All Forum Posts by: Mike S.

Fellow Coloradoans -

I searched for it but didn't see anything discussing Proposition 123 on these forums. Curious to get people's thoughts on how they think this will affect the rental landscape in #Colorado and #Denver. 

Here's the Ballotpedia link with more info: https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Proposition_123,_Dedicate_State_Income_Tax_Revenue_to_Fund_Housing_Projects_Initiative_(2022)

@Mary M.@Mary M. @Nathan Gesner This has nothing to do with gender. If it makes it more straightforward, it's an example of Person X being on a lease and Person Y not being on the lease. Person Y spends days at a time at the property and uses utilities for their sole benefit. I'm very fair when it comes to what I charge for utility usage, especially being as how I have to account for two units using the same equipment. The numbers set in the lease are based on how many people will be using it. It's not fair to the other tenants when I have to increase everyone's utilities because Person X is breaking the rules of the lease.

@Nathan Gesner - thanks for the tips and with them, I need to add a bit more context. My other issue is that this particular property is an up-down duplex with shared utilities for the entire property - there's not an easy way to show that it was just her fault.
Also, with it being a more recent development, there's unfortunately not a lot of utility history to go off of.

I know I messed up, and thankfully there's not a lot more time to get all too nervous about it. I mean, I'm not trying to be draconian in the new policy (people have babies, etc.), but obviously there are limits on how many people can live in different sized housing etc. (more context, it's a 2-br).

Here's what I have on utilities:

1. Utilities, such as water, sewer, storm water, concrete, gas, electric and trash services are included in this lease for a monthly fee (see Item 3: Lease Payments). Excess usage of any such utility may be subject to an additional monthly cost. Such cost will be assessed based on a monthly average.

Current Situation
I have had an excellent tenant that started at my property in January 2020 and never missed a payment through the pandemic and generally has been great. In the past month or so, her new boyfriend has been staying at the property more and more and is likely pretty close to living there full time. Her current lease ends at the end of March 2022.

Lease Language
My lease states the following related to the subject: No more than 3 persons may reside on the Premises, unless the prior written consent of the Landlord is obtained. Guests of the Tenant(s) are allowed for periods not lasting for more than 48 hours, unless otherwise approved by the Landlord in writing.

Note: The 3 persons registered are the tenant and her two children.

Questions:

- Especially with her being so close to the end of the lease, and the fact that she's a quality tenant, I'm not looking to upset the apple cart and evict for this. However, since I have a monthly average in place for utilities, it's adding to the bill (plus I believe he was there by himself the other day doing laundry). Any suggestions for how to approach this situation?

- Hindsight is that the consequences of this are not clear in the lease. Anyone have an example of what they've put in their agreement for this situation?

@Thomas Huberton - what are these other platforms and why do you like them better? Cost is also another consideration

@Gregory Dillon On Apartments.com, I clicked into one of my residents and got this option in the top right under "Edit Lease Option." Here's a screenshot

@Joe Splitrock - OK - So it sounds like you do allow the automatic payment to start processing on the 1st (i.e. auto ACH coming through on Dec 1 and hitting your account on Dec 7th vs. auto paying on Nov 24th and hitting your account on Dec 1).

I noticed that the key thing is it does say in the Apartments.com portal that the payment is processing (so you know that it is actually working)

@Joe Splitrock - Thank you very much for the in-depth insight. I ended up listing and the application/screening on Zillow, my own lease uploaded and rent collection on Apartments.com. My struggle was mostly with chasing people around - I drew a bunch of people on Zillow, so it was a bit strange to chase them to another site to do the next two steps. As you mentioned, I put my existing renter on Apartments.com and the process seems to work ok.

Another question - with how long the ACH takes, do you have them schedule to pay before the 1st of the month so it arrives then, or just wait the several business days?

@John Underwood - that's been my experience so far as well. I put a "Premium" listing on Apartments.com and got 2,000+ views in a day but zero inquiries. Same listing on Zillow, but free, got 300 views but 11 inquiries. The ratio is a bit off there.

@Terrell Garren - I was under the impression that they simply integrated the whole thing? What did they take out?