Wishing you good luck with your antenna installation.

My thermostat is just a wall decoration. In order to have heat, they have to fully open the valve to my pipe so I can heat and it stays that way until someone comes and shuts the valve. It's great in the winter but once it warms up outside the heat in here is unbelievable.

Is moving an option?

At the moment...not really. Rumor Has It the new management wants to turn these into Luxury Apartments. Hardwood floors stainless steel appliances granite countertops Etc. Everyone is on a month-to-month basis at the moment so I don't know if they're planning on kicking out everyone or not. Also, I have probably the cheapest rent in this entire complex. Most of the one bedrooms go for $950 a month where I only pay 800. Any other apartment in the area can be a minimum of $1,200. Hoping to be here another year so I can look for a condo.

Sam, if management is planning a major upgrade to "luxury", it's most likely on file with city planning commission and local building department. Both are on file for public viewing.

Or you can contact the new management and inquire about improvements regarding building automation (HVAC, security, lighting), entertainment services like cable TV, satellite TV, WiFi, etc.

Their cooperation may surprise you.

Just a suggestion but start looking for another place to live. You need to start looking at other options. That way if/when the time comes and you receive a vacate notice you will already know where you would not want to move to which will probably eliminate 80% of looking. It is a lot easier to know where not to move to than to have to make a decision and live with it until the lease is up.

Four or five years ago my daughter was in the same boat -- owners of the bldg announced their intention to upgrade units, and presumably upgrade the rent as well. Daughter told them her intent was to relocate away from the area within a year, and could they schedule her unit later? They did. She was a good tenant to them, and they were good landlords to her.

Given the unknowns in the economy, you might get a bit of a reprieve on the upgrades/rent increase.

With a month to month arrangement they can cancel with whatever notice the lease says, probably in the 30-60 day range. Unless they plan to hold off because of the current civil situation, it's probably unlikely any number of tenant's preferences would cause them to change their plans.

If you get notice, consider calling the local newspaper of TV station if there are those, it's poor form to evict a building's worth of tenants at this time.

Not just poor form, but possibly illegal, depending on the location...

Personally, I've never had an issue with any of the landlords or management company. I'm one of the good tenants that pays my rent a week early and notify them of any issues right away. But you are correct with this whole pandemic they are being cooperative at least on my end. There are some tenants, three of which in my building,who decided to stop paying rent and when the time comes they will get evicted.

I have been looking at other places just in case something does happen where I have to move. I would like to stay within the area of my work and there are a few places that I could afford.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I appreciate it.

SamKaren Your resident dj

We don't rent but I'm happy to live in British Columbia (Canada) which has a Residential Tenancy Act that puts a cap on annual rent increases and all sorts of other protections for tenant.

ladydi, the economic effect of regional rent control was a topic covered in an 'unintended consequences" section of an elementary economics class I took ages ago.

The real estate rental sector is a business like any other but landlords do tend to be particularly parsimonious. The name of the game is rate of return - if money is spent to acquire, improve, or repair a facility, how much additional revenue results from money spent and when will the investment be recouped? And how much more revenue will be earned long term?

When rent controls are in place and rents can't be adjusted upward, owners will spend as little as possible on repairs, improvements, and maintenance because such added costs have no rate of return. They're a reduction of cash flow and profit with no offset. So while the effect might be to keep some rent prices lower, the overall result is a deterioration of the facilities. Look no further than slum dwellings and slum lords to see the consequences, whether by law or by the marketplace, of low rent levels.

As samkaren explains above, the suspected plan is to upgrade the buildings to provide "luxury apartments". Translation= spend money to provide a higher quality product for which higher rents can be charged. The upgrades wouldn't be done without an ability to increase the rents.

Elmer, that makes sense. God knows I've seen alot of horrible rentals and you are right, they were cheap but not fit for anyone. I think what was happening here in Northern BC was speculators for the LNG (Gas) projects. Renters were terminated (for various reasons that didn't take place such as renovations) then would suddenly go back on the market for double the rent without a thing done to them. I always thought it bordered on greed but perhaps that's just business.

"Renters were terminated (for various reasons that didn't take place such as renovations) then would suddenly go back on the market for double the rent without a thing done to them. I always thought it bordered on greed but perhaps that's just business."

Yes and no. The situation you describe sounds like disreputable price gouging. This happens in situations most easily described as boom towns, a sudden increase in population or demand for a special reason. Or the speculation because of the anticipation of same. It's fine line to be drawn between opportunistic price increases because of increased demand versus unethical conduct to artificially take advantage of some people at the expense of others. Neither the real estate sector nor small businesses generally should be thought to be havens of honest, ethical people. It's too often the opposite, too many scoundrels not to be trusted.

I think most people in business, certainly at the larger concerns, are generally honest ethical characters trying to do their jobs to legally enhance the success of their companies and a return for shareholders. Larger companies have Codes of Conduct and enforce them.

I always thought it bordered on greed but perhaps that's just business.

...bordered on greed?? That IS cold, hard greed! It seems that we’ve all become inured to ‘geed is good’.