Landlord refuses to rent a bigger apartment
Me and my wife live in a 3 1/2 apartment, we really love the area and the building, we also both work full time. We have asked the landlord for the last 2 and a half years for a 4 1/2 apartment. They constantly tell us there are none available.
I asked today again and it's the same story, none available, so we had a friend call this afternoon... and guess what... there is one available. Also we spoke to another couple in our building who also asked, they were shown the apartment but told they could not afford the rent increase.
It would be an increase of $150.00 per month for us (it would have been an increase of $300 for our friends who were told they could not afford it), are they maybe not telling us because they think we can't afford it either? But still, why lie, they admitted to our friends that there was one available.
My second question... can a landlord refuse to move us to a bigger apartment in the same building, do I have any recourse?
p.s. My current lease expires in 90 days and they already gave us the papers to sign to either renew or move out.