Do you allow MTR tenants to receive mail? What are the risks?

Question

Hi,

I was curious what everyone's policy is on allowing MTR tenants to receive mail throughout their stay and what are the associated risks involved with allowing them to get mail. Thanks!

Conner Olsen · Answer

Yes they receive mail. I tell them to hold onto any mail that's not theirs and we pick it up periodically.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Brian Malavsky For me it is no problem but people often don't use the option. I don't get where it makes people a tenant when its a MTR. Past a month in most states you are a tenant.  Most people would be using a temporary change of address to recieve mail anyway. I find it only changes who your junk mail is addressed to. If  tenants receive regular mail after they leave I have marked it return to sender or not at this address.    That will  make people  change their address quickly.

Bonnie Low · Answer

The concern many people have is that it could convey tenant's rights to your midterm guest that they otherwise would not have. This may or may not be the case and varies greatly by state so I'd start by looking into landlord law in your state. I think there's a lot of hype around this that is probably mostly unnecessary unless you're in a very tenant-friendly state. That being said, I AM in one of those tenant friendly states and so as an FYI, I do not provide a mailbox at my MTR and state in the lease agreement that mail service is not allowed at the unit. I've only had one MTR guest ask about getting mail and when I said no and directed him to a PO Box service, he was ok going that route. My explanation to him was that I don't do it for two reasons: 1) it's not consistent with this lease type and 2) I don't want to create a hassle for future tenants who will need to deal with mail that comes to you after you've left. That being said....people will get deliveries at your property all the time. Whether that's door dash or Amazon, packages will show up and there's not much you can do about it. So I think this concept of receiving mail conveying tenants rights is probably outdated and probably not a huge concern in most areas.

Do you allow MTR tenants to receive mail? What are the risks?

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