All Forum Posts by: Nathan Gesner

1. Many tenants will pay rent on time and act nice because they don't want you looking too closely. Treat all your tenants the same, regardless of how they behave, and inspect regularly. It needn't be intrusive but at least once a year.

2. There is a difference between living like a slob and destroying a rental. If they are creating a health hazard, damaging the property, or interfering with the neighbor's right of quiet enjoyment, deal with it. Otherwise, just keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't get out of hand.

3. Most tenants do not appreciate kindness or reciprocate by caring for your property. Discounting their rent may encourage them to stay longer, but it may also encourage them to take advantage or you or treat your $1,500 rental like a $1,300 rental. Charge them market rate. Only offer discounts to tenants that have proven their worthiness.

I would give them written notice of the issues and a deadline to have them handled. I would also strongly suggest that if they don't take care of things, I won't be renewing their lease.

Leave him in place unless you have a justifiable reason to terminate the lease early. Notify him as soon as possible that you will not renew his lease because you are planning "improvements" to the unit. Of course, the improvement is getting rid of the sex offender. If he offers to leave early, let him go without penalty and move on.

Welcome to BP! I just saw that listing go under contract. Talk to you soon!

By the way, your application should include a simple question: "Do you have a pet or service animal?"

You should also have a clause on the application or in your lease that says you can evict if you discover any of the information on their application was false.

Evict. They violated your lease by moving a "pet" into the property. Evict them immediately for violation of the lease terms and let them straighten out the paperwork for the next Landlord.

This is an extremely common tactic and Landlords should be more firm on their response.

No. And for those sitting in the cheap seats, NO!

Look, if you lower the rent in exchange for work, there is a high likelihood that two things will happen: you won't get the rent and you won't get quality work. If you reduce rent $200 in exchange for some new sod and the tenant fails to do the work or does it poorly, you have to chase them down to get the $200 back and you have to likely spend more than $200 to fix their mess. It's always best to get the rent then pay them separately for any work done.

As a general practice:

1. Always require deposit and rent in full. Either they can afford the place or they can't.

2. Don't hire tenants to do work. If you want sod or a fence, hire a contractor.

3. Don't make improvements just to keep a particular tenant happy. They'll see you as negotiable and they'll try to get negotiate other adjustments. If the property needs a fence and you wanted to put a fence in anyway, that's a different story.

4. If you are going to hire the tenant for work, and that's a big "if", put it in writing with details of what they are allowed to do, who will pay for it, limits to what can be done and what it will cost, what happens to the improvement when the tenant leaves, what happens if they do a crappy job or fail to finish, and SET A DEADLINE for the work to be done. You should treat this like a contract, just like you would if you hired a professional.

It is tempting to hire a tenant to save money. In my experience, most Landlords end up paying much more because the tenant fails to complete the work or does a poor job that has to be fixed.

I'm confused. Is your "partner" a sexual partner and also a partner in ownership? Or do they just share ownership? Or do they just share a bed?

If they share ownership, how would you evict them? Even if they only share a bed, on what grounds would you evict them? Have they violated any contractual obligation in a written lease?

Personal advice: shacking up with someone has a high degree of failure, as does renting to friends or family. You may want to consider asking your "partner" to buy out your share of ownership so you can move on.

I don't know how common that is but even 50% split seems pretty generous if you're doing the work and the agent is just processing paperwork for you. An attorney could process the paperwork and watch out for your interests for a flat hourly rate. 

A good REALTOR can get comps that are fairly accurate even if the home is not listed. You can make an offer based on the comp and then you can always adjust it up or down once you actually inspect the house.

He's lied to you many times yet you continue to believe the next one. You don't need to explain anything to him or warn him or threaten him. He won't care and he won't change. Stop talking and start acting like a business.

Start the eviction process immediately. I would also report him to HUD to ensure he loses his benefit and doesn't do this to the next landlord.