins.

Not saying we're special (although technically, it IS rare!) but given that we're dealing with huge financial costs for all of this, and that we're dealing with an individual landlord, not a corporate one, we're thinking of it as trying to make a human appeal and see what happens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would he not raise your rent because you are having children? It is business. Also why does he need to know? I have no clue what is going on in my tenants' lives which is fine with me.

Unless the tenants exceed the occupancy law for the unit and i believe in dc you area allowed

Space: At least 70 square feet is required for each room used for sleeping by one tenant over 1 year old. For rooms used by 2 or more tenants for sleeping, there must be at least 50 square feet for each tenant. Under the DC Human Rights Act (not the Housing Code), it may be considered unlawful discrimination if a landlord tries to evict a family with children in order to limit the number of tenants living in the apartment. For purposes of the Human Rights Act, in general up to 2 persons are allowed in an efficiency, 3 persons in a one bedroom, 5 persons in a two bedroom, and 7 persons in a three bedroom.

Right, that is what I found as well, which tells me the underlying law is on our side in terms of occupancy limits.

Anonymous wrote:1) Don't tell him. Don't hide it, but there are too many unknowns. The chance that he'll think, "ooh! they have new expenses, I shouldn't raise their rent" approaches zero. It is more likely he'll think either, "kids are destructive," or "that's more than two people," and try to force you out somehow or make you sign a new lease with built-in rent increases.
2) Talk to someone at the rent board about the occupancy situation. There are a number of competing laws at play here, and it is difficult to evict in DC, but why give him the opportunity to try to get you out before you know how strong your footing is to fight it?

Likely nothing is going to happen and all will be well. Renting is always stressful for these kinds of reasons, but it is generally best to not rock the boat if there's a potential downside that's worse than doing nothing.

Thanks. I just mentioned in reply to someone else, but I have a message in at the tenant advocate office to ask about this.

I don't think he can make us sign a new lease if we're otherwise compliant and have transitioned to month to month? But maybe if there is a loophole with having children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what good would come of telling him explicitly. I definitely would not expect it to effect the rent in a favorable way, especially if he's not the warm and fuzzy type. Does occupancy law override something specifically address in the lease you signed?

+1. I would be sure that the DC tenancy laws do in fact apply given that they are specifically counter to the lease you signed.

Agreed. I have a call in to the office of the Tenant Advocate to double check.

Really, I'm thinking that the language in the lease is truly just the "fill in the blank template" that the management company uses for every lease and they plug in the number of tenants on the lease and move on.

Also, our lease also specifically says we had to get permission and pay a $300 deposit to get a pet and when we went to pay the deposit for our dog (after already having gotten permission) he was like "what? you don't need to pay me, I trust you."

We're planning to tell him because it seems really weird and like we're hiding something for him not to know. And I'm hoping maybe it will make him feel guilty about giving us a significant rent increase when I know that it's not really merited by the market etc.

My husband and I are expecting twins due in June, and we rent our 2 bedroom rowhouse on the Hill. We're planning to tell our landlord shortly about our news 1) because it seems weird for him not to know at some point and 2) frankly, we're hoping this will help ward off a rent increase which has typically come this time of year. Our landlord is kind of prickly and unpredictable though.

We are long past the original 1 year paper lease (we started renting in August 2015) so have been month to month per DC law since then. Nevertheless I double checked what it said on our boilerplate lease--our landlord runs the property himself but used a management company to show the property and execute the lease agreement because he lives out of town--and it says occupancy for two persons including children.

DC tenant occupancy law allows for up to 5 people in a 2 bedroom apartment (2 x number of bedrooms + 1) so we're good on that side. Has anyone had the experience of updating your landlord on the birth of children and how did it go?

Thanks!