All Forum Posts by: Rosa Regier

Also, check your landlord insurance policy to read about pet breed restrictions, if any.

Also double check your revenue using the enemy method. 

Along with a blank application, ensure that your qualification requirements are made available to all applicants. This gives an applicant an opportunity to save the application fee for a property where they do qualify. It also keeps you from wasting your time processing applicants that have no chance of qualifying.

If you stated that you require a work history of x months in the same line of work and it's not met, then you have justifiably declined the applicant based on your stated requirements. If it's not stated then the Realtor may have a point.

Perhaps you simply stated that the applicant must demonstrate an income that's 3 times the rent and no mention of a minimum length of employment. If these applicants do in fact satisfy the requirement along with any others you have stated. Then the Realtor is correct in that they should be approved otherwise this may appear to be a discriminatory practice.  I'm certain that this is not your intention - you simply want assurances. You could ask for a guarantor - this is all up to you to offer and for the applicant to accept. Do this only if this is a practice that you would put in place - the key here is that you are consistent in processing all of your applications (have you always looked at length of employment).

Having said all of that - you only need to decline an applicant in writing once. Simply make sure you followed the same requirements that you use to process each and every applicant (I can't say this enough).

Good luck.

Welcome to the world of REI!

A change in ownership is a common event. The current owner will transfer all security deposits and the actual lease to you at closing. 

At that point you'll amend the lease listing you as the new owner, instructions on where to send the rent payment and your contact information. You'll also need to let them know that you have the security deposit. These are typically the only items that you can amend during a change in ownership. All other changes will need to wait until the lease ends. 

Congratulations!

Starting a tenancy without a lease is not very common, but adjustments to the start date are definitely common. This is a simple edit for your PMC to complete. 

I'm concerned about the poor communication-wonder what would've happened to the $ if you hadn't "caught them".

A couple of points:

1: The tenant was not given keys to all doors with locks.

2: The tenant was instructed to call a locksmith. No additional statement was made that it would be at their expense. It's easy for the tenant to think you'd pay.

Clear communication is paramount in all cases. I'd pay it & chalk it up to lesson learned. For the future, remove other door knobs that don't need to be keyed unless you have the keys and strengthen the lease to address lock outs. 

I turned down a gentleman who offered the same. He wanted his business name on the lease which was a red flag for me. For starters, the business would be able to use the residential property address as its business address (this is against the deed restrictions).

If there were any issues such as higher business traffic in a quiet neighborhood then I'm certain that the neighbors would have complained since no street parking was allowed. 

If the company went belly-up then what's my recourse. From a legal standpoint, a business entity is separate from an individual.

These were just a few of the concerns. I just think that if a business wants its name on a lease, then they should be in an area zoned for a business.  

It may be safer for you to put the individual's name on the lease even though the business is writing the rent check.

Hi Dan! I considered this myself for my LTRs in Austin. After checking my HOA docs, I found a restriction that required any lease to be longer than 30 days. The city requires that you check your deed restrictions before applying for a license. Hope your properties don't have the same restriction - good luck!

Indeed! Put me down for townhomes :)

@Trent Reeve excellent points especially the value add bonus!