HELP! Utilites Problem
I am a tenant in a commercial building that is about 14000 sf. 7000 main level, 7000 upper level.
Every year the landlord never gives us a monthly statement for utilities and he gives it to us once a year that is a HUGE amount..About 3900.00 to be exact.
We are in a 1700 sf space with a 10ftx8ft garage door in the back of the building. (Car Stereo shop)
It is a brick building and has "knock down" tiles on a grid for the ceiling.
He claims that the heat is only on in the winter only towards us and the other tenant of 1200sf(closed vents in other spots he claims). So the bill is split accordingly and we get hit with 66% of the bill.
He also claims the the upstairs was never heated in winter.
My thing is...we HAD to buy our own little space heaters to keep warm all winter.
IS there ANYTHING I can do to stop this? Happened for 2 years now and we HAD to sign another 2 year lease extenstion.
Please help
In some states, local codes may appear to prevent title company escrow divisions from handling closings which are not ancillary to, or in conjunction with, issuance of title insurance (See, for example, CA. Ins. Code §12340.3 & CA. Fin Code §17006). However, such rules seem to be relaxing (and/or being revised) in most jurisdictions, as title companies (e.g., American Title, Chicago Title, Fidelity Title Etc.) have regularly handled such escrows in connection with the Trust, even when issuance of new title insurance was not an issue.
Da Wiz
not a lawyer
[addsig]
Hello everyone,
Thanks for the many thoughtful replies to my question.
I asked around different title companies in PA and they all said the same thing: New title policy to insure a different entity, regardless of who or what it is.
This is how they make $$$ and the state of PA and the local county also charge a transfer tax of 2% to add insult to my injury.
I originally bought this 3 family unit under a personal name because of more favorable interest rate on the mortgage rather than buying it under an entity as well as a higher LTV. This will be my last move like that. I learned this lesson well.
Total damages to do a deed transfer to a land trust will be a transfer tax of 2% and a new title insurance policy for $700 (+ or - a few bucks).
Often the state property tax system is overseen by a state board that regulates all the counties. If that is the case where you are, contact them and see what the procedures are. My guess is that you will need to get an appraisal as part of the process.
Your new state department assessment and valuation should have a form or an address listing where to send a dispute. Once you dispute the new valuation in writing, you will more than likely need to hire an appraiser. Tell them the purpose of the appraisal, they will pull comparable properties and provide you with an independent appraisal of your properties value. Ideally comps are pulled from recent sales, however, in situations where there are no sales of comparable properties in your area recently they may go back a little further, and simply do an adjustment to price. (if the property values have gone up 5% since the sale of the comps they would make that adjustment to give you the current value of your home now)[ Edited by TanyaRaeJones on Date 07/05/2006 ]
Thanks for the info. and for the tips! Will get right on it!