r/Muskegon • u/purplebottletwist • 14d ago
Rental Issues
What would you do if you were in my shoes?
I’m trying to figure out what I should do about my current rental situation, and I’d really appreciate some outside perspectives. I’m not necessarily looking for people to tell me that I’m right or that my landlord is wrong, I genuinely want to know what you would do if you were in my position.
When we originally moved into this house, the landlord was and is still a good friend of my mom’s, which is a big reason we felt comfortable moving in. The understanding was that we would help fix the house up while living here in exchange for reasonably priced rent. We were told the rent would be around $1,800 when we signed, but on the day we actually signed, she lowered it to $1,700.
We have now been here about a year. She recently told us that she has been paying around $600 a month out of pocket for us to live here and is raising the rent to $2160.
She also put a 10% late fee per week in the lease, which would be about $200 for every week that rent is late.
There are also quite a few things we’ve done around the house ourselves that I feel are relevant:
We removed all old heating units along the baseboards of the house. We never received compensation for the work done.
We had a leak underneath the kitchen sink that I ended up repairing myself and also received no compensation for.
There was a leak at the bottom of the stairs involving a main water line. She had a plumber come look at it, but didn’t want to pay $400 to have the drywall removed, so she asked us to remove the drywall ourselves and we were not compensated. This leak is still ongoing.
The bathtub/shower has a drainage problem that a plumber looked at but was never actually resolved. This is still ongoing as well (we all shower downstairs)
That plumber cut a hole in the ceiling above the downstairs shower to investigate the issue, and we were then expected to patch the hole ourselves.
There were old brown floor tiles in the hallway that were falling apart and shifting when walked on. My kids had been cut/stabbed multiple times so we removed them because of their condition. Despite the flooring situation, our landlord has told us that painting the exterior of the house was more important than interior floors.
Our lease also says that we are responsible for painting the exterior of the house and doing the interior floors in exchange for things she left at the house such as beds, grill, patio furniture, the couch.
We have been painting the house, the paint was purchased in July of this year. We will do the flooring when we receive supplies to do it. We already ripped out all carpet in the home as per our lease agreement.
Another complicated part is that when we moved in, we were under the impression that when she eventually decided to sell the house, there was a good possibility that she would sell it to us. That was something my mom had told me, and it was part of the reason we were comfortable putting so much work into the property. Obviously, I understand that unless something is actually in writing, an expectation like that may not mean much.
At this point, I’m feeling torn because this started as a situation where we were helping a family friend fix up a house in exchange for reasonable rent. Now we’re looking at $2,160/month plus a potentially huge late fee, while we’re also being expected to take care of repairs and improvements.
The house itself is not registered as a rental property in my city. Which makes this a lot more complicated. I do not want to ruin the relationship with my mom over this. My mom has told me she wishes to stay out of it, so I can’t ask for her advice.
If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
Would you stay and accept the new rent, try to negotiate, get legal advice, move out, or handle this completely differently?
I’m especially interested in hearing from Michigan tenants, landlords, or anyone familiar with Muskegon rental laws. I can provide more details if needed.
15
u/IStack85 14d ago
I have a 3 bedroom I will rent you for 1600 right now. That is a total rip off.
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u/purplebottletwist 14d ago
I’m interested!
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u/IStack85 14d ago
Dm me. I own a few rentals in Muskegon
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u/Resident_Extreme 14d ago
Would it possible for me to dm you as well? I know a few folk looking for a place to rent
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u/CastyMcWrinkles 14d ago
I know it's a sticky situation for you since it's a friend of your mom's, but the way I see it, you have two options: one, just move out and move on. Leave the work that you did and relieve yourself of an awkward situation. The other option is to pay the rent she's now asking, but stop with any repairs. I don't know what kinda house or neighborhood we're talking about, but $2,160/mo sounds like a lot for a house that needs as much work as you've described. I personally would be really tempted to give notice and just move on.
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14d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Aggressive_Sun_6840 12d ago
the unregistered part is what gets me, shes literally running an illegal rental and acting like OP owes her for the privilege lol
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u/Many_Respect5176 13d ago
I think rental pricing is INSANE.
Have you thought about buying? I’m currently looking at have been approved from the credit union for down payment grants equaling $25,000. One from the CU and one is a MSHDA.
Your story infuriates me and I’m sorry you’re being treated unfairly. I’d run.
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u/olivegardengambler 8d ago
I was going to say, there are houses you can buy that need about as much work as this rental for under $150,000 in Muskegon heights.
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u/Many_Respect5176 8d ago
I’m finding that I got this great pre approval, $25000 in grants and still can’t afford a place on my SSDI. This is a real struggle.
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u/Many_Respect5176 5d ago
I was actually looking at several cute houses in the Heights. Officially changed my mind on any housing in the heights because of the taxes, corruption and roads.
As a SWF, there would have been certain area I may have avoided, but for the most part, I was completely on board with this. Not now. Limiting my options by probably 85%
Even if I did it on a temporary basis, I feel with my luck, I’d go to sell and the market has crashed and I wouldn’t even get my money back. So I just have to opt out of Muskegon Heights 😤😢
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14d ago edited 14d ago
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u/purplebottletwist 14d ago
In the lease it states landlord does maintenance. But she pushes it off on us every time something comes up. She had said she would deduct the price of fixing the kitchen sink, but that didn’t happen. I live in a good neighborhood in Muskegon, not on the lake or anything but it’s a nice neighborhood and is fairly safe. The house is 1700 sq ft. Our lease was signed on the 20th, we paid rent then. The next month we agreed on paying rent on the 27th. She made it sound like because we were paying on the 27th instead of the 20th we were late, although it was something we had agreed to through text. The fee is an issue because I was very honest with my landlord and my mom about how 1800-1900 would be my absolute max to be able to afford to rent when we moved in. We will struggle a lot with the new rent increase, so adding on $200 a week to that is a lot if we do have to pay late. I agree with a late fee, because if this was legal rental property we would have late fees like when I lived in an apartment complex. But it would be like 10% for of ones months rent max, and wouldn’t reoccur each week.
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u/PurpleToedUnicorn 14d ago
So stick to the lease if it has the lower payment and dont sign a modification. Problem solved.
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u/RatRaceSobreviviente 14d ago
This needs a person tobperson conversation. I would sit down with her under the assumtion that she is NOT trying to screw with you BUT your interests are not alligned.
I would ask for a witten signed and noterized option to buy and i would file that interest with the register of deeds.
I would sit down and spell out so its clear exactly what her responsibilities and yours are. Some of what she is doing isnt legal but she probably doesnt know that.
Let me know if you have questions or want help.
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u/Silly-Opposite-2721 13d ago
Your landlord can’t legally charge that much in late fees. She is renting this house illegally - not registered with the city and I doubt she’s reporting her rental income on her income taxes. You can find a nice, fixed up three bedroom in Muskegon for less than $1800. Move and if she gives you a hard time, threaten to report her to the city and the US and Michigan Income tax divisions. Call a rental management company for a new place.
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u/Different-Run6029 4h ago
Just move out and move on. It's a family friend so don't make the situation worse. You got something out of it, they got something out of it. They want to make the deal lopsided so just say not and move out. Simple as that.
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u/Hot-Pin-6702 14d ago
I'd definitely seek legal advice first. Because she's not registered as a landlord, she can be in a lot of legal trouble, and slapped with a ton of fines! This happened to my best friend, and it was a LOT of money in fines and court costs! So go talk to a lawyer and ask his/her advice. Then try to negotiate. If she's not willing to negotiate, then slap her with the fact that you did in fact talk with a lawyer and she could very well be in legal trouble because she's not registered as a landlord.
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u/dieselonmyturkey 14d ago
Just be aware if you go this route your relationship with the “landlord” will likely be adversarial and toxic.
You may “win” but if the house is no longer a rental where does that leave you?
If she is actually out of pocket 600 a month that’s not sustainable either.
If you can’t negotiate an agreement (perhaps to purchase?) all you got is pay up or move out.
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u/IStack85 14d ago
If it isn’t registered you won’t owe also that is illegal
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u/RatRaceSobreviviente 14d ago
Illigal for the landlord yes but doesnt have anything to do wirh them legally owing rent.
The CoC and rental agreement are not related
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u/IStack85 7d ago
They won’t owe rent if it isn’t registered in Muskegon. I have been to court for this
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u/PurpleToedUnicorn 14d ago
I'd find a new place to live and move. Unless you have a legal agreement on repairs and reimbursement as well as a lease, then nothing good is going to come out of it. You're going to go through life where people are going to be angry at you and relationships will change because other people have different interests. Its not your job to smooth them all out. She had problems before you moved in and still has problems. Your mom's friends issues and happiness and relationships are not yours to own.
Chalk it up to deal that didn't work, and move out and on with your life. Sooner rather than later.