All Forum Posts by: Nina Zou

I've notied my tenant 4 months ago that their lease won't be renewed, the original lease termination date is 3/31/2023. They've been living under charity rent assistance in the past two years which will end in Feb. I expect they won't pay the Mar rent, and eventually have to evicte them.

My question is shall I serve 10 days notice on 3/5/2023 if they don't pay the rent, then 4/1/2023 serve 30 days notice to quit for the holdvoer tenant? will this comlicated the case? cos i will have two cases going on to evict them simultaneously.

Or shall i just wait until 4/1/2023 to evict them for being holdover tenant cos I heard that eviction will be processed faster.

Any advice?

0 Votes

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I currently have 10 units, 4 paid off.

I have enough umbrella to protect them. Since they are all under my personal name currently so lawyers will be able to find them easily if there is any lawsuit against me.

So what is the best way to minimize the exposure of my assets to the potential liabilities?

LLC?

Land Trust?

Or my current umbrella is enough cos 10 units are too small to consider all of those things?

Any suggestions pros?

1 Vote

An agent I know recommended a property in Ruskin, FL.

Is it a nice place to buy rentals there? The price increase a lot recently. I’m just wondering if I’m buying at the peak price.

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Greg M.:

You've provided very little information. We have no idea of the value of the units, how much rent is coming in, how much money you actually need each month (do you like like a pauper or queen), how much reserves you have, where you are located, your age, etc.

If you have just enough income to pay your bills, I wonder what's going to happen if you get a tenant that stops paying rent and it takes 6 months or longer to get them out? Will you be homeless?

Sounds like you could use a financial/real estate professional to go over your numbers. You either need to reduce your expenses or increase your income. Maybe it makes sense to take out a loan on one of the units to the point the loan payment and the income are equal. Use the funds to buy other units that are cash-flowing better?

As for liability, you can set up a bunch of LLCs and run them through companies located in Anguilla. You can spend thousands doing this and a determined attorney may still be able to get the assets. Much easier to just buy a very large umbrella policy. Massive judgments that stand are very rare. You hear the stories about massive judgments because they are rare. What you never hear is that after the jury awarded $130 million against a person, the trial judge or appeals court reduced it to $2 million which the insurance company paid.

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Thank you Greg. I’ve made sure to reserve enough and also have couple of other resource that I can pull money for urgent use.

What I have is just not enough to live on and the situation is too fragile that’s why I worried so much about losing. I guess I have to increase my cash flow.

Thank you so much for your input!

2 Votes

Originally posted by @Mike Adams:

Each property should be in their own LLC. Since you no longer have a mortgage, then this should be very easy for you to transfer the asset to an LLC. It's best to have two owners per LLC for additional protection. Additionally, you can setup another LLC, such as a parent and then lien each building thus showing little to no equity. Lastly, you should have a separate policy for each LLC. All of our LLC's have a 1m liability policy with a 2m aggregate. That's the safest one can get.

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Thank you for your advice. I will definitely dig more into it. When you say separate policy for each LLC. Do you mean separate landlord policy or separate umbrella policy or both?

0 Votes

I have 4 rentals and one primary residence all paid off. And that’s all my income, just enough to pay my bills.

I have enough umbrella policy to cover all my rentals. But I still feel it is not enough protections.

What shall I do now to make sure no any lawsuit or lawyer can go after all my assets once they find out all my houses are paid off?

I’m equity rich but cash poor since i don’t have a w2 job. If I get equity out from private lenders then my income will drop. I just feel I can afford to lose any of my rentals. If I lose them. My life will be all screwed up.

Shall I set up an LLC for each property? What is the best way to protect them? Any idea?

1 Vote

Originally posted by @Nathan Gesner:

All of you should consider getting away from the word "Pet" in your advertising and documents. Use the term "Animal" to ensure it captures both pets and service animals.

No animals allowed.

I also recommend you use petscreening.com which is completely free to the Landlord. You can make ALL your renters go there, even if they don't have an animal. Tenants with no animal have to read a statement that says they understand your animal policy and know they can't add an animal later on without your permission. Tenants that have a pet will fill out all the information, attach vet records and a picture, and cost $20 for the first animal and I think $10 for the second. Tenants with a service animal have to apply but can't be charged a fee. Petscreening.com knows the law and they weed out a ton of fraud. Best of all, they handle it for you so you don't have to spend the time or energy.

Tenants with animals have to renew each year. This prevents them from replacing the 10-pound Chihuahua with a 150-pound Rott.

Wow. I never knew this type of website and service does exist. Will definitely save the information. Thanks for sharing.

1 Vote

A friend who has a rental property just told me that his rental was ruined by a mom and a daughter tenant who never mentioned they have two giant dogs when they applied for the house. He did mention in his Ad “ no pet”.

They informed him that they have two service dogs after they moved in. They rented for a year. He found out the carpet smelled so badly with the dog pee and wood floor was also damaged by the dogs after they moved out. He is facing a big repairing cost right now.

My questions is can I ask all my applicants to disclose if they have pets including service pets when they apply? Or I actually can not ask them to disclose at all by law and regulations?

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Edward L lauckern:

In my area of NY I would always try to get them to sign a surrender of property letter with an exact date and time they will surrender the property back to you. Sometimes I have even offered them money for moving expenses that is paid upon them leaving and leaving the home in rentable condition. I always try these strategies first before going through the courts and so far it has worked. I always try to avoid courts because of time and cost. Also if you must do a court eviction and havent done it before use a lawyer, I know several people who have tried it themselves and they only delay the process further and end up having to get a lawyer anyway.

I’m in PA. I will search for the surrender of property. This is the first eviction if I have to do it. I will hire a lawyer as you suggested. Thank you.

0 Votes

Tenant always pay late, this month rent hasn’t been paid up to now. Just served eviction notice today. The Lease will be due by the end of March.

I know that I won’t renewal them and I also know they don’t want to move, but they can’t afford the rent as far as I could see.

So my question is: what if they refuse to move after the 60 days notice that the lease won’t be renewed?

Shall I stop accepting rent if they refuse to move but keep paying after mid month?

1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Nina Zou

Nina Zou has started 25 posts and replied 51 times.

Post: non payment and holdover tenant eviction, which one is faster?

Post: How to protect my paid off rentals?

Post: Is Ruskin, FL a nice place to buy rentals now?

Post: Paid off my rentals. Now what?

Post: Paid off my rentals. Now what?

Post: Paid off my rentals. Now what?

Post: Can I ask my applicants to disclose service dog if they have one?

Post: Can I ask my applicants to disclose service dog if they have one?

Post: Won’t renewal the lease, what if tenant won’t move?

Post: Won’t renewal the lease, what if tenant won’t move?