Can my landlord change policies without my signing a new lease?
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Can my landlord change policies without my signing a new lease?
I live in a gated community and chose them because i wanted to keep my family and property safe. Recently, property management has put out a notification stating they will be assigning parking spaces to every unit. Each unit gets one, any open parking spaces are available to purchase for 20 a month but if your vehicle is
parked within the gate without a parking pass, it will be towed. My family and I
share one unit, we operate three cars. Management says we have to park outside of the gated community that we are paying for in order to have that security we
wanted to ease our stress. Can they do this without us signing a new lease
agreement?
Asked on October 7, 2018 under Real Estate Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
It depends on what the original lease said:
1) If it guaranteed you two or three spots, then they could not reduce that--it would be a vioaltion of the lease (breach of contract; a lease is a contract).
2) If the lease did not give or guaranty you any fixed number of spots or address parking at all, however, the landlord could change parking policy at will, on notice. When a lease doesn't address an issue, it has not control or effect on that thing. That means that the landlord, as the property owner (or as the property owner's designated property manager) can use their inherent power over the property to make any change not forbidden by lease.
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