New landlord doubles my rent!

There are 21 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 7,118 times. The latest Post () was by ben.

1st Official Post
    • Official Post

    My three year shop rental contract comes up for renewal next month and since the shop was sold in August, I was expecting an increase anyway. The new owner has decided that a handy figure 2.5 x my rent plus 12.5% every 6 months would make me a happy bunny, but he gets the finger for being a dick and not being open to negotiation, so I'm off and will carve out a place in the garage.

    This kind of greed is all too common here, not to mention the heinous utility bill increases, so rather than burn the notes that I earn, I'd rather keep them in my pocket. My customers will follow me, as they have already assured me.

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    In downtown San Isidro, next to the train station, there were many vacant small shops. I went to look for the rent prices on zonaprop and no wonder they are empty. Even the smallest ones, with no bathroom and not to be used to sell food, had a hefty rent. I bet they are still closed despite the prime location. Kioskos, on another account, seem to open everywhere. It must be the most inexpensive business to open, I deduce.

    That’s really obnoxious, Splinter. Make sure he keeps your phone number so that, when the space sits empty for a year, he’ll be able to call and offer it back to you — at half the rent you’ve been paying.


    (Wouldn’t it be great if we could wish THAT so!)

    Lots of people don't think rationally here.

    They treat business as a way of expressing machismo, bottom line be damned.

    I do airline tickets, car rental, hotels, cruises, insurance, and all-inclusive packages.

    If you want great service and low prices, look no further.
    I also sell local SIM cards for several countries.
    ben@kanfeinesharim.com

    We are always surprised at the laid back attitude some businesses have. Like restaurants that don't have the wine you ordered, but will literally let you walk out rather than earning your good will by substituting another wine at the same price.

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    Quote from Rice

    We are always surprised at the laid back attitude some businesses have. Like restaurants that don't have the wine you ordered, but will literally let you walk out rather than earning your good will by substituting another wine at the same price.

    Talking about restaurants, there are many places that not only are closed for lunch, but are also closed most of the week and open only from Thursday to Sunday.

    I thought restaurant open at night were only high end, where long hours are spent preparing plates. Regular gigs... don't have to throw away their food quicker, since they serve food less often?

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    I moved out of the shop at the end of Feb and am now working from my 'lab' at home, sometimes known as the garage.

    Anyway, just to make sure the owner didn't fuck me over, bearing in mind he held a returnable cash deposit of mine, we tallied up so that he became responsible for paying some outstanding bills up to 75% of the deposit, which is normal practice. It was also important that I left myself in credit for some eventualities or very late bills that might arrive.

    This proved to be the case for the electric bill as Edenor's billing period is always two months late, so I told him that the credit I still had should be deducted and I'd then give him the balance.

    Predictably he said that the builders had to make some paint repairs in the shop, the cost of which was pretty much exactly my remaining balance I had with him, so I told him to take a hike or he wouldn't get a penny of my share of the electric bill, which was never in my name anyway. We finally settled everything through his mother in law yesterday, but it goes to show how fucking small minded people can be.

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    I have heard so many stories about saying goodbye to landlords...


    Just on Saturday a friend told me he was paying USD1,200 per month for a furnished place in Palermo. He stayed for three months, and at the end the landlord didn't want to give him back the deposit saying that since he smoked in the house (there was no rule about it and he is not a heavy smoker anyway), the sofa was smelling and so he needed exactly the amount left from the deposit to clean/replace it. The landlord didn't have anything else to hold to.


    When we left our first apartment here, the landlord said he would need the deposit to fix the wall after we left, because we put about 5 nails in the whole house. My husband told him that he didn't fixed the walls after the tenant before us left, and that we did it at our expense. The lady before us had decorated an entire wall with sticky butterflies with glitter, and since she had decorated the place in shabby-chic style, it was full of small stuff hanging from the wall (decorations, graphics, etc.) and a 12 sq. m wall was painted in strong pink....

    Quote from serafina

    The lady before us had decorated an entire wall with sticky butterflies with glitter, and since she had decorated the place in shabby-chic style, it was full of small stuff hanging from the wall (decorations, graphics, etc.) and a 12 sq. m wall was painted in strong pink....

    Man! Your landlord should have paid YOU !

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    Recently I met someone who told me that the high turnaround of food places in the most vibrant neighborhood of the city is just a money-laundering operation and that you can spot the same furniture around these places as they are sold and bought after each place is opened/closed.


    I heard the same story around modern, expensive and fancy building in neighborhoods and holiday destination very popular among the rich elitist Argentinians.

    Quote from Splinter

    He's just rented it out to someone who does Yoga classes for double of what I was paying.

    The bottom line is that if they think they can get away with daylight robbery, they will always try, so I always put most Argentines who do business with me in the asshole category until I know better.

    Quote from serafina

    Recently I met someone who told me that the high turnaround of food places in the most vibrant neighborhood of the city is just a money-laundering operation and that you can spot the same furniture around these places as they are sold and bought after each place is opened/closed.


    I heard the same story around modern, expensive and fancy building in neighborhoods and holiday destination very popular among the rich elitist Argentinians.


    Splinter , the space constraints imply that the yoga classes will have to be tiny. Hard to meet the overhead. But not your problem.


    serafina , how does that work?

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    Quote from Rice

    serafina , how does that work?

    Since here you can still do a lot of things in cash, you simply spend cash to rent/furnish a place, run it for a few months, then close it down and sell the furniture to the next place... Now, you've cleaned your money. This can also explain why the crappy food places all over.


    For buildings, they make these shiny steel-and-glass towers with tremendous costs, you 'invest' money in the construction, someone buy the apartments and you've cleaned your money. Also, remember that during the blanqueo if you brought undeclared money into the country but reinvested it, there was no fine. So that's why the real estate market is in full bloom despite the hard economical time we are going through.


    It's a win-win situation.

    Quote from serafina

    Since here you can still do a lot of things in cash, you simply spend cash to rent/furnish a place, run it for a few months, then close it down and sell the furniture to the next place... Now, you've cleaned your money. This can also explain why the crappy food places all over.


    For buildings, they make these shiny steel-and-glass towers with tremendous costs, you 'invest' money in the construction, someone buy the apartments and you've cleaned your money. Also, remember that during the blanqueo if you brought undeclared money into the country but reinvested it, there was no fine. So that's why the real estate market is in full bloom despite the hard economical time we are going through.


    It's a win-win situation.

    I feel very näive. How is the average joe supposed to be anything but jaded?