Beej, a quick gander at the law seems to suggest that if the landlord owns less than 4 units, the rent ceiling law doesn't apply.

Are you on a month to month lease?

Since I write the leases (see the above mentioned moronness), I suppose i could make it anything I want.

I have read the 3% thing too, which is why the 10% seemed unreasonable.

Today was the very first time I've ever gotten anything in writing from him. When he brought this up, in October, I put my foot down. No more scribbled notes shoved through the door. Honestly, I wonder if he's running drugs out of the store given how adverse he is to doing business in any sane way.

Kat, what sizes are the kids in, now? And can K come with me to see Gracie this weekend?

They are both sort of in 3-6months now. More or less.

And yes. K can come with you to see Grace. I'll email you both.

Beej, a quick gander at the law seems to suggest that if the landlord owns less than 4 units, the rent ceiling law doesn't apply.

Curse your sudden but inevitable confirmation.

Thanks for checking Vortex. At least I can now officially feel defeated and get on with it, having done all I could.

I like getting gift cards as long as they're to places I actually like to shop (like bookstores!) because they're permission to be self-indulgent. When people give me money, I feel like I really ought to put it toward our debt, but with a B&N gift card I have no choice but to buy books.

And I'll be getting gift cards for my older nieces and nephews. I have too many and am too broke to afford to get them anything elaborate, but at least I can pay for a few of their Starbucks runs or something and feel like I'm showing them I care, and they'll get more enjoyment out of that than out of some random knickknack I could get for the same price--living on the other side of the country, I don't necessarily have a good sense of what they read or listen to or how they're currently dressing.

From NYC, 3% sounds pretty low -- rent stabilized apartments are usually limited to increasing 3-6% a year, but that's a really defined group of apartments. And if you're not officially stabilized, the landlord can double the rent each year if they want.

Beej - a similar thing happened to friends whose landlord was about to sell his share in the property to someone else. This, followed by hijinks, chicanery, and outright scallawagery. If this turns out to be the case, in some states, longtime renters get the right of first refusal.

At least I can now officially feel defeated and get on with it, having done all I could.

you can always counteroffer. He sounds like a lazy sack, so he may work with you so that he doesn't have to find a new tenant.

How Conversations Sound in the Afterlife (According to Psychics)

I like getting gift cards as long as they're to places I actually like to shop (like bookstores!) because they're permission to be self-indulgent. When people give me money, I feel like I really ought to put it toward our debt, but with a B&N gift card I have no choice but to buy books.

ITA.

I'm getting my senior-in-h.s. nephew an iTunes gift card, since I don't know what music he's into these days and I know he doesn't do much reading. My mom's getting one from Lowe's (she wants to redo the plantings around her mailbox), sis is getting one from Macy's (her gastric-bypass means that she's in desperate need of clothes in her new smaller size), and my brother and SIL are getting ones from B&N. It makes sending things across country much cheaper, as well.