All Forum Posts by: Gavin Carlson

Thanks everyone for the advice, definitely some new tactics to try! 

@Ross Denman Great response and totally agree with you!

Also not a lawyer, but there does seem to be a conflict of interest if the PM is moving tenants from your property to other properties as soon as you inform them that you are ending your management with them. A PM, usually but not always, is listed as an agent of the owner an as an agent has responsibilities to act in the best interests of their client, not their own pocketbook. I'm assuming the PM is also collecting placement fees from the transition of these tenants, meaning that they have all of the financial incentives in the world to move the tenants to increase their revenue.

There was also no reason to move these tenants, as leases survive the transfer of title. The tenants can be notified that a change in ownership has occurred, and that they now need to sent their rents to a new address. If tenants have a lease in effect, rents stay the same and usually there aren't too many problems. 

Being a Property Manager is not easy, in upholding the wishes of owners you are going to inevitably upset a tenant. That being said, a PM shouldn't do something that financially harms their clients just because they don't want an angry phone call from the tenants. 

Best of luck with everything, hope you are able to go through with the sale. 

More of a general question, but how do you all deal with being a landlord when it seems that tenants are constantly angry, looking for rent credits for minor repair inconveniences, and threatening to sue when they don't get everything that they want? A quick example, a tenant threatened to sue for health issues relating to black mold (home has never had any water issues or reason to believe there is mold), because I denied their request for a new washer machine (old one works perfectly fine). This seems to happen on a daily basis, where tenants are just in general angry. 

I keep the rentals to a high standard, tenants pay rent on time every month, and I repair anything that is actually broken, but it seems that every day I'm fighting with tenants who are just waiting for something to go wrong to jump down my throat. 

Is it just me or is this a common occurrence with your rentals as well? Thanks for you input!

$3,800 - 3 bed/3bath pool home in Temecula, CA

We try to use current pics but always put a disclaimer that photos may not be accurate. Learned that one after a tenant threatened to sue for reduced rent because the home didn't come with the decorations that were in the photos.

Sounds like you did everything you possibly could with the information at hand. If the tenants had properly reported the water issue earlier, you would have been able to correct the problem and avoid the large bill in the first place. I wouldn't pay for the tenants poor reporting, especially since you had the issue corrected 24 hrs after becoming aware of it. That being said, some water companies may credit you for a leak as a one time courtesy, just need to provide a copy of the repair invoice. You can usually do this once every 4-5 years.

I work for a management company in SoCal and can not believe that a company would markup repairs without disclosing that to the owners. In California at least, that's a case of hidden profits and a major violation with the Bureau of Real Estate. Companies can lose their license for less. I wouldn't be surprised if you PM quickly changed his tune if you mentioned that his non-disclosure is a violation. Unfortunately many PM are less than honest, and you may have to protect yourself by filing a complaint with your state's realty bureau. Best of luck with everything.

Another vote for Buildium from me, we transferred over to them over a year ago (400+ units) and their costumer support has been fantastic, not to mention how simple their system is to use.

The Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity does say that a landlord can deny a request for reasonable accommodation (like accepting a service animal) if doing so will cause the landlord financial hardship, like if you insurance premiums are increased or cancelled due to the service animal. It sounds though that there are no hard guidelines on the issue, and I always have had a difficult time with these types of situations each time they come up. You can read a memo the OFHEO released on this below: http://www.fairhousing.com/include/media/pdf/insuranceguidance.pdf

I'm a property manager from SoCal so my experience may differ significantly from yours. I typically see our rentals rented out in 15 to 30 days, with the average being closer to 30 days due to the notice requirements that new tenants must satisfy with their previous residences. A tenant that loves a home and gives their 30 notice to their current landlord today, for example, would not be ready to move in until 30 days from now. However, the rental market that we are in in SoCal is very strong right now with high demands in my area. I wouldn't be surprised to see vacancies of 45-60 days for areas that have lower demands. 

As for leasing fees, the industry standard in our area is 1/2 of first month's lease and a flat rate management fee for month-to-month management. Companies that charge percentages in my area typically do not charge leasing fees due to their higher monthly fees.