About a month ago, I told you that my landlord wants to raise my rent.
Well, a lot has happened since then.
I’ve got good news and bad news.
Let’s start with…
THE GOOD NEWS
The first email I got from my landlord said he wanted to end my one-year lease early.
Then he said we could sign a new contract.
And in the new contract, my rent would be 13% higher!
As you can imagine, I wasn’t happy about that.
Then I had lunch with a former student, who also happens to be a real estate attorney.
“He can’t do that,” my former student explained. “Under Czech law, he is bound to the original agreement. He cannot break it simply because he wants more money.”
“Great!” I said.
I told the landlord about my lunch conversation.
He wasn’t as excited about it as I was, but eventually I persuaded him to honor our original agreement.
(Lesson of Advanced Legal English: Try using the expression “I will sue your ass.” — It works!)
“Ok,” he said. “I agree, the contract is still binding. I cannot break it. And I will not raise your rent.”
And now here comes…
THE BAD NEWS
“However, I want you to move out when the lease ends,” said my landlord.
As we say in English, you win some, you lose some.
Cheers,
Mr. Vig
P.S.
Today’s Atomic Word is “bind.”
You can use it when talking about a contract.
When else can you use it?
And what other English words have a similar meaning?
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