Telling landlord we're expecting twins
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sarah1513
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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! |
Anonymous
| Why would you think he will not increase rent because you are expecting twins? |
Anonymous
| I am a landlord, but never been in this position. I wouldn’t risk a vacant apartment because kids are born. Who cares? I don’t see why he would not increase rent though. You can ask him not to since rents are not really going up these years (at least where I own properties) |
Anonymous
| This is not something that your landlord needs to know. As a landlord, it would make me want to increase the rent more because kids and their associated paraphanalia wreck places. |
Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
| 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? |
Anonymous
| Your landlord should not make adverse changes due to you having children, but he is not obligated to keep your rent the same. |
Anonymous
+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. |
Anonymous
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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. |
sarah1513
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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. |
Anonymous
| I wouldn't say anything. |
Anonymous
| This is all a business transaction. Dont think you are something special and rare bc you're expecting twins. |
Anonymous
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. |
Anonymous
Your last paragraph4is hilarious!!! |
Anonymous
| What are the ramifications to having 4 people in the house instead of the two described on the lease? Could there be a penalty or some kind or insurance issue? |