All Forum Posts by: James Mc Ree

@Nicholas Moffett

Your original post and almost all subsequent posts were about smoke and lawsuits, especially lawsuits.  I thought that is what you were asking about.  Your last post adds in that the property is generally decrepit if your description is accurate.  That adds a new dimension.

Your lease should state something like, "Landlord will address maintenance items and failure to do so can be a reason for Tenant to terminate the lease."  Hopefully, it is more specific, but that is the general idea.  You can send your landlord a letter documenting the history of your complaints and his lack of response and ask for immediate action.  Give him the timeframe in the lease if specified or 30 days.  Notify him you are moving out and terminating the lease if he does not act on these issues.  This establishes you paper trail if you don't already have one and becomes evidence.

There are lots of mold cases.  You should be able to find plenty in case law.

Who are the tenants?  You mentioned you had to be there for your clients which makes it look like they might be the tenants and you might be a guest if your name is not on the lease.  Whomever the tenants are submits the above letter.

This will get you out of the dangerous situation.  Hopefully, you can move yourself and clients to a better home.

As to a lawsuit, I think my prior comments still apply for medical issues.  You might be able to sue for paid rent for being in an uninhabitable home.  Of course, your landlord could sue you too for breaking the lease if he can show he did properly maintain the property.  That's the fun of suing - everyone can do it for any reason.

If it were me, I'd just get out of the lease and move on.

Jim.

You might have a case for a zoning variance.  I am in Pennsylvania, so Texas and local laws will certainly apply over my thoughts.  A variance could allow you to have a smaller lot area, smaller setbacks and road frontage (whatever you need).  You will need to show a hardship and that you didn't create it.  Every municipality has varying degrees of flexibility in how rigid zoning is enforced.

Part of your pitch might go along the lines of 2 house, 2 loans, 2 families living there, etc - but 1 property.  2 Of everything will continue indefinitely (assuming it is legal as is) and all you want to do is clean up the current situation so each family can own their own property.  The municipality might get a tax benefit out of splitting the properties which is a selling point.

You might want to consult a zoning attorney.

Jim.

@Nicholas Moffett

You aren't going to get anywhere here with insightful, brilliant advice on how to win.  I think the posters are unanimous in agreement you have no hope in winning such a case.  I agree with them; however, here is a possible path to map out a strategy to win.  Keep in mind this is probably advice to follow the lemmings and you will almost certainly waste your time and money pursuing it, but this is what you need to do.

First, and most important, consult a personal injury lawyer.  For about $200 or less and 1 hour you can get a fast solid opinion in your jurisdiction.  This is really a matter of case law, versus "the laws."  It will all come down to how courts have interpreted the laws in the past.  I am certain you are not the first to claim injury from second hand smoke or residue.  Prior similar case outcomes are great predictors of your possible success.

You will need to show material (emphasize, bold and underline that word) impact to your health.  "Material" does not refer to what could, might happen and it doesn't refer to what studies say happens.  It has nothing to do with your opinion, no matter how well informed you are.

You have to prove the smoke residue actually DID materially affect your health in specific ways and that it could not be caused by anything else.  You actually have to show that your cough is the direct result of breathing in that house.  You can't just say it is, but rather medically prove it.  It's not good enough to say you didn't cough before you moved in.  This will likely be an expensive research project as it might require obtaining lung tissue contaminants and matching them to the residue in your home.  That is why it is almost impossible to win such a case.

Suppose you got such a sample and made a match.  You would show your lungs do have smoke residue that matches the house, but still might not be able to map it to be the direct and only cause of your cough.  There also might be more there: smoke from campfires, pollen, asbestos, dust, etc.  More medical research and doctors are needed to eliminate those as possible causes.

If successful so far, you have spent a lot of money.  You will then need to show that your landlord actually provided an unsafe property.  Your opinion is that it is unsafe; however, a judge or jury's agreement would be a massive leap in case law and effectively condemn half the properties in the jurisdiction, even if you have the medical evidence of the impact.  Check case law - I am sure someone thought of this before.

I don't see any chance of success going after your landlord as mentioned; however, you mentioned another important fact.  You wrote that you are required to work there to be with your clients.  That makes it a workplace as well as a home.  OSHA and other organizations govern workplaces.  You may have an opportunity there with OSHA and workman's comp if you can show your workplace, not your living-space, but workplace is hazardous.  Workplaces are regulated differently than living spaces and you might have a slightly better chance of success, but still probably very slim.  Again, consult an attorney.

Good luck.

Jim.

I have a spreadsheet for each property to record the actual expense amounts and just keep paper receipts in a folder.  I have an envelope for the small receipts.  One folder per property per year.

I keep or make electronic copies of any receipts for big ticket items, especially for warranties.  I probably don't need to do that as I would have the paper, but it saves digging through the paper and provides a backup if the receipt is needed.

Jim.

How different is what you are offering in your listing from what is available on the MLS and other private sites? I think that difference is part of your value pitch.

Is it just a list or do you add value, such as some type of investment analysis?  Just a list will be worth less than something you add value to.

Check to make sure you have the legal rights to distribute the data in the product you bought.  Many software licenses do not allow it.

Jim.

@Christian Abella - Check your PM contract regarding your question.  I would be surprised if your PM agreed to be responsible for any tenant damages.  You may have recourse to the seller if you bought the property with the tenant in place and the seller represented the tenant as a good tenant.  I suspect that will probably be a tough case to win.

Jim.

You could suggest your tenant traditional cable as a networking option in lieu of Direct TV if you don't want a dish at all.  That is not a bad option.

I had a tenant get Direct TV on a roof.  I approved it on the condition the dish be removed at the end of the lease and holes in the roof sealed or the tenant's security deposit would be charged.  It was no big deal, but the tenant didn't remove it.  I charged him.

Jim.

Would the seller sell you an option to buy the property at a certain price within a certain timeframe and would you pay the premium for that option?

Jim.

The seller will not be thinking the amount shown in your PoF letter is all the funds you have available.  It is a well known tactic to not show all your funds.  I don't know that you gain any advantage in doing that, but it might not hurt either.

Jim.

I recently had your same question and asked around.  I received a lot of identical answers as the posters here, but found one really important insight: almost everyone I spoke with was not speaking from real experience.  They heard....someone said.....electricity is more expensive.  It was not until I found a contractor who actually measured our house that I had an answer based on real data.

My recommendation is to find a contractor who will actually give you data on your house to help make the decision.  You don't need to choose that contractor to do the work, but the data will really be informative.  For example, we learned we had too few returns and could get significantly better performance by closing some supplies and adding some returns.  We did that and our new electric heat pump runs great.

Illinois and Pennsylvania are at similar latitudes.  I wouldn't disregard modern heat pumps without real data.

One caveat: Installing gas into a home that doesn't have it will significantly drive up your initial cost.  I didn't see conversion costs mentioned previously.

Look for federal assistance on your purchase.  We were able to get 100% financing at 4.99% for 10 years for our heat pump.  It is a state (PA) program backed by fed funds for energy efficient equipment.  Illinois probably has something similar.

Jim.