All Forum Posts by: Bruce Feldman

You raise the rent by not raising it. Take words like "raise" and "increase" out of your vocabulary and don't use them. The term you should always use is "adjustment." This is a neutral term suggesting that any upward movement in the rent is not arbitrary, but determined by the market.

Tenants understand that landlords are entitled to get market rents for their properties, which is the reason investors buy rental properties and operate them for their tenants. At each renewal period or vacancy, the landlord adjusts the rent (up or down) to the market rate for that unit. 

Try it out. Good luck.

You made a lot of mistakes, but that's okay. Live and learn. Here's what you should do: 

1. Get a new tenant as quickly as possible.

2. Change the utilities back into your name.

3. Send her a notice, by certified mail, stating that the lease is "null and void."

NEVER accept applicants who offer to pay rent in advance, especially for an entire year. This is a huge red flag, as many will likely turn out to be drug dealers, prostitutes, or worse. Instead, if you have a marginal applicant, get a large security deposit and let them pay the agreed monthly rent as normal.

NEVER EVER sign a lease without receiving payment of the first month's rent and the agreed security deposit. The tenant signs the lease first, then delivers the signed lease to the landlord together with the required payments. If everything is in order, THEN you can sign the lease and deliver a "fully executed copy" to the tenant.

Good luck.

If the taxes are in arrears you can likely buy a "tax lien certificate" by paying just the overdue taxes. Check with the local municipality or tax assessor. That would make you a lien holder and a creditor, and puts you in a position to acquire the property when "we all lose it in a tax sale in a few years..."

In most cases, screening is not simply a yes-or-no decision; it's a matter of assessing risk. 

If you are the landlord then you control the terms of the rental agreement. 

Most rentals with higher perceived risk can be offset by requiring an excess security deposit and/or a third-party guarantor for the lease, and/or prepayment of rent. 

Consider these options for your less than ideal applicants. Good luck.

The terms of the original lease cannot be unilaterally changed, so the "addendum" is likely not valid unless your lease allows it or you signed it.

You shouldn't be sending out any interest checks. 

Not sure about Pennsylvania but most states allow landlords to retain up to 1% interest in order to defray the administrative costs of handling the security deposit. So unless the security is earning more than 1% annual interest, no interest should be paid to the tenant.

Landlords are not banks or lenders; don't pay interest on security deposits.

Knowledgeable on all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industry in New York City and a licensed real estate broker with 20 years of experience in residential and commercial real estate. I have leased and managed thousands of apartments and commercial spaces exclusively for landlords. I am now in private practice as a real estate consultant, broker and advisor representing commercial and residential tenants on lease renewals and leasing transactions of all kinds.

You raise the rent by not raising it. If the rent is in fact "away below market" then it is substantially below the level at which others will pay. So you're not raising it but merely adjusting it to reflect the base market value. If you're an investor then you're not running a charity, which is what you are effectively doing by allowing tenants to pay substantially less than your property is worth. Good luck.