All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

looks like you no longer have this issue.

But in the future if it happens again what's been mentioned so far - screen the new tenant, fill out application form, collect app fee, and have all existing tenant sign.

IN ADDITION, make sure the existing tenants and new tenant understand, and include into the addendum if necessary, that all claims, damages and deposits are shared by all tenants from this day forward.

That means if you see a broken window and need to charge them for repairs tenant C can't say oh it's broken before I moved in.

Or if tenant B moves out and six months later you charge a deduction in the security deposit on a hole in the wall behind the couch he says the hole wasn't there when he moved out so it's not coming out of his deposit.

At the end of the lease when you refund the deposit it will be a check to "A B and C" jointly regardless of who might be there or not at the end of the lease.  I get boy friend girl friend moving in together then they break up and at the end of the lease when they received a jointly named check one would call me to issue a single name check because "I don't talk to him/her anymore".  Sorry.  It's a joint application joint lease.

In my opinion, allowing them to stay during the process is not a good idea.

There will be no kitchen sink usage (drain will be cut off).

The toilet may be removed to allow room to operate.

The wall above the bath tub will be opened with tiles removed (no shower).

There will be carpenters, plumbers, myself, helpers, coming in and out.

We may run into some unforseen situations that may require plan B, plan C scenerios.

She has two cats.  The risks of cats getting into cut open wall spaces, getting injured from power tools, stepping on nails, screws, saw blades, drill bits, or even worse, swallowing these, or run outside while doors are opened dozens of times a day by different people is too much added stress.

So I have a rather tricky situation that I need to resolve at a rental condo.  I own one of the units out of a total of eight in the building.

There is a copper drain pipe leak inside the common wall between my unit and next door.

Very old building from the 1960s, 1-1/2" copper trap arm from the kitchen - most likely previous owners or tenants used drain cleaning chemicals that ate into the copper, and the pipe has developed pin hole leaks at the bottom.  When I initially discovered the leak last year I used some epoxy to patch the leak, but now the holes are appearing in other locations.  In addition, my next door neighbor's drain is also leaking.  Both units have mirror image floor plans and the drains are the same, they both turned into the wall and run to the stack like a double barrel shot gun.  Bottom line, the drains need to be replaced.

Technically, according to the HOA papers, the HOA has to repair anything inside the common wall, but this is a laid back HOA and things move slow with many absentee owners. I have received permissions from the officers that I have the freedom to hire whoever to get the needed repairs done ASAP , and we will worry about who pays what later.

The entire trap arm is about 6' long about 20" above finished floor.  However, one end of it is inside the sink cabinet, the other end of it where it connects to the stack is behind the bathroom, where there is a tub the whole length, and tiled wall (with no spare tiles).  It is the exact same situation next door.  There is no getting around ripping out cabinets, taking down tiled walls and waterproofing etc...both kitchen and bathroom will be unusable for days.

Which brings me to my question.  If we decide to open up my side for the repairs, I have to work something out with the tenant.  Let's say the unit is going to be out of service for one week, I know I have to return pro-rated rent for days not occupied.  However, what else is customary and reasonable as a compensation to the tenant for the obviously extremely inconvenience?  She has been a good tenant (4 years) and has two cats (so hotels may be difficult).  She has renter's insurance but I don't know what is covered.

Any suggestions as to what others do when units have to be vacated for repairs.

In the past I had one case where I had to vacate the entire building with 4 units for termite tenting.  But that time it was carefully planned, all the tenants worked out the dates, and they only have to be out 48 hours.  That time I refunded three days rent plus a $100 supermarket gift card for each of them and that worked out fine.  This time it is a longer period of time, with an urgency, and the pets make it a bigger inconvenience.

For those who buys foreclosure properties to flip or hold, many times the property has been vacant for a long time, and may even have the water shutoff due to non-payment.  We could be talking about months or years.  This mean you have stagnant water in the supply system with the Legionella bacteria.

Legionella, Causes, How it Spreads, and People at Increased Risk

Just curious once you have the water turned back on, what are your steps to flush the system out if you know it hasn't been used for a long time?

My understanding is if you just say turn a hose bib on outside the water would jet out with the bacteria into the air and into your lungs.  Same if you say have a broken stop valve inside and you have to cut the pipe to replace the valve or run the water through the tub/shower valve to the shower head.

Do you take any extra precautions when flushing the system out initially, if so care to share what you do?

I used to be VERY UNDERSTANDING when I started out.

I had one bad tenant who kept paying late because he was "TOO BUSY" to deal with rent.  I noticed it was getting progressively worse every month and obviously, the issue was my being too easy going, I  trained him to ignore my written rules.  On month #10 I was traveling on business in Singapore and I didn't have time to even check who paid rent, and went I got back to the states he was 18 days past due.

I just sent him a simple text reminder.  I was too tired.  It was month #10.

I also sent him a non-renewal notice when the 1 year lease was up.  That was being responded to REAL QUICK, along with the unpaid rent and late fees.  LOL.

Occasionally I do have to listen to sob stories.  I do listen, but I tell them I there is nothing I can do, it needs to be fairs for other who are paying on time, and I can't selectively enforce.  I also let them know when they sign the lease paying rent is #1 priority and there WILL be a late fee after 5 days and eviction after 10 days.  I also let them know that if they need me to provide a landlord reference in the future, how many times they are late and how many times eviction notices are served is an integral part of the reference.

It's tough being a landlord.  You need an iron fists covered with kid's gloves.

I am going to be painting on the exterior side of several dozen windows.

The wall is made of stucco concrete blocks, and the window is recessed about 4" into the wall.  It is this recess I need to paint.

The window is white and aluminum.  The wall is gray.  The inside corners are sealed and caulked.  A coat of white primer has already been applied to the masonry wall, now I need to paint the 4" recess in gray with a nice straight line along the inside corners.

What is the best way?

(1) Use a cutting brush and do it slowly.

(2) Put tape on the aluminum window frames and paint up to the tape.  I have tried this in the past and most times the paint bleeds under the tape.

(3) Use one of those special straight line trim gadgets.  Like:

or

or

or

or

or something else.  Do any of these work and don't smear and bleed into the adjacent wall?

What do fellow landlords think about tenants who leave lights on FOREVER.  By that I don't mean long hours, I mean to never turn a light off day or night for months.

I have a tenant who says for security reasons she prefers to keep the exterior lights (ceiling mount) over the front and back doors on.  She says sometimes she comes back late after dark and prefer the lights to be on, sometimes she leave early in the morning while it's still bright and would have lights on.  I already have eave mount motion sensing dawn to dusk security lights at each corner but she still feel better with the light directly over the doors.

She pays for her own electric so I am not paying for the usage.

I read that leaving lights on forever can be a fire hazard but I don't know if that's a myth, or not.

The lights are enclosed, ceiling mount lights with a 60W incandescent bulb.

Currently turning over a unit where previous tenant(s) must have dropped heavy pointed stuff down the doorway because it made a few dents on the aluminum threshold.

Also previous owner painted (WHITE GLOSSY LATEXT PAINT!!!) on the threshold and it's wore down.  So I too a wire brush on a grinder and cleaned it best I can.

Still it looks like ****.

I was debating to replace the entire door but on a tight schedule I decided to wait.

Thoughts?

Will spray on metal primer plus a few coats of metallic paint work?  Or will that wear out in no time?  If it lasts 1 year I am OK with that.

I have a rental unit with a refrigerator whose bottom freezer unit has a few built in wire baskets.  One of the baskets has some minor corrosion on a few of the wires.

I have seen a few DIY sites that says to use appliance epoxy spray paint.

Anyone has experience with this?

(1) Since it's in a freezer so it would be subjected to freezing temperatures.  Will the epoxy paint withstand extreme temperatures?

(2) Any concerns with possibly the epoxy paint not holding up will it become any issue because the wire baskets are used as food containers.  While I don't think they would be making direct contact with food, but you never know.

(3) If epoxy paint does work...I assume you remove the wire basket and take it outdoors, then clean off the rust real good with say steel wool.  Do you need to do any pre-treatment before using the paint?  Any metal etching primer?  Any rust inhibitor or rust converter?

On a pre-screen.

(1) I verify their needs - how many bedrooms, location, how many vehicles, pets, when are they looking to occupy etc - to make sure there is a fit.  Sometimes they read 50 ads and write down 15 numbers and by the time they call you they have already forgotten about your listing.

(2) Why are they moving?

(3) I require gross income to be 3X rent.  OK with that?

(4) I require first, last and security on lease signing.  OK with that?

That's basically it.

When I show the property if they are interested then I have them fill out an application and that's where I ask them about whether they have been served an eviction, if they have ever petitioned for a bankruptcy, if they have ever defaulted on a lease, if they have been convicted of a felony, employer, job title, start date, etc etc etc...and I let them know the filled application will be a part of the lease agreement and that any false declaration on there would be considered a lease violation.