Landlord wants 12 months upfront...but...

[shanshan5]

We found an apartment we really liked, at $2400, which is over our budget. Landlord offered to give us 1 month free if we paid full year upfront, meaning a net rent of $2200, at the top of our budget.

We were about to sign a lease, but since that's over $28K to hand over, I did an NYC property search and ACRIS search, and found out the owner has never once paid property tax in the 3 years he owned the building, and the tax lien was about to be sold to a collection agency. When I told him this, he said he'd had no idea he owed any property tax. He went in and paid about 40% of it today, and has a payment plan for the rest.

I have no access to any information on if he's paying his (hefty) mortgage or not. I'm pretty sure that the only payment information that's public record is the taxes...I can find out who holds the mortgage, the utility bills, the insurance, etc., but not the payment status.

We've offered to sign a one-year lease with 3 months paid upfront (first, last, security), but he is insistent on the full $28K, or on going back to $2400. I'm not interested in paying $2400, and I'm really feeling like paying 12 months is a bad idea with a landlord who somehow never knew he had to pay property taxes. If there is a foreclosure, or he stops paying the heat, water, superintendent, etc., we could be out of a lot of money.

But my husband wants the place and is trying to talk me into it.

Thoughts?

 

[army judge]

Your intuitions are usually correct.

You're smart to do research like this.

Paying this weasel $28k is foolish and financially risky.

I wouldn't even lease from him.

This guy's a con artist and a scammer.

Don't let him get a dime if your money.

More than likely he's about to go into foreclosure (or he's already there), nevertheless, this is too risky.

You'll regret doing business with this crook.

No one is unaware that they haven't paid taxes for three years.

The tax authority won't let you get away with that.

He will take your money and someone will take the building from him.

One more thought, if maintenance is needed, how easy would it be to get him to do it?

So, walk away, just walk away!!!





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[Gail_in_Georgia]

You're a smart cookie.

Your husband, on the other hand, is a bit of a dim bulb. Feel free to knock him upside the head.

Better yet, have him do a "google search" on all the landlords who have gone into foreclosure recently.

As army judge wrote, no one is unaware that they owe three years of back taxes. Wait; I take that back; some fella who lives next door to one our rentals got a "tax sale" notice on his property. Seems he handed those tax bills to the wife (now gone) who never paid them for the past couple of years. He freaked out when he got the "tax sale" notice and stopped me when I was driving by asking what he could do.

I suggested that for the next month or so, he live on ramen noodles and water until he could scrape up the $1200 needed to pay the owed taxes before the tax levy sale or I'd be there on the day of the sale, bidding on his place. He was able to do this.

So, it happens. However, this was a different situation (he wasn't a landlord, just a dumb bunny) than yours.

Find another place.

Gail