1. Unacceptable conduct, such as engaging with multiple neighbors and disclosing terms of my contract to parties other than creditors or banks and libelous behavior(basically engaging in gossip with 3rd parties).
2. Pros and cons of adding early termination clause in a contract? I currently do not have one. If I let them go can I keep the security deposit until I find a tenant?
3. Tenant responsibility for all appliances. I let them use the appliances and since they use them they are responsible to fix them. That should give people incentive to take a good care of appliances.
4. Charging a fee for a technician visit for any appliances diagnostics.
How do you set the expectations from the start to avoid people with incredibly high expectations?
I am sort of tired of "I am a good tenant because I pay on time" so do an "X" for me right away; basically treating a landlord as a room service.
Completely not interested in having jerks and dealing with them.
Please do not advise to have a property management company as I will not.
I only have a few units and I have a full time job so this is a passive income.
My rent prices are slightly below the market value.
You're asking a tenant to take responsibility over an appliance that they have no idea how it has been maintained. Even if it were new, they have no idea about the quality or manufacturing imperfections.
Think of it this way, would you rent a car where the rental agency requires you to cover costs if it mechanically broke down during normal use?
Unless they clearly did something to cause the damage, you're going to get pushback from the tenant when you try to charge them for the repair.
I suggest you suck it up and cover these costs and just build these costs into the rent.
it is not under a normal use when the appliances break down.
it comes from neglect, especially when they are new.
I have already made a decision.
If I get a pushback they can rent a crappy place, not my place..there are always options...
Appliances are provided for a convenience and not a part of rent.
Tenants will be responsible and I do not have to suck anything up.
Why did you ask us for advice if your mind was already made up? Good luck providing D quality service on an A quality rental. Good tenants will leave when you ask them to pay for an appliance because you're too cheap to replace your own property. You'll be left with lower quality tenants which wont take good care of the property and cost you more money in the long run.
1) How will you prove this? Probably not worth it.
2) Check your state laws and what's allowed.
3) Most PMC's have a clause regarding appliances, that they are "as-is, whereis". Meaning landlord does not have to fix them.
4) Yes, you can usually do this if it states so in your lease.
Many PMCs requiring tenants to put all nonemergency maintenance requests in writing and an emergency is defined as something that may cause bodily harm or damage to the property.
1. It sounds like you want them to sign a NDA (Nondisclosure Agreement). Why are you worried about them "gossiping"? Do you intend to behave so terribly that disclosure of how you do business would harm you in some way?
On a more practical note, what are you going to do to enforce something like that with a typical tenant?!? If you went to court you would be awarded money for their gossip that you'd likely never collect and you would be SPENDING MONEY to have a lawyer draft a NDA and to take them to court. So, I do not see the value or even the reason behind why you want to do this.
2. Yes, an early termination clause makes sense IMO. Tenants may need to break a contract early. Also this clause can dictate what is owed in case of an eviction because that is also a termination of the lease.
I charge an early termination fee of about 1 months rent PLUS they owe rent until the next tenant is in place or the lease ends whichever is less. However, for a tenant who leaves on good terms, I will often just re-negotiate a flat fee with them knowing I can have a new tenant in place quickly.
3. Tenant responsibility for appliances is a little silly IMO. They are using the entire rental, why not make them responsible for fixing/replacing your roof or HVAC as well?!?
IMO, as a landlord, if you don't wish to maintain an appliance just don't include it.
I personally include washers and dryers in all my rentals and even have dishwashers and microwave range hoods in my nicer rentals. I do get periodic calls about washers and dryers. Those are hard working appliances with lots of moving parts. However, I use a local used appliance store and can have another appliance swapped in for the broken one within 1-3 days for $300. So, it really isn't a hassle for me at all. In fact its the EASIEST service call I get since I can arrange for the replacement within just a few minutes.
Also, providing appliances like washer, dryers, and dishwashers sets me apart from other landlords allowing me to ATTRACT AND KEEP better tenants longer! Turnover is expensive, so that is where the money is really made IMO.
4. I really never repair appliances. I just replace them. Kitchen appliances rarely fail and washers and dryers are easy to replace as I mentioned in #4. So, this has not been an issue to me at all.
The only time I could foresee having a technician work on an appliance is if it was newer and under warranty and then there should be no cost to me.
5. Yes, entitled tenants with unreasonable expectations can be an annoyance, but you are dealing with one of the biggest most important aspects of a person's life (where they life).
So, that is just part of property management. You stated you WANT to do property management yourself. So, why complain about something that you CHOOSE to do?!?
I personally don't get bothered if tenants lie to me, curse or be rude, act entitled, etc. Its just not personal to me. I will treat them properly no matter how they behave because how they behave doesn't upset me.
I do what I promise to do as a landlord if not more and I understand how to protect my interests if things go sideways. So, how a tenant behaves as a person is just noise to me. It doesn't really affect how I go about my business.
Investor · Clairemont, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
2y
On the topic of tenants fixing appliances, it's an old stand by idea that IMO is probably not worthwhile.
If you want the tenant responsible for the appliances then have them supply them BUT this only works if your market supports it. I know there are some areas that this is standard, and maybe yours is one of these. In my market there is (I can almost guarantee) not a single rental that doesn't provide appliances...maybe washer/dryer...but in urban rentals no one is lugging a fridge/stove around. Even the washer/dryer is typically provided. If by some chance you did include that the tenant is responsible to repair, then you should expect that if they break during their stay then the tenant can just buy new ones and take their appliances with when they leave leaving you with a broken appliance that still needs attention upon their departure.
Rental Property Investor · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 5k+ votes
2y
You're asking a tenant to take responsibility over an appliance that they have no idea how it has been maintained. Even if it were new, they have no idea about the quality or manufacturing imperfections.
Think of it this way, would you rent a car where the rental agency requires you to cover costs if it mechanically broke down during normal use?
Unless they clearly did something to cause the damage, you're going to get pushback from the tenant when you try to charge them for the repair.
I suggest you suck it up and cover these costs and just build these costs into the rent.
You're asking a tenant to take responsibility over an appliance that they have no idea how it has been maintained. Even if it were new, they have no idea about the quality or manufacturing imperfections.
Think of it this way, would you rent a car where the rental agency requires you to cover costs if it mechanically broke down during normal use?
Unless they clearly did something to cause the damage, you're going to get pushback from the tenant when you try to charge them for the repair.
I suggest you suck it up and cover these costs and just build these costs into the rent.
it is not under a normal use when the appliances break down.
it comes from neglect, especially when they are new.
I have already made a decision.
If I get a pushback they can rent a crappy place, not my place..there are always options...
Appliances are provided for a convenience and not a part of rent.
Tenants will be responsible and I do not have to suck anything up.
Investor · Milwaukee - Mequon, WI · Member since 2010 · 5k+ posts · 7k+ votes
2y
Homemade leases are dangerous. Even a lot of the "attorney-drafted" ones I see are crap.
We are just dealing with a case here in Wisconsin (Koble v. Marquart) where a landlord had to pay back all of the rent to a tenant, because of illegal clauses in his lease. Not just last month. All of it.
You want a lease that is State specific, has been tested in court over and over again and adapted over the years. Be very careful with modifications or adding provisions.
Most of what you are looking to accomplish is done with what I would call tenant training. It starts with good screening and on-boarding. Go over those things in person when you sign the lease and get agreement from them.
When you have been a landlord as long as I have been, you realize that you can write a lot of things on a piece of paper: that does not mean that anyone will follow those directions.
I know your mind is made up on this but I still suggest you look up "planned obsolesence." Today's appliances are designed not to last long. I've had several in my house have issues and most recently replaced my built-in microwave. The control board went out on it, just like the control board once went out on a relatively new front load washing machine. I can guarantee you that neither of those was caused by neglect or misuse.
You're asking a tenant to take responsibility over an appliance that they have no idea how it has been maintained. Even if it were new, they have no idea about the quality or manufacturing imperfections.
Think of it this way, would you rent a car where the rental agency requires you to cover costs if it mechanically broke down during normal use?
Unless they clearly did something to cause the damage, you're going to get pushback from the tenant when you try to charge them for the repair.
I suggest you suck it up and cover these costs and just build these costs into the rent.
it is not under a normal use when the appliances break down.
it comes from neglect, especially when they are new.
I have already made a decision.
If I get a pushback they can rent a crappy place, not my place..there are always options...
Appliances are provided for a convenience and not a part of rent.
Tenants will be responsible and I do not have to suck anything up.
Why did you ask us for advice if your mind was already made up? Good luck providing D quality service on an A quality rental. Good tenants will leave when you ask them to pay for an appliance because you're too cheap to replace your own property. You'll be left with lower quality tenants which wont take good care of the property and cost you more money in the long run.
You're asking a tenant to take responsibility over an appliance that they have no idea how it has been maintained. Even if it were new, they have no idea about the quality or manufacturing imperfections.
Think of it this way, would you rent a car where the rental agency requires you to cover costs if it mechanically broke down during normal use?
Unless they clearly did something to cause the damage, you're going to get pushback from the tenant when you try to charge them for the repair.
I suggest you suck it up and cover these costs and just build these costs into the rent.
it is not under a normal use when the appliances break down.
it comes from neglect, especially when they are new.
I have already made a decision.
If I get a pushback they can rent a crappy place, not my place..there are always options...
Appliances are provided for a convenience and not a part of rent.
Tenants will be responsible and I do not have to suck anything up.
Now I think we all know why you wanted to prevent your tenants from talking about you. You're *that* type of landlord.
