Can a landlord change the terms agreed upon while the lease is still active?
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Can a landlord change the terms agreed upon while the lease is still active?
Signed a 2 year lease for apartment and parking included in rent presented by an agent for management. Given keys by agent and gave him deposit and first month’s rent. After 1 year management decided to start charging me extra for parking. I sent letter stating the circumstances but never heard back. I sent check each month for the agreed upon price in lease and in memo wrote that it’s money for rent and parking for each month. Landlord is now suing me for unpaid rent – they allocated parking payment and rest to rent for each month therefore they are suing me in l/t court for unpaid rent.
Asked on March 2, 2012 under Real Estate Law, New York
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
A lease is a contract--neither party may unilaterally, or on its own, change its terms without the consent or agreement of the other party. If your lease included parking, the landlord may not start charging you separately for parking, unless and only to the extent that the lease itself included some provision for imposing a parking fee at some point.
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