- Thread starter DrChrisHE
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What ARE Renters' Rights under Dominican Law
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No, if the tenant is not in agreement, you cannot raise the rent at all without a lengthy administrative procedure.
Eviction proceedings usually take 3 to 6 months, but it could be longer if the tenant decides to fight and gets a good lawyer.
Eviction proceedings usually take 3 to 6 months, but it could be longer if the tenant decides to fight and gets a good lawyer.
im renting a local for a business in caberete my lease was up in august weni got the lease it stated i had to pay rent 3 months at a time my lease is up there jacking the rent up 10% saying its the law and imlike i want to pay month tomonth today i went to pay for 1 month they refused saying i have to pay 3 months im like i dont have it
what are my rights. i want to payrent just cant afford 3 months at time im offereing to pay monthly Also weni first got the local they were over charging me for genorator use last december they sent me a bill for 12500 pesos im like i got inversore and everything i got a meter instaled in my shop my highest genorator bill has benn 1000 pesos since .Ever since that they have treated me very badly i told them about some problems in my shop that they need to fix they said its not there problem
Like i said its not that i dont want to pay rent im just want it monthly wat can i do?
Oh yeah my landlords are a chain hotel here in Cabarete they have 3 hotels here this is ridiculous
what are my rights. i want to payrent just cant afford 3 months at time im offereing to pay monthly Also weni first got the local they were over charging me for genorator use last december they sent me a bill for 12500 pesos im like i got inversore and everything i got a meter instaled in my shop my highest genorator bill has benn 1000 pesos since .Ever since that they have treated me very badly i told them about some problems in my shop that they need to fix they said its not there problem
Like i said its not that i dont want to pay rent im just want it monthly wat can i do?
Oh yeah my landlords are a chain hotel here in Cabarete they have 3 hotels here this is ridiculous
DrChrisHE:
Why don't you tell prospective landlords that you are a "matrimony with a kid and 2 young adults?" The difference is in calling the 12 and 17 y/o "young adults" instead of kids. Don't even call them teens. Young Adults. Stick with that. It MIGHT make a difference. You know, it's that psychological thing, similar to "half full, half empty" or "$99.95"
Why don't you tell prospective landlords that you are a "matrimony with a kid and 2 young adults?" The difference is in calling the 12 and 17 y/o "young adults" instead of kids. Don't even call them teens. Young Adults. Stick with that. It MIGHT make a difference. You know, it's that psychological thing, similar to "half full, half empty" or "$99.95"
a suggestion
Not sure if your problem has already been worked out or not, but in case it hasn't, I hope you don't mind if I chime in.
It would seem to me that there has been a breakdown in communications between you (the tenant) and the landlord, likely due in part to the agent.
As it stands, you're both in an untenable position. You aren't comfortable in your own home, and your landlord has a potentially hostile tenant who she likely won't be able to budge for a long time.
Fair enough, the landlord MIGHT be able to get more from someone else, but keep in mind, responsible tenants are EXTREMELY valuable to a landlord. You seem like responsible tenants, so the landlord will likely want to keep you, albeit at a higher price.
Aside from the agent, do you have any friends or acquaintances who might bridge the gap for you? Ideally, you should be able to sit down for a coffee with your landlord and discuss this face to face. Likely your landlord has a different picture of you than you paint. Give him or her the chance to explain things from her point of view, and actually listen. Getting together informally on neutral ground is an extremely underused negotiation tactic.
Explain to him or her that you like the apartment and that you have been paying the rent on time (although it's likely the agent didn't forward that on time). Offer to pay directly and have her take care of the agent. That way the middleman (read: obstacle to progress) is out of the equation.
Explain as well that you have been doing repairs and upgrades, but that there are issues that the landlord needs to address. Not because of you, but because they are damaging her property. Tell her you'd be happy to schedule and supervise the work, and even pay for it providing she'll credit your rent. Remind her that you're serious people and want to help her keep her place looking nice.
As for the rent increase: if she agrees to fix your problems, you form a better working relationship and can have peace in your home, why would you want to move? If you're really paying below market value and the landlord agrees to your reasonable suggestions (note I didn't say demands), I don't see why you shouldn't pay a little more.
Basically, give your landlord every opportunity to save face. Redefine the situation as being both of you wanting the place to look good and be maintained. Explain that you are happy to pay a little more, provided you get what you pay for.
If that doesn't work (and I'm fairly certain it will), request a reasonable time to move out.
Remember: the point is to come to a solution you can both live with. Leave something on the table. Above all, never try to take someone's dignity; it's worth nothing to you and everything to them.
If that doesn't work, well you tried.
This stuff about paying into banco agricula and getting a lawyer etc is a lose/lose for both of you. You will have no peace in your home, both of you will pay lawyers (thereby eating away whatever savings or rent increase you're talking about) and at the end of the day, neither one of you will get what you want. You can fall back on that as a last resort.
Remember, the more you play hardball and back someone into a corner, the more difficult it is to be reasonable afterwards. Be reasonable first and save the heavy ammunition for when it's needed.
Hope this helps.
Not sure if your problem has already been worked out or not, but in case it hasn't, I hope you don't mind if I chime in.
It would seem to me that there has been a breakdown in communications between you (the tenant) and the landlord, likely due in part to the agent.
As it stands, you're both in an untenable position. You aren't comfortable in your own home, and your landlord has a potentially hostile tenant who she likely won't be able to budge for a long time.
Fair enough, the landlord MIGHT be able to get more from someone else, but keep in mind, responsible tenants are EXTREMELY valuable to a landlord. You seem like responsible tenants, so the landlord will likely want to keep you, albeit at a higher price.
Aside from the agent, do you have any friends or acquaintances who might bridge the gap for you? Ideally, you should be able to sit down for a coffee with your landlord and discuss this face to face. Likely your landlord has a different picture of you than you paint. Give him or her the chance to explain things from her point of view, and actually listen. Getting together informally on neutral ground is an extremely underused negotiation tactic.
Explain to him or her that you like the apartment and that you have been paying the rent on time (although it's likely the agent didn't forward that on time). Offer to pay directly and have her take care of the agent. That way the middleman (read: obstacle to progress) is out of the equation.
Explain as well that you have been doing repairs and upgrades, but that there are issues that the landlord needs to address. Not because of you, but because they are damaging her property. Tell her you'd be happy to schedule and supervise the work, and even pay for it providing she'll credit your rent. Remind her that you're serious people and want to help her keep her place looking nice.
As for the rent increase: if she agrees to fix your problems, you form a better working relationship and can have peace in your home, why would you want to move? If you're really paying below market value and the landlord agrees to your reasonable suggestions (note I didn't say demands), I don't see why you shouldn't pay a little more.
Basically, give your landlord every opportunity to save face. Redefine the situation as being both of you wanting the place to look good and be maintained. Explain that you are happy to pay a little more, provided you get what you pay for.
If that doesn't work (and I'm fairly certain it will), request a reasonable time to move out.
Remember: the point is to come to a solution you can both live with. Leave something on the table. Above all, never try to take someone's dignity; it's worth nothing to you and everything to them.
If that doesn't work, well you tried.
This stuff about paying into banco agricula and getting a lawyer etc is a lose/lose for both of you. You will have no peace in your home, both of you will pay lawyers (thereby eating away whatever savings or rent increase you're talking about) and at the end of the day, neither one of you will get what you want. You can fall back on that as a last resort.
Remember, the more you play hardball and back someone into a corner, the more difficult it is to be reasonable afterwards. Be reasonable first and save the heavy ammunition for when it's needed.
Hope this helps.
Although the OP's situation isn't quite the same as mine, I'm sure greatful for this site (once again), whereby I can pick up information such as the above which was given by Fabio. Otherwise, I would have never known my rights.
Two weeks ago, I called my landlord (a Domincan living in New Jersey) to ask him a question. He wasn't home but when he called back, he asked to speak to my husband (possibly because his English isn't very good and he didn't think I could converse well enough with him in Spanish). Anyway, after answering my question, he went on to inform my husband that he had told the guy who picks up our rent (we'll refer to him as the agent), to tell us he was raising our rent by another 2,000 RD. Now, I truly don't believe he is asking the family below us (it's a two family home) to pay more rent (they are Dominician by the way). Further, I happen to already know that my we're already paying more than the downstairs tenant, even though the downstairs and upstairs have the same amount of living space. And believe me, it's not cheap where we live, being that it's in a nice neighborhood in an urbanization.
On top of all that, when we first rented the house, the construction was in it's final stages and the front porch (which is huge) did not yet have any kind of railing or bars around it at all (remember, it's the second level) to keep someone from falling to their death. In the original lease, the owner stated that he would finish the porch with the bars by October, 2006 (we signed the lease in late July/early August, 2006). One year later, despite my continued requests that he stick to his promise in the lease, the porch was the same. At the end of that lease, the owner came to the DR on vacation with a lease renewal. We asked him again, when he was going to finish the porch as it is a dangerous situation, especially if there are kids visiting. He claimed not to have the money but promised to try to get it done in the next 3-4 months. The big mistake we made was signing the new lease without reading it word for word. Now I see that there is absolutely nothing in the new lease about finishing the porch at all. And here it is 5 months before time for a new lease, and he's now trying to raise the rent!
So reading what Fabio has posted about him not being able to impose a rent increase unless both parties agree is exactly what I needed to know. Obviously the owner of my house thinks I would never find this information out. Now I can't wait for him to get here and say something about raising the rent. In the meantime, I'm being extremely careful when my girlfriend comes to visit with her 5-year-old son. Thanks Fabio.
Hey thanks everyone! As an update...we are OUT of that awful situation although not without a drawn out fight that resulted in forfeiting our deposit (dh didn't want to fight and I said we should because 3 lawyers said we were in the right--he's risk averse, I'm not.) Anyway, we are in a MUCH, MUCH better house with completely reasonable landlords.
I'm glad others are gaining from our experience. Trabajadora...pls listen to the sage advice here. It sounds like you are!
Oceanbound...some days I ask myself that same ? but for now we are here because dh's job is here, I volunteer at a very worthy cause as a preventive med/public health doctor for an orphanage, and our kids are learning Spanish. The hassle factor is enormous many days/weeks/months. Then there are the days/nights like the one where we were watching the Giants-Greenbay playoff game when the temp with wind chill in Greenbay was minus-freeze-your-privates-off-degrees and we are in shorts (albeit acting as fodder for the mosquitos.) So, for now, this is home. We can only hope that our perfection (don't laugh too hard) of DR Spanish--maybe panih--as in Spanish minus the "s's" will help us and our children in the future
I'm glad others are gaining from our experience. Trabajadora...pls listen to the sage advice here. It sounds like you are!
Oceanbound...some days I ask myself that same ? but for now we are here because dh's job is here, I volunteer at a very worthy cause as a preventive med/public health doctor for an orphanage, and our kids are learning Spanish. The hassle factor is enormous many days/weeks/months. Then there are the days/nights like the one where we were watching the Giants-Greenbay playoff game when the temp with wind chill in Greenbay was minus-freeze-your-privates-off-degrees and we are in shorts (albeit acting as fodder for the mosquitos.) So, for now, this is home. We can only hope that our perfection (don't laugh too hard) of DR Spanish--maybe panih--as in Spanish minus the "s's" will help us and our children in the future
Hey thanks everyone! As an update...we are OUT of that awful situation although not without a drawn out fight that resulted in forfeiting our deposit (dh didn't want to fight and I said we should because 3 lawyers said we were in the right--he's risk averse, I'm not.) Anyway, we are in a MUCH, MUCH better house with completely reasonable landlords.
I'm glad others are gaining from our experience. Trabajadora...pls listen to the sage advice here. It sounds like you are!
Oceanbound...some days I ask myself that same ? but for now we are here because dh's job is here, I volunteer at a very worthy cause as a preventive med/public health doctor for an orphanage, and our kids are learning Spanish. The hassle factor is enormous many days/weeks/months. Then there are the days/nights like the one where we were watching the Giants-Greenbay playoff game when the temp with wind chill in Greenbay was minus-freeze-your-privates-off-degrees and we are in shorts (albeit acting as fodder for the mosquitos.) So, for now, this is home. We can only hope that our perfection (don't laugh too hard) of DR Spanish--maybe panih--as in Spanish minus the "s's" will help us and our children in the future
Hola and thanks for the support. Yes, I'm learning a lot from just this one thread alone and although I'm truly hoping this doesn't turn into it's own battle in July when I'm sure our landlord will be coming back to the DR with a new lease in hand, with a rental increase already written in, something tells me that this isn't going away without a fight. I just feel sad that with the very high price we're already paying, we can't fully enjoy the lovely, huge porch where the breeze is fantastic. (You may or may not remember in a previous post, I mentioned the non-functioning swimming pool for the house behind us that is full of Noel/Olga rain water, algae and mosquitos and the owner, who doesn't live on this side of the island, refuses to do anything about.)
Anyway, I'm happy to hear that you are now enjoying a much, much better house. Buena suerte!
(This is a little late, but I have a relavant question.)
Sr. Guzman (or anyone knowledgeable poster):
Our company is talking with a property manager about a property that fits our needs for a commercial purpose. The owner wants to rent the property, but also say they want to sell it. They say they will rent it to us, but if they find a buyer, we'd have to move. We want at least 9 months, but they don't seem to want that.
What does Dominican law have to say about a lease with that condition this? If it is written into the lease, what would Dominican law say about staying on the property beyond the notice after the sale?
What kind of notice of forced vacation, not eviction (rent will be paid immediately), is enforceable under Dominican law?
We're concerned that the will come to us one day and say the property is sold, now leave. The property is for commercial use.
The legalities and realities may be quite different.
The bottom line is this, IMHO.
Make a deal with the proprietors that, in the event it sells within the first 9 months and/or the lease is not renewed for at least 1 year, that all your rent money will be refunded, based on the following logic. (sometimes logic means nothing to Dominicans)
By way of you occupying the land for commercial purposes, you will have costs associated with setting up, and you increase it's value and sell-ability.
The refunded moneys would serve to help you start over again, plus moving costs, and should be worth them paying you off, as it may be largely due to you occupying the property, that it would sell.
Selling this idea might not be easy, but it does make sense.
Further to Rocky's Point
That's a good idea but I would go one tiny step (giant step!) and ask that all the rents in the first 9 months be put in an escrow account. Now this step may be the deal buster-but, if it is, I would then question how you would ever get to the money if he "accepted" Rocky's plan.
JOHN
That's a good idea but I would go one tiny step (giant step!) and ask that all the rents in the first 9 months be put in an escrow account. Now this step may be the deal buster-but, if it is, I would then question how you would ever get to the money if he "accepted" Rocky's plan.
JOHN
So you think the "lease" means nothing in the DR? I don't have a clue-we need to wait for a more qualified answer on this one. (ie: commercial vs. residential tenant)
john
At the point of sale.
The new owner/buyer will be making sure that you get paid, otherwise he will not be able to take possession of the property and you could probably fight him for a few years, before he could manage to evict you.
There's no need to keep the rent in escrow, as the seller will have cash at the point of sale and all the desire in the world to get you out and complete his deal.
In exchange, you can offer the owners a 2 month eviction clause, as long as he is refunding your rent money.
That gives him some security too.
That's the preferred way
BUT--I did not suggest that as I have zero knowledge of how it works in the dr.
john
I thought of the same thing-That is the way it would be done in the US. A document would be filed with the state and when a search for title is conducted it would turn up and the closing could not happen until that was paid.
BUT--I did not suggest that as I have zero knowledge of how it works in the dr.
john
In the real world, it would work like that, but not here.
Obviously a contract would be signed, but contracts are often only worth their weight in toilet paper.
What matters is that it makes sense and that all the parties have an interest in the contract being executed in the manner that it was written.
My favorite quotations --- 2 Corinthian 3:6
The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.
&
Form should not prevail over substance and a sensible meaning of words should be sought.
HOWEVER--not too many people in the DR are followers of the above wise words:>
john
The letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.
&
Form should not prevail over substance and a sensible meaning of words should be sought.
HOWEVER--not too many people in the DR are followers of the above wise words:>
john
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