All Forum Posts by: Robert Crowley

Your plan seems fine. Leave the units in the home and advertise that they are included, but will not be maintained by the landlord. They will only be removed after failure. This (hopefully) tells tenants to treat them with respect so they last longer. Just be prepared to take them out and sell on CL or your local swap site if your tenants have their own. 

We did this with our extra washer and dryer that would have been CL bound for $100 each 5 years ago and the tenants have paid an extra $15/mo since for the use of them.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/maryland-security-deposits-36214.html

Check out this link for MD security deposit laws.

Dishwashers are not required here, but I have dishwashers in my units. However, I am rethinking their benefit to me as I replaced one recently that took up way more of my Saturday than I wanted it to. Moving forward, the new leases state that the working dishwasher will not be maintained by me, and will not be replaced if it fails. It will remain in place and be removed at the end of tenancy.

Hopefully, that sways people towards treating it more gently. In truth, I just want to be able to replace it at my leisure and not within a few days as I normally do. I don't believe that I'd ever consider living somewhere that didn't have a dishwasher again, and I want to treat my tenants as I'd like to be treated. Also, I appear to be going above and beyond if I offer something that's specifically not in the lease. 

A medium/large unit draws 750 Watts/hr. Around here, that = ~$75 a month if its running all the time. Obviously it won't, but if I were a renter, I'm not sure how happy I'd be to have an additional monthly fee added that wasn't advertised. Perhaps you could offer a discount on the monthly rent for leaving it on all the time? Also, even the ones that are hooked to a drain that are "maintenance free" require someone to look at it occasionally. Mine clogs about every 6 months in the drain line. 30 seconds to unscrew the hose, blow hard into the thing (a little gross) and screw it back together. Is your tenant going to be on the lookout for that? And fix it?

Maybe inconsequential questions, but I think worth asking yourself.

I am two years in after putting down the 10 year stuff and it still looks great. No telling how the next 8 years will be. Used rollers and brushes, not the spray stuff.  My neighbor got his sprayed within weeks of mine. His is starting to age.  I don't know what lifespan stuff he used though.  I used to have a guy do it for me and I had to redo it every 2-3 years. I believe he used the cheaper stuff. My personal opinion is to get the good stuff, and roll/brush it. Don't spray. The 10 year stuff is easily the best value if it lasts as long as the package says, and that's not including the time/effort/supplies cost of doing it every 2,3, or 5 years. 

BAM!!!  That's what I wanted to hear. I've heard of this happening before but I guess I needed a bit of a refresher. I've informed them of their options, tweaked slightly from what you mentioned, and am awaiting their response. Thank you, Nathan. I don't post often around here but I read these threads daily, and your advice is always spot on. I appreciate it.

A part of my concern is that they will leave in 1-2 months, and places stay vacant a little longer in the winter months around here. Else I'd just allow them to stay at the 2% increase until they were ready to move.

Hello all, and thank you for all you do for us newbies. On to it...

Tenants are 6 days from the end of their lease and 2 days from signing for another year with an agreed 2% rent increase. I get a text tonight saying they got a job offer 1.5 hours away and they'd like to go to a m2m lease. My plan is to raise the m2m lease by 9%. (MD law says anything under 10% requires 30 days notice, 60 days for 10+%) I'm not sure I'm doing this legally. Since we have a written (email and text) confirmation of signing another yearly lease, and they are now backing out (I understand why) can I do this?

Bottom line...Can I legally raise rent with 6 days notice? I think I know the answer here, but I may need to hear it from someone else.

Thanks

Wouldn't it be better to have a clause in the lease that it needs to *remain* when they leave? Is it legal/ethical to do it this way?