charged a CAM fee mid lease?

By Susan

My landlord slid a note under the door today saying beginning next month I would be charged a CAM fee (Commen Area Maintence) for the electricity of the common areas and for the gas stoves in our apartments. It is $27. Can they do that in the middle of a lease? One week before rent is due? Can I ask if everyone’s is the same amount? If it is legal, how do I know that this amount doesn’t continue to go up every month? I have lived here for 5 years and this is the first time this has been added to my rent.

Edited on: Monday, September 30th, 2013 2:32 am

One Response to “charged a CAM fee mid lease?”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Sarah

October 1st, 2013 3:14 pm

Hi Susan, I totally understand how you feel I’ve actually had this problem before and there are several things to consider here, if you signed a lease agreement that holds you liable to that charge then you won’t be able to sue your landlord even if its quite uncommon for residential tenants to be charged those fees. But according to what you said in your blog I think the cam fees were not stipulated on your lease agreement when you signed it. If that is the case then you can file a law suit against your landlord regarding the additional cam fee, this is only one of the options that you have regarding this problem. I do understand that filing a law suit could be quite a hassle for $27 a month. You also have the option of filing a formal complaint against your landlord through the RPA. The RPA complaint can work well in this scenario because it will create a public record against the landlord showing the problem that you currently have with your landlord and this will also give you the opportunity to explain why you feel those fees are not fair and request a resolution that you feel is fair. These are simply options of what you can do at the end of the day it is still your decision to make.


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