All Forum Posts by: Jane H.

Thanks Guifre Mora 

Thanks for your detailed message. We were aware of all these stipulations. Our concern (we are medical professionals) is Covid-19 issues, which we feel needs to be addressed. I take your advice seriously about not involving ourselves in her daycare business. She has asked to have up to 10 kids in the home, which I morally (and practically) feel is not reasonable or safe. She is only licensed for 8 kids, so we are debating about allowing that many, but she agreed to 6 kids since they opened the Daycare without informing us. Thanks again. We sense a call to a lawyer may be needed. Feel free to add any input. Thanks

Lynnett E;  Thanks for your input as well. Our home was inspected by the Dept of Social Services (unbeknownst to us, since they snuck the Daycare in on us, but have turned out to be excellent Tenants, save for this chicanery we took a while to get over). We have all documents on file. Since this is a serious health issue now (imo), I will call Dept of Social Services. I saw the Inspection Report. They checked all smoke detectors and fire extinguishers. As people in CA know, our state is possibly unique from others, in that Daycares are essentially given free rein if you will. Landlords have few rights other than allowances to ask for higher Security Deposit. Appreciate your input.  

We have a good Tenant who has been operating a daycare, prior to Covid, she had 6 children allowed in the Lease. (State licensed her for 8, but she did not notify us ahead of time about her business). We need to re-write a Lease, since we took over from a Property Management Company. Apparently the State of CA is allowing up to 10 kids, but we have a concern for the safety of the kids. The home has 2 bathrooms (one in Master Bedroom), and is 1900 sq ft. She is the only one managing these kids. We would like to add an Addendum asking her to provide waivers from her clients (many of them medical professionals) that they are aware of the number of kids their kids may be exposed to. Appreciate any tips.  TIA

If answering rental property ?’s, we had extensive water damage in a rental home due to a Contractor error. Insurance covered a lot. But we had $500 deductible and about $800 out of pocket expenses. Can we write both items off, using IRS form 4684? Thanks

Ray  - Sounds like you may be in CA . Believe me, I called Sacramento and local agency to find out ALL the rules on running Daycare. As I noted, in CA, Tenants are given virtually free reign to open Daycares in your property - they literally just have to "inform" you; they are NOT required to "get your permission". (We still like CA, but are fed up w/this aspect). We agree; a lawyer would certainly cost more than the PM. Our last crazy obnoxious tenants (told my hubby he was "racist" coz he asked both Caucasian husband and Asian wife if they smoked dope; turns out she did, vs. our policy of no smoking!) caused us to seek legal advice, so we know that routine. My understanding is single family homes are not ruled by rent control regulation passed; only multiple units. Daycares rake in a very nice profit, so some LL's actually seek them out, and get higher rents. Will look up Unruh Act  (not sure what that is) and wondered about your comment about new rules on Independent Contractors (were you referring to PM or something like that?). (And honestly, we've been very luck for 20 years, with a lot of good Tenants. These newest folks are very hands-on, improved landscaping and keep place very clean, so we are leaning toward keeping them, just debating on Management issue). Thanks again -

Thanks to those who provided input.  For some states (such as ours) a daycare is considered a service, and not a business. The tenants were supposed to notify us, but did not have to get our permission to run their "service".  The good thing about the PM (who were also taken off guard, but frankly should have possibly noted the wife was working as a daycare employee just around the corner from our home!) was their Legal Dept drafted an addendum which if we go on our own, we plan to incorporate into a new Lease, which Tenants already signed, at least acknowledging since they didn't notify us, they agree to limit number of kids (some of our neighbors are pissed off about the traffic, but we explained to them our hands are tied). State we live in is very daycare friendly, and as LL's we have to be very careful of avoiding potential discrimination.  State even allows the daycare options of not having liability insurance, if they notify parents! (Addendum stipulated the basic minimum of $300,000 per incident, which we think is crazy; they are making a neat profit, and pay only about $300 in Premiums). Tenants themselves have actually done a lot of improvements to property as well.  We usually did year-Leases, but since the home has things like older cabinetry and older master bath they keep complaining about and other comments they make, we thought month-month was a good way to protect us if things blow up.  Those who noted the answer is right in front of us: we pretty much agree. Appreciate you letting us air our concerns. We are also dealing w/out of state relative w/Alzheimer's and cancer, so that was another reason for considering some PM (obviously looking for another one is a possibility; not sure if there could be issues w/a company not wanting to get into this existing situation). Thanks again.

We have managed one SFR property, about 50 miles away, for 20 years. Got burned by one hoarding Tenant, who illegally was running a business. When he broke the Lease early (turns out he made a fortune and drove away with 2 nice BMW's, but was our worse Tenant ever), we decided to use a Property Manger for the 1st time. Believe it or not, this next Tenant, though very neat and nice, snuck in a Day Care Business w/o notifying us. (Turns out in CA they are allowed to, but are supposed to inform us). We found the PM has been burning through our money (almost $2,000 for 2019 plumbing bills, due to hiring people on weekends for simple things), not calling us in a timely manner when we had an unrelated issue cause water damage! Seems obvious we should fire them. Our dilemma: the Tenants are on month-month, which we would keep, and write our own Lease, if we take over. But they did lie to us, and are a bit melodramatic (have not done our own background check, since we wanted a PM to do all this). Question: In our shoes. 1) Would people advise firing the PM (we have to do so 30-days before March 5th). 2) Do we have the Tenants (who we will keep, but with a lot of stipulations) fill out new application and run a background check? (They are a bit whiny, possibly litigious, as were the ones before them!). One advantage we note for PM's is the (potential) legal advice included (not sure they all do that). Appreciate any thoughts or advise. Thanks

Have some thoughts for OP -  a) If you visit Property Management companies, make them let you see the Property Management Agreement you will be signing. And READ EVERY LINE.  We got a company, and have since discovered they are nickel and dining us to death, since they gave themselves the chance to not call us for repairs (each incidence) that are not below $500. In 2019, they managed to get our plumbing repair bill to $1275! (Some were ridiculous weekend fixes that could have waited).  b) Check at least two companies.  Let them know you are comparing.   c) Some companies (and they will meekly admit it) have a "vested interest" in repair companies they use.  Again, the group we used, before new Tenants moved in, charged us $2000 for "painting" walls/ceilings.  We (foolishly) trusted them and did not inspect (since Tenants just moved in & we are 100 miles away).  When we finally got to property, we found all kinds of mismatched paint, which was just a lot of touch-ups.  So that brings me to. d) Have (if you can) (and others noted this). SOMEBODY you really trust to check up on things.  I'm sure there are good PM's around; so far we are disappointed twice.  Not trying to scare you -  just know, like all else, to do due diligence.  (And I now need to post elsewhere, since our Tenants are potentially litigious types, so we are uncertain if we want to go without a Manager!  Good luck

Along those lines, we want to know about what a Bond means for Contractors. In our area, most seem to carry $15,000 bond. My understanding is this is to help cover mistakes their subcontractors make, among other things. Is this true? We were about to hire a remediation company to do floor and bathroom replacement, when we double checked State Contractor website & found they have a suspended license (for not reporting letting a salesperson go) & their bond is not renewed as of late October. Assuming this is red flag so now searching for new company. Any thoughts/info appreciated.

Looking for tips to beware of when comparing Insurance Company Xactimate estimate for 900SF laminate floor damage from water leak, and bathroom (~65 SF) makeover. We are poring over 4 estimates, none of which match what the Insurance Company is allowing.  Tenants are able to occupy home, and want work done on weekends, which may cost us more. Especially want to know if others are familiar with these computerized forms and what things to be on the look out for.  In Southern CA area.  Thanks much.