Message Board

co tenants and security deposit

Propster — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:19:57 GMT

Tenant #1 moved out and tenant #2 remains. Tenant #1 wants me to return all of the security deposit to him because he never collected and monies from tenant #2. I told him all security deposits stay with the building until all tenancies are terminated and that he should work this out with tenant #2. He now says he will sue in small claims court and ask for treble damages and fees. I need to know what CA case law there is and/or statute there is that supports my position. I believe my position is correct but am now second guessing myself. What to do?

Forum: DEPOSITS, DEPOSITS, AND MORE DEPOSITS!

C/O INSPECTION

MOON — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:04:55 GMT

I just had a c/o inspection for one of my rental's. The inspecter did something new, he measure out the sq. footage to determine a maximum occupancy for the unit. One of my previous tenants is partly responsible for this new rule LOL!! I like the idea that now it is a township law ( c/o rule ) That would give me something to back me up in court but on the other hand I am not sure how much it would help me when I have prove it in court. As I learned last time this was very difficult. The c/o inspecter told me to list all those who have permission to live in the house, I do that, list them all by name & relationship. That did not do me any good when one of my tenants brought her juvenile delinquent son to live with her. Who did not have permission to live there. 2 attorney's told me there was not much of anything to do about it because this was her son & because he was a delinquent. Anyway I am now looking to incorporate this new law in my lease as I am sure there are fines & penalties to go with this law. Can I make the tenant responsible for any fines passed on to me for this violation ? This is actually a great law if only the courts did not make it so hard to prove.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Do a 6 month walkthru or not ?????

rkkeller — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:14:37 GMT

My current tenant has been there for 6 months already and been pretty much problem free except for one incident which some might remember where he tried to overdose on pills and the police and ambulance came. Very quite, doesn't ask for anything and no problems to me. He is a little forgetful and will pay the rent a couple days late but if you ask for it he always has it in full.

We usually do a six month walkthru, which is due now, but I am wondering if I should or not due to his condition. He has been out of work on disability since the above incident and in therapy 4-6 hours a day 3-4-5 days a week.

On one hand: I want to do the walkthru as while a super quite doesnt ask for anything tenant he is not the neatest and last time I was there it was dirty, not filthy but dirtier than most would keep it. I am a single guy myself with 5 dogs and its 10x dirtier than mine at its worst.

On the other hand: It wasn't so bad that if he moves out in another 6 months it couldnt be scrubbed clean in a weekend, carpets cleaned and he is going thru the mental issues.

Any opinions would help as I cant decide.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

about the 1039 Exchange

YoungANDfast — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:43:35 GMT

I'm sure everyone here at least flipped a few houses..

Has anyone used the 1039 exchange? Here is my similar scenario..

Lets say You have just flipped 3 of your rental properties.. and you made $300,000 total. You initially bought each for $20,000 (say its your price and expenses)

So now I can buy 13 more rental properties.. and if the law of 1039 exchange is how i understand it, I don't have to pay taxes on the $240,000 that i just made in profits.. since i'm re-investing it back into real estate..

Let me know what your thoughts are on this, and if you have used it to your advantage.. or am I just flagging myself for the IRS like a bright red turkey when its hunting season..

Forum: TAXES & BOOKKEEPING

security deposit and property mgt company

blueGrassNewLandLord — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:10:32 GMT

Hi all, I have a question about security deposit and property mgt company:

I hired a property mgt company, sign a 1 yr contract with them, they brought a tenant into my property with
a 1 yr lease. now their(property mgt company) contract is expired, and so tenant lease.
I decided to not to renew the property mgt contract and do management by myself.
Tenant wants to stay in my property, now I ask property mgt company to send me Tenant's security
deposit and they say that it is illegal to send security deposit back to landlord so they are sending
security deposit back to tenant.
Does the landlord legally ask property mgt company to not to send security deposit to the tenant
instead just send to the landlord? is it ok for property mgt company to send security deposit to the tenant?
Thanks for your help.
- Sam

Forum: DEPOSITS, DEPOSITS, AND MORE DEPOSITS!

Can you offer lower rents to qualified people?

yikes — Thur, 12 Nov 2009 21:57:42 GMT

Because I just did in my ad. I hope that's not discriminatory. I said rent is XXX/mo, but would be willing to negotiate a lower amount if someone can prove 3.5 times rent income, good credit history, 2 great LL references, clean criminal background and is willing to sign a lease for at least 1.5 years.

I'm trying to get someone good in there that would stay for awhile, I thought what better incentive than lower rents. I don't want to lower rents, however, for someone who has crap credit and only wants a 6 mo lease. I hope I didn't just violate a law or something.

Trying my best to find a quality tenant.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Can you ask a tenant to leave that keeps threatening to break their lease/move out?

yikes — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:30:25 GMT

I told you guys earlier that one of my tenants keeps threatening to move due to the footstep noise above them. This weekend they were going to move NOW, now it's 'we'll wait and see a week' etc but I'm kinda sick of this tenant, obviously.
I have some people who are very interested in the property and want to see it. If they like it, can I just ask the current tenants to leave? They seem to want to leave anyway, and I'm tired of the threats. But is it a 'lease violation' to threaten to leave over non-material issues? Do I have to let them stay throughout their lease term if they have been doing this? Can I just ask them to leave (legally) in order to get someone else in there?

Or I could just leave it alone entirely, but I have a feeling that next weekend, or tomorrow, or whatever, there's going to be another rage about something minor and more threats to leave. They admitted they are already looking at other places to live and have gotten applications for these places. I know they are obligated to fulfill their lease terms, and they would still be responsible for rent if the subletter doesn't pay, but sometimes it's worth something to get a problematic person out of your building.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

notice in mailbox?

cmb — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:44:31 GMT

Is it okay to put late rent notices in tenants' mailboxes? My tenants live next door and we also have a couple of other duplexes just a down the street for a total of four buildings- eight units. And what about something like a pest control notice. That the exterminator will be here at the end of the week. If not, then where? I want to make sure I do the right thing.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

any stimulus for landlords?

amcginnis — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:48:33 GMT

I've been a landlord for 14 years now, but I only own one duplex. I recently had both tenants move out. I have been struggling to get it back into shape for rerental. As most of you know, renters don't usually take care of what doesn't belong to them. Is there any stimulus money out there to help me pay for repairs? Do I have to be an LLC to qualify for small business stimulus?

Forum: FINANCING

Tenant wants to leave due to hardwood floor noise above

yikes — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:22:59 GMT

Ugh, man. I cannot get my tenants to stay through their lease term.

Well, I have an up and down duplex. It is over 100 years old. Both units have hardwood flooring throughout. We got new tenants in the lower unit a few mos ago. They specifically asked me if you can hear footsteps from the unit above, and I said, 'yes, unfortunately you can, the unit above has hardwood floors and you can hear footsteps'. They took the place anyway.

Now I get an email from the lower tenants informing me that they 'hate' the upper level tenants on a personal level, the upper level tenants walk around their apt in shoes, it is very noisy, they asked them to please remove their shoes when walking in the apt, and to be spiteful, the upper unit tenants just do it 'more' now. Because of this, they are leaving and they want to start the process today.

We have asked the upper unit tenants to try and minimize the noise once already. While I can understand shoes being noisy on hardwood floors, I cannot ask someone to stop walking in their unit or to not wear shoes in their unit ever.

What am I supposed to do?

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Hi from Rob.......

homerunhomes — Thur, 05 Nov 2009 15:08:16 GMT

Hi All - glad to be here.

Hope I'm in the right forum for introductions - LOL!

Background on me? I run HomeRun Homes (rent to own homes), and I'm here looking to network and have some cool conversations !

How has the market been treating all of you? What specific markets have been waking up for you guys?

Forum: INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE

UNIQUE SITUATION?

jpl — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:46:46 GMT

Signed a lease with new tennants, They moved their belongings in then discovered mold in unit. Test done. Place deemed uninhabitable. Getting remediation done timely. Want tenants to sign same waiver remediation co. had me sign. basically states I won't be responsible for anything sickness, etc. They are refusing to. They have not paid anything but the security deposit. Meanwhile their belongings are still on my property. Can I force them to remove their belongings until remediation is completed? If not, can I charge them storage? Can I not rent to them as they won't sign waiver? Advise on best way to handle this?

Forum: LANDLORD RIGHTS & THE LAW

to lower standards or not to lower standards, that is the question...

yikes — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:43:58 GMT

I'm not finding any qualified applicants. NONE. I've had a vacancy for a couple months now and am starting to wonder what I should do.

My standards are as follows:

-credit score of 600 or higher

- 2 good landlord references

- 3.5 times rent verifiable income (the .5 is because they pay utilities and gas can get expensive)

- clean criminal record

Of course, if they got a DUI 5 years ago, I don't give that much weight, or if their score is 598, I consider that too. If they have one great verifiable landlord reference, that would probably be good enough, too. The income I don't really budge on.

No one is qualified though. I'm guessing it's due to the recession. I get a lot of people that just seem very...disorganized/messed up. In the process of getting a divorce, inability to prove income, very poor credit scores, in between jobs. I feel like, if I were to take these people, I'd be asking for it. I have offered to rent the place to some of these people if they could find a guarantor, but they were unable to.

I don't want to lower my standards, but I wonder if I'm being unrealistic in this market. I read today that the rental market is the worst it's been in 23 years. Any ideas/tips to either entice people into the property, or am I expecting too much out of my prospective tenants? Like should I offer one month's rent free?

I feel that 850 is reasonable - it's a stand alone apartment, like a mini house, it has gardens and a parking space, it's in a quiet neighborhood, no other rentals around, and I put upgrades into it. It was renting for 750/mo.

Any ideas/suggestions would be great. I'd really like to get it rented, but I'd also like to avoid the nightmare tenant.

Forum: NEW LANDLORDS

Tax implications

SHirsch999 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:21:29 GMT

Hi. I bought a property in FL (currently live in NJ) about a year ago with the intention of renting it initially and them moving there. Our plans changed over the past year and then changed again and the condo is back on the rental market. We are currently using a property manager who found a renter yesterday (yay). Our goal is not to make a profit, though this would be nice, but rather have someone else pay the mortgage for us. Anyway, here are my questions:
- The unit was available for rent as of October 1st, but was not officially rented until yesterday and will not be occupied until this coming Friday. Can we depreciate the unit starting in October, or does this not begin until the unit is rented or occupied?
- Some repairs were made over the past month since being available for rent (new AC unit, rear sliding door fixed, new ceiling fan installed). Are the costs of doing these deductible?
- I needed to travel from NJ down to FL to find the property manager, set up the repairs, and begin the rental process. Is this deductible?

I am already aware of the other deductions associated with the month-to-month things, insurance, etc. Thanks in advance for any help.

Forum: TAXES & BOOKKEEPING

Tenants Pay For Small Repairs?

mafixit — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:50:02 GMT

I am preparing to lease my home to a couple on a 2 year lease. I will be 1800 miles away.

I want to put in the lease that the tenant is responsible for minor repairs under $100, including the $60 service call that would be incurred if they need to call for service using the home warranty I have on the house.

Is this something atypical? Has anyone else done this with success? My home is mostly rehabbed and in very nice condition, but I don't want to be nickeled and dimed to death for minor things such as minor toilet parts, etc.

Forum: MAINTAINING THE PROPERTY