Hello All,
Wanted to gather your thoughts on a boarding contract question. Our horse’s board recently increased by a few hundred dollars. I get it, the cost of everything has gone up. However, I signed a contract a few years ago that essentially locked in boarding rates for another few years. This term “locked in” was used, and the contract has an expiration date a few years from now based on this locked in rate. I’m struggling to comprehend how legally board can increase by a few hundred dollars, and I am now being asked to sign a new contract. I know that I could leave, but we really do love where we are. Has anyone dealt with the legalities around something like this? And the cost did not just increase by $50-100… it is a lot more than that.
I can’t believe anyone would write a boarding contract “locking in” rates. Probably depends on the language used as to the legality.
That being said, arguing that and trying to stay will not likely go well for you. It never seems to. If there’s one thing I know from being a barn owner, most of us are barely breaking even as costs are now, much less with the increases anticipated in hay and feed. I’d think long and hard before leaving a place you are otherwise happy with.
No doubt only a lawyer from your state could really tell you the legality’s. But I would not recommend anyone ever get into such a process with a farm owner. If you guys aren’t getting along it’s time to move out. I once had a farm owner tell me something similar. She claims she had a “locked in” price with her Hay supplier. When I said that was ridiculous, She got super pissed at me. I suggested a scenario such as the one we are currently facing and she seem to insist he would still be required to supply her with Hay. How the heck she thought that would happen if the price of fuel doubled was beyond me.
You have a couple choices.
Accept that the barn owner has no choice and pay up. If you are boarding you may have no idea how much prices have gone up. Hay has pretty much doubled in some areas. Grain is soaring. Gas is hitting record highs and will impact everythung. None of this could be foreseen 2 years ago. If it’s just say a $200 hike no one is making money on that. These are unprecedented times and the war isn’t going to help. It could decimate world wide cereal crops for summer 2022. You are going to find similar price hikes everywhere.
Or you can move and face price hikes at other barns.
Or you can spend $500 or $1000 to talk to a lawyer and refuse to pay, which will also result in you moving.
In any other year I’d say something different, but this one is bad for horse commodities and about to get worse.
I went through something like this a few years ago. On February 28th, everyone got a text about the board increase which was double the rate paid for the current month. The text explicitly said this new rate was expected for the next month, aka the next day. In that case, I flat out told the barn owner that since I had less than 24 hours notice, I would pay the same rate as the month prior. Not aggressively or rudely or anything but I did point out that I would’ve preferred a 30 days heads up. The barn owner agreed, I got this plan & the response in writing just for precaution.
However, it kind of depends on how recently you were told and when you’re expected to pay the new board rate. I honestly doubt it would hold up if you tried to fight it legally and paying a lawyer would probably just put more money down the drain. I would probably look at places in the area & if there’s anything less expensive that has equal care/facilities, then consider moving. If not, I would probably end up paying the board increase.
It always depends on how the contract was written and the specific language used. If you want to get into a fight over it then remember your horse is still there and what would it mean to the horses welfare.
Talk to the barn owner and bring your contract with you. Maybe you can negotiate a lower raise in the price.
If you are unhappy with that then move.
At the very least I would certainly bring it up with the Barn Owner.
Like “Hey Jane, I’m reading my boarding contract and my rate is “locked in” until 2024. So, I guess I’m having a hard time understanding what’s going on.”
I agree that if the BO contacted boards recently and said “hey guys, I’m really sorry but those contracts put me into bankruptcy, so we’re going to recalculate and change the charges” - that would be notice of a change in the contract. It’s not necessarily great notice - e.g. not in writing, but I would consider it notice.
If there literally was no communication I would make it known that I was not happy about it and probably request a grace period of some time to get to the new board rate (maybe even if I didn’t need it, but to make a point.)
But - the bottom line - if you like the barn and want to stay, you’ll have to do it in a way that keeps the peace. If not, I’d be looking elsewhere asap and probably wouldn’t pay the increase if I hadn’t been given notice. But expect to be shown the door pretty quickly.
