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outside Seattle -handling termination of lease

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outside Seattle -handling termination of lease

Postby Wilkie1234 » Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:57 pm

We just found out that the landlord is not renewing our lease. He asked us to clean up some boxes and papers that we had around including in the garage and apparently left us a notice about what to do in general terms with no expiration date but apparently it was blown off the door and we never got it. I was waiting for warmer weather to crush boxes and remove them from the garage but got this letter right before I could. The terms he has used to describe what needs to be done are vague enough that we have not understood what threshold would meet his approval. We also have learned that he might have plans to expand our townhouse which may be contributing to the situation.

We have to the end of May to move. The manager apparently talked him into waiting to ask us to leave to give us a chance to clean up but as I said, we did do what we thought he wanted but it apparently was not enough. We have great credit and the manager feels we are good tenants and will give us a good review. How do we handle the question "why are you moving" in a manner that doesn't make issues for us. This is a high demand (for housing by tenants) area so the reason would need to make sense.
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Re: outside Seattle -handling termination of lease

Postby TenantNet » Sat Apr 06, 2019 4:07 pm

We are not familiar with the rent laws - if any - in your location. But in general, in most cases, rental rights are governed by the lease. I would look there first.

This appears to be a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Is the LL willing to reconsider and/or negotiate with you? Can you pursue that?

As for the "why are you moving" question, that's hard to say.
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Re: outside Seattle -handling termination of lease

Postby Wilkie1234 » Sat Apr 06, 2019 5:48 pm

Thank you for your quick reply, I appreciate it!
In our area, the landlord can terminate the lease for any reason and the manager is not hopeful that we will be able to change his mind. One thought is to pack as though moving and see if that helps the issues the owner had, but if it doesn't, I am not sure how to frame the situation so that another landlord will still want to rent to us. I am drafting a courteous letter indicating that we did not realize that we had not complied in his view, but not sure if it's a) a good idea or b) would put us on better terms so that it would not solely be his not renewing the lease.

I do have one issue that I could use that is an actual issue...I work at home as a transcriptionist and sometimes the traffic is so loud I have trouble hearing my dictation. Also we live down the street from a firestation and have sirens screaming down the hill, sometimes a lot, and when I am in a teleconference, I have to mute the phone because others can hear it because it is so loud.

Any thoughts?
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Re: outside Seattle -handling termination of lease

Postby TenantNet » Sat Apr 06, 2019 8:04 pm

Thoughts about what? Noise from outside the building has nothing to do with your situation as a tenant.
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