I had a lovely surprise waiting for me in my mailbox today. As it turns out, the owner of my building has gone bankrupt! I particularly loved how the letter started "...as you probably already know." Yeah, sure. I read it on Drudge.
At any rate, the letter told me little more than to be sure to send my rent checks to the Chapter 11 trustee rather than the property owner. Very well, but that leaves a lot of unanswered questions. What happens to my lease? What about my security deposit -- no small sum, I might add -- and the interest it's accruing? Who takes care of maintenance?
Also funny was the offer that I had the option of hand delivering my rent to the new location rather than mailing it. This new location is on the 57th floor of the Chrysler building. Right. I'll get right on that.
There is tons of info out there for landlords who have tenants declaring bankruptcy, but not much out there for this situation. Whatever it is, I'm sure they're going to find a way to screw my neighbors and me.
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4 comments:
I've always wanted to see the inside of the Chrysler Building. I'd leap at the opportunity, even if it's just to take my rent in!
It's not that pretty inside.
Good luck, dahlink! You know you have a couch to crash on if disaster falls!
Your security deposit should still be in its escrow account, along with the interest, and should be unaffected by your owner's bankruptcy. Your lease will now be owned by the new company that owns the debt, so you should be fine until the end of your particular lease. (I'm not a lawyer, but that's how I think these things work.) Have you ever gotten a statement from the bank about your escrow deposit? As I recall, I would get a yearly statement about the interest on my security deposit - the landlord doesn't get to keep it or even have control over it, it's supposed to be in a separate account to protect you in a situation like this.
Thanks, Davis! That's good to know.
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