All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

For a small multi-family property such as a fourplex, how do other landlords who do your own property management handle the city trash collection services?

Here the tenants share the waste carts.  Two carts for regular trash, two for recycled, two for yard waste.  All are plastic wheeled carts, and you have to roll them like 15 feet to the curb by 6am on collection day, and take them back at the end of the day.

I have tried various approaches with mixed results.

Allowing it to overflow results in trash being thrown into the wrong cart, or stacked outside, attracting possums, raccoons, squirrels, lizards, stray cats to rip them apart and cause a mess.

Do you leave it to the tenants to work it out on some rotation schedule?  That seems to result in everyone doing the "I didn't know its my turn..."

Do you designate one particular tenant with that responsibility?  Possibly with a small rent reduction as motivation?

Do you bite the bullet and drive there yourself twice a week just to roll the carts out?

Do you find a local service to come do it?

Now the tenants as individuals are clean and keep their individual units neat and presentable, but when it comes to common area hygiene and order they can be petty.  One even suggested the person who produced the most trash that day should roll them out, another thinks unless the carts is completely filled, you can skip it until it piles up...urging

So what to do?

@Account Closed, yes I have the standard early termination addendum - form RLAUC-1.

All my tenants check the first box (the two month termination fee/liquidation damages).

Now, I don't think there is any point to choose option 2 "I do not agree to liquidated damages or an early termination fee, and I acknowledge that the landlord may seek damages as provided by law."  The way my RE attorney explained to me, that option allows the landlord to go after the tenant for the full balance of the lease.  So if the lease was broken six months in, you could try and get six month's worth of rent loss especially if you lease is structured as a one time yearly rental fee of a lump sum paid in monthly installments and not "monthly rent".  However practically speaking it would be difficult to collect beyond what you are holding as deposits.  In my case I am holding 1 month security deposit and last month rent so the maximum recovered would be two months.

Regarding double dipping.  Since the clause of the first option calls it "Liquidation Damage and Termination Fee", my attorney also told me I am within my rights to take all that money and there is no double dipping because it is not a "Lost rent" but a "penalty".

So yes bottom line I have the right to take impose a penalty which is two months worth and they signed on the dotted line.

Typically, I have been very understanding and if I do find a replacement tenant I will refund the difference IF the circumstances around the move is one I can relay to...like a job transfer, a parent is sick, getting married, etc etc etc and the tenant has been good about it.  I do it because it's the decent thing to do.

But once or twice I did it, word spread in a multi family building.  "yeah that's what it says in the lease but he doesn't enforce it he just charge you the days he lost" and it became an "expectation" and now that expectation became an entitlement.

If it is a tenant who's been here two years and 4 months wanting to break a lease I would deal with it different from a tenant on a new lease breaking six months in.  Not even an advanced notice.  Isn't a lease break require a 60 day notice?  Clearly the move was pre-planned.

Lesson learned is that in a multi family complex one must be consistent and not make exceptions where others can interpret the exceptions as expectations and lead to confusion and trouble down the road.

In other words, no good deeds will go unpunished.

Have a tenant gave short notice about breaking a lease.

One year lease signed on December 1, 2015, and today I was told by tenant that they are closing tomorrow on a new house and wanted to terminate the lease by end of this month...one week away, not even a 30 day notice.

I have a two month early termination penalty clause...and I am holding a security deposit and last month rent which is total 2 months worth.  If I can find a replacement tenant, lets say the apartment was vacant for 12 days, I typically just charge the last tenant the 12 days of rent loss, minus damages, and my cost (re-key, electric switch over, cleaning etc...)  In other words I don't double dip.

However, with this short notice, I have a vacation planned on July 2 to be gone for 2 weeks out of the country.  This means during that time the apartment will sit.  When I get back I can do the turn over and showing.  I don't ever do showing while unit is occupied.

Tenant who is breaking lease is saying due to my going on a trip, the apartment is sitting vacant, and thus I am not doing my best to get it rented ASAP, which in turn is costing her extra money because her deposit/rent is going to be held until it gets rented/occupied.

Does my tenant have anything to stand on?  He is the one breaking the lease and he is the one giving super short notice.  He should be grateful that I am returning part of her penalty.  Or am I obligated to rent it ASAhumanlyP?

Last tenant that broke the lease, I found a new tenant in 3 days, but the new tenant didn't want to move in till a month later anyway, and the tenant breaking the lease gladly paid the penalty while the unit sat and waited.

I have a 4 plex in South Florida whose trash carts were being invaded by raccoons recently.

For over 4 years we had no issue.

But about a month ago I noticed trash everywhere on the ground around the trash carts as a result of  raccoons digging through the trash.  This has happened three other times.

I have notified the tenants to make sure they don't just throw raw trash into the bins without bagging them up first, or to not throw in tall objects like a stick which prevents the lids from fully closing, then the odor draws the creepers to the bins.  But it's too late now that the raccoons have made a habit of visiting.

These bins were issued by the city, two regular trash bins, two recycle waste bins, two yard waste bins, of different colors.  I could not buy my own.  The city comes by with a truck that automatically clamps on to the bins, lifts and dumps in the truck's back.

I am looked online for clues on how to deal with this, and would appreciate other landlords who faced and solved similar problems.

Does spraying ammonia around the trash bins help repulse the raccoons?

Does putting down chilli pepper powder help repulse the raccoons?

I saw online they sell coyote urine...does that work?

I also saw products that looks like a bungee cord that wraps around the bin and str

If I am forced to run the dates back to back, and the tenants (former and new) being friends, decided to blur the move out move in dates in that one decides to move things in before the other moves out.  I may not be able to inspect the apartment in a full vacant state.  Hypothetically speaking if I miss a big hole behind a dresser, wouldn't the new tenant inherit the damages of the former tenant?

Just to be clear.  I am not suggesting to charge the full 2 month early termination fee.  If I get it rented in two weeks, the most I can charge the former tenant is the two weeks that it's out of service.

Obviously the friend would be screened just like any other applicant.  Minimum income, rental history, credit check, employment verification etc...The benefit is I don't need to put up an ad, and show the apartment multiple times.  The down side is I am not selecting the best qualified person from a pool of applicants.

The issue is I don't want to commit a move in date until the tenant is out.  I really can't evaluate everything until the unit is vacant.  I can evaluate some of it, but often times I don't see a spot on the wall to be patched and painted until the couch is out of the way, or a broken shelf in the fridge until all the junk has been removed.  And if you have already promised and signed off a new lease with a move in date of that same day, you paint yourself into a corner unless the new tenant accepts those pre-existing defects in order to move in early.

So I got a phone call from a tenant who is six months into a one year lease, she is moving in with a boy friend.

Lease has an early termination fee of two month's rent.  I am holding a security deposit and last month's rent totally two month's worth of rent.

Now, she said she has a buddy who would love to move into her place, and is ready to move whenever she moves out, even same day.  Her "buddy" is willing to sign a lease for the balance of the lease term, or a new one year lease.  She wants me to waive the early termination fee because she found a replacement tenant.

Now, I said I am glad you found a candidate, but there is no way I can turn around and rent to her the same day.  I need to go through the entire apartment and evaluate what needs to be cleaned and repaired after she moves out.  I need to screen the new tenant.  I may raise rent.  I may have to repaint and/or change out the blinds.  If all that takes two weeks then she is responsible for the two weeks of lost rent.

What is your experience with a replacement tenant recommended by a tenant breaking a lease?  Good idea?  Bad idea?  Anything I should watch out for?

@Steven S. @Bryan O.

Regarding the plastic owl as a deterrent.  It is a pretty big tree probably about 45' tall and one owl won't make a difference.

In addition, I am fairly certain these plastic owls don't work because it was two weeks ago while I was rehabbing another property that has one of these plastic owls on the roof, I took it down and put it on a pole outside one window...and one morning while having coffee I saw a pair of bluejays in the yard looking for food and they took turns resting on the owl's head.

I have a feeling they ain't scare of no plastic owls.

I have spoken with the tenant and asked her to call me when her car is soiled with bird poop so I can drive over (20 minutes) to have a look.  I need to know whether it's two spots on the windshield in one day or if it's littered all over.  I am still a bit perplexed why I didn't get bird poop on my car when I had it vacant for weeks while I worked on it.

As for washing cars, sure I can allow that.  I am not fond of allowing one tenant to wash cars using water I pay for, if I do allow that then I need to allow all four tenants to do so.

Sue, yes the car wash thing is an issue.  I don't really want to let her wash her car and that certainly would encourage other tenants to wash theirs.  Besides that doesn't solve the fundamental issue.  I need to see first hand how bad it is first, it could be she is very particular and it's not as big a deal as she claims in that case I would let her decide to stay or leave.  If the problem is really bad, I would be willing to say consider a "car wash allowance" of say $10 a week which translates to say $40 a month of rent reduction...to me is easier than a car frame or self car washing.

Speaking of particular tenants, I once had one who complained that her cell reception while inside is 2 bars instead of 4 bars as if this is something I have any control over.  I have since ask every applicant to check cell reception level LOL.