Is Honesty the best Policy?

It has been WAY too long since my last post! Usually, I try to crank out at least a few posts a month - but that just has not happened.

The truth is, Scott and I are just plain BUSY. Not only are we planning a wedding - but we discovered (much to our chagrin) that we have to move out of our apartment in a week. We learned this fact a couple of weeks ago and it was a very unpleasant surprise. Apparently, honesty is NOT the best policy when dealing with landlords in Chicago (SHOCKER).

Scott and I have, over the past 8 months or so, been mulling over what we will do come April when our current lease is up. Do we sign another year lease? Do we move out? Do we move home with my parents? (Just kidding M&D)...after putting this issue on the back burner month after month with the constant mantra of "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" - we decided it was time to figure. it. out. After some discussion we decided that perhaps our landlord would let us sign a 6 month lease which would end October 1st (the most popular "moving month" here in Chicago, I might ad). Yeah! Perfect! This would allow us to sail off into the sunset without the worry of subtenants, a broken lease, or hundreds of dollars of pre-paid rent in an escrow account and allow our landlord a bountiful month in which to find a new tenant.  Win win!

Long story short: No dice.

He didn't like it. Apparently, our landlord ONLY wants leases that start in the April to August window. GULP. So, in desperation, we backpedaled a bit. What if we sublet? No sub-letters. What if we sublet and pay you in advance for the months we'll be gone as security? Don't want to set up a separate account...(then, as a last ditch effort) Actually, we decided that we're not going to sail around the world come September (what with the wedding and all), so we'll just go ahead and sign a year lease after all! Yeah right.

And just like that - we were out in the cold. I failed to mention that Scott and I have been AWESOME tenants. Our place, which was nothing short of a total s***hole when we moved in, is now a cozy, super cute, clean, re-painted, re-caulked, re-tiled (well… stick on tiles) version of it's former self. Call us stupid, but we really fixed that place up. So, basically, our money grubbing landlord has the upper hand and knows that, come April (or whenever he rents it out which will take NO time) he is going to get more money for it. Bastard.

So what did we learn? Well, we learned a few things. First, when it comes to leases - the tenant has ALL the power in Chicago and breaking a lease is (apparently) as easy as 1,2, 3. Second, when it comes to renewing leases - the landlord has ALL the power because he/she can deny you for whatever reason they see fit (more or less). So (hindsight always being 20/20) - we should have just re-signed in April and said "See ya!!" in September. Sigh. But we wanted to tell the truth. Truth schmuth.

However, Scott and I are of the "go with the flow" variety and the silver lining is this: we now get to de-clutter! We have already gone through stuff that we will not need between now and d-day that can go into storage at my parents...ANNNNND we found a SUPER cute place whose lease is up September 30th, 2010! Perfect!

So, I apologize for being neglectful - but we've had bigger fish to fry. I'll be back next month - I promise!

Love,

Brittany and Scott