All Forum Posts by: Henry T.

I'll throw in my valueless opinion, and it may not even answer your question.  About 10 years ago I had an opportunity to buy a great investment property. I investigated the sewer line and found that before getting to the main street sewer, it ran under the neighbors property, and also under a huge cedar tree on his property. I knew with my luck that thing would probably collapse the day after I signed, so I got scared and backed out.

 All the info was there when you bought your place. Did you investigate? You know its clay and its days are numbered. Is it really fair to expect him to cough up the costs? He has an absolute right to improve his property. If it collapses your old pipe, I'd say awe that's too bad. I would still grant you the access to dig and install new, but I sure as heck would not feel responsible for it. 

After I backed out of my above property, I asked a plumber buddy of mine who does these things all the time. I was especially paranoid of having a neighbor that would refuse me access. (and there are lots of these kinds of people unfortunately), but my plumber buddy said "Oh no, you have that right, you get to do what you need to fix that pipe". Now I don't know if my plumber friend is absolutely correct or not, but he's been thru it professionally. But even with that said, there's the potential for having to get a court order just to enforce your right of access. Fun huh?  I hate shared sewer lines, and or driveways. 

I would ask him if you could quickly excavate the trench(Home depot excavator $250), and quickly lay the ABS, then cover it back up nice and tight. Maybe let him borrow the excavator for a day. This could get ugly. Hopefully it stays friendly. But I know where I'd tell you to go if you think your old pipe is my problem. Be nice and get to work.

Gravel, or tree bark, and smother it every 6 months with Roundup. Not as nice as grass though.

If you happen to have a failing drain field that uses 4" corrugated tubes, I'd recommend switching over to a chamber system. Much more reliable I think.

Just in case you don't know already.....You may be in the worst state possible to be a landlord. Your elected officials have created a very dangerous minefield for you the landlord. One wrong step and boom!  (I'd move to Arizona if I were you). Before you even list your property you should be prepared with a binder of rules of do's and don'ts that you can easily refer to, prepared by someone with experience that's on your side. Read/watch a bunch of tutorials on screening, not just one.  Let nobody see the property unless you are sure they have the money and a good history to qualify. Here's a good one... Rent to someone over 65? guess what? They're never leaving unless they want to. Have fun.

There's a lot of people here that can help you, but you should educate yourself about your local law requirements. It may be safer for you start by hiring a local PM company.

Let's say your in LA. Advertise Craigslist New York, or London, or Portland. You might get a few weirdos but I'm sure you can filter them out.  Post ads in laundromats in other states. I don't know.  Hire ex-cons to canvas neighbor hoods with leaflets in Detroit.??

Call any decent realtor and ask if they know a good house inspector.

After the inspector report, THEN call the appropriate repair personel.  Turning a handyman loose and only using his recommendations would not be wise(unless he's also a realtor, knows rental law, AND housing code.

I agree with the above post. Michael P.

How long have you been doing this? You need to educate yourself buddy. Or you're really gonna get it. Especially about lawsuits and the summons process.

Read AZ law carefully about the requirements for damage deposit and follow them to the letter.

IF she sues you, so what. That doesn't mean she wins. And she has to serve you first.How is she gonna do that if you live in another state? The basic rule,  You gotta serve them where they sleep. No you can't make her come to your state. I'm no attorney, this is very basic stuff.

Quote from @Misha Gounder:

Thanks guys for the responses! These ex tenants lived for about 2 years, and there were no violations filed during that time. They moved out March 31, and filed a small claims case Jun 14th. They also complained to the city on Jun 14 that the interior of the home was not built to code. @Henry 

@Henry T. @Drew Sygit what do you think about counter suing them? I did not deduct for loss of 1 week's rent, moving furniture back, and cleaning after the floors were repaired as I was told by an attorney that these charges cannot be deducted from security deposit. What if someone let their current landlord know they have troublemaker tenants with a history? 

Counter sue? Only if your original statement to them exceeds their damage deposit.  It may be hard to convince a judge that you've found more things later on. All damages should be accurately in your first statement. If there are damages that you didn't notice before sending their statement you  could always try to add them, but you should have estimates and receipts.  And you don't want the appearance of piling on charges just because the tenants are jerks.  So you decide.
And for what it's worth, judges seem to respect damages more when you have someone else do the fixes. That's my experience anyway.

Don't let some attorney freak you out. Before all of this, did your tenants send you notices that there were code violations? Is there a paper trail? Or did they raise these  complaints AFTER starting their damage deposit small claim case?

Its easy to get worried whenever one looks at the multitude of BS laws. Stay focused.

Do your small claims. Present the facts. One thing at a time.  Good luck.

Roofs are often done by ex-cons. It aint rocket science. The instructions are right on the package.

Its good physical work. If the pitch is not steep, they're pretty easy.

If you want to get bids, get many because they vary widely.

No such thing as a 50 year roof. I just did a metal one myself, 5 years still doing great. I think I like metal.

Need special cork shoes if its steep pitch.  Its a fun workout.