All Forum Posts by: Jason Allen

What risks should I be considering, from a legal standpoint, about changing my mind about offering a lease? I doubt any discrimination laws apply... and how would you let them know you no longer want to offer them a lease?

I have 5 adults (and 2 dogs) wanting to rent one of our brand new houses. We own the houses... my husband builds them and I manage them through my LLC. We had agreed on a move in date, I wrote the lease, and my husband & I busted our butts to make sure the house was ready on time. The afternoon before the move-in they emailed to let me know they wouldn't be signing the lease until after they got a walk through of the finished house. I canceled the online lease signing and arranged a time tomorrow to walk them through. They said once they see it, they will decide when they will sign the lease (they've already had 2 tours of the house next door with the same floorplan). On top of that, they're now bringing one of their dads (who "knows construction and real estate") to inspect the house and ask me legal questions about the lease.

I now am getting SUPER HIGH MAINTENANCE TENANT vibes! I'm going to see how the walk through goes, but if they start nit picking things, or requesting more things be done, I do not want to deal with them for an entire lease term. The house is absolutely gorgeous and a high quality, custom build. 

Hey all!

First post here but have been lurking for a while. I purchased a fully renovated, turnkey triplex at the beginning of June and it's my first and only property so far. I inherited a 1 BR with a great tenant who is always timely with payments, a vacant 2 bedroom which I converted to a furnished 1 BR with a lounge/TV room and rent to business travelers for MTR's, and a 3 BR with tenants in place which is the source of my problems lately.

Before I closed, Unit 3 had made all their payments - albeit occasionally slightly late. They are now behind 4 months on rent even with an eviction notice and my management company and I being on their case. They claim to be going through hardships and have told me that they're trying to take out a loan on their retirement account to repay all of the rent. This is backed by screenshots of email correspondence with her retirement company but it has been at least a month and a half of back and forth to hear back about this loan and still no payments.

Their lease is up end of November and I have a double security deposit for them so I assume the owner deemed them a risky tenant when letting them move in. My management company is suggesting I don't renew the lease (of course) and ALSO file for eviction. They're saying it might take a few months to fill this unit with a good tenant in the current marketplace in that area, which I'm not surprised about considering it'll be near the holidays and the area isn't the best for good tenants plus the building is very nice for the area.

My questions are:
1.) Is filing for eviction and also not renewing their lease a good move? I'm worried about the eviction expenses but I understand that if they've been this troublesome, the extra incentive to get them out seems like it makes sense
2.) When I get them out and assuming they still haven't caught up on rent, can I claim their whole security deposit to recoup these losses? Is there a risk there?
3.) My 2nd unit has done pretty well as a 1 BR furnished MTR (only 4 months of experience so far though) and I'm wondering if it makes sense to convert this 3 BR to an additional 2 or 3 bedroom furnished MTR rather than trying to do a long term rental? Obviously more expenses to furnish but seems like it might break even in the short term and benefit more in the long run anyway if it sits vacant for months waiting for a high quality, long term tenant. Plus the costs for my management company moving in a new tenant are fairly lofty, as well.

What do you think? Thank you so much for the help!

I would tell them to knock themselves out trying to sue. Document that they are not helping by not allowing contractors to repair and charge them the trip fee. If they are on sec 8 I think you may be able to reach out to their case rep and let them know they are being unreasonable

Hi all -  pardon the dupe from the Screening section if you already saw this.  Do you have recommendations for a free or low cost credit history report that I can request of tenants? Are services like creditkarma comprehensive enough? I don't care as much about credit score vs the details of their history, patterns and bankruptcies, etc.

Parts? Oh my god. Get a cheap a** dryer off craigslist for $50, and pay some kid $50 to deliver and connect it. Or, write a new lease and make the tenant supply washer/dryer.  Send them a notice for lease violation for not allowing reasonable access to make a repair. Weekend accesss only! Heck with that! Contractors only work during the week. Tell em' who's boss. Evict! Call the section 8 office and tell them what you're gonna do.

Hello, i bought a rental property 3 years ago all cash for 71,000 cash flowing 900, currently using a management company. recently the tenant left and i rehabed the property, spent roughly 10 thousand to leave it rent ready. after 3 months waiting for a new tenant to rent it squatters came into the house and now im in the process of evicting them its been a month already.. any advice? should i sell it after i evict them? should i fix it again and try to sell it (expecting they will trash the place) or just try to keep it and try to rent it again hoping that doesnt happen again. The Value of the houses around are roughly in between 90 to 115 thousand

Appreciate any advice 

Thanks

Had a gas leak in my 3 unit building starting this past Labor Day am.  Nat Grid shut it down.  Plumber fixed it and Nat Grid (because of constant pushing from me and my tenants) came out and turned the gas on 5 days later after the shut down.  Not knowing how long this would go on, I initially offered to pay for any food orders & provided a hot plate for those who wanted it.  I like and have a good relationship with all my tenants...I'm an extremely attentive landlord and want to do what's right. Should I offer a decrease in rent based on not having hot water and stove/oven, and in one apt their dryer, capabilities for 5 days?   Thanks for any thoughts

New Maryland PG county Landlord here. Tenant reported dryer no longer works and I reached out to contractor to resolve. Company has ordered parts and plans to come back out next week to fix. All of this within a 3 -4 week period. Tenant says if I don’t pay for their use of a laundromat, and gas to drive to said laundromat, they will take legal action. Do they have a leg to stand on? 

I bought in Akron a long time ago. I've since sold all those properties and bought local. Buying in Akron was a mistake, but I learned some important lessons along the way. For that tenant class, the headaches are not worth it.

Fyi in my short 2 years owning properties there, I dealt with 4 evictions, dogs ******** on walls, cat piss along the whole wall and even the ceiling, and a tenant throwing all their kids toys into the wall vents. 

Yeah, avoid this area.

plenty of those deals in the Cleveland/Dayton/Columbus markets. Ohio is very landlord friendly