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Landlord wants 12 months upfront...but...

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Landlord wants 12 months upfront...but...

Postby shanshan5 » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:34 pm

We found an apartment we really liked, at $2400, which is over our budget. Landlord offered to give us 1 month free if we paid full year upfront, meaning a net rent of $2200, at the top of our budget.

We were about to sign a lease, but since that's over $28K to hand over, I did an NYC property search and ACRIS search, and found out the owner has never once paid property tax in the 3 years he owned the building, and the tax lien was about to be sold to a collection agency. When I told him this, he said he'd had no idea he owed any property tax. He went in and paid about 40% of it today, and has a payment plan for the rest.

I have no access to any information on if he's paying his (hefty) mortgage or not. I'm pretty sure that the only payment information that's public record is the taxes...I can find out who holds the mortgage, the utility bills, the insurance, etc., but not the payment status.

We've offered to sign a one-year lease with 3 months paid upfront (first, last, security), but he is insistent on the full $28K, or on going back to $2400. I'm not interested in paying $2400, and I'm really feeling like paying 12 months is a bad idea with a landlord who somehow never knew he had to pay property taxes. If there is a foreclosure, or he stops paying the heat, water, superintendent, etc., we could be out of a lot of money.

But my husband wants the place and is trying to talk me into it.

Thoughts?
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Postby NYHawk » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:44 pm

Please don't walk away from this great deal..........run, run as fast as you can. Go with your gut. Something just ain't right.
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Postby TenantNet » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:29 pm

I echo those sentiments. Get away from this supposed deal. If the LL isn't playing by the rules that you can find out, can you imagine what it will be like when you're tenants? I would even loos to see if the units in the building should be rent regulated. Knock some sense into your husband.
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Postby queensborough » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:44 pm

Any LL who is asking for this much money up front has to be in some kind of trouble ($$) somewhere. LL's receive bills from the Dept. of Finance for their property taxes, so he certainly had to know that he owed taxes. I wouldn't touch this "deal" with a ten foot pole.
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