All Forum Posts by: Karen F.

You're asking if you can have a Sec 8 tenant pay their share in services, rather than in money.  The answer is NO.  Sec 8 pays their predetermined share, and the tenant pays their share, in money, according to the terms of the agreement with Sec 8.  You cannot accept more under the table from them, nor can you forgive them their share.

Reality check here.  There are exceptions, but most Sec 8 tenants are scum of the earth, cannot be relied upon to do a lick of work, will give you FAR more trouble than the payment is worth, even if Sec 8 pays a little more than market rate.  Don't fantasize that you're going to get anything of value from a Sec 8 tenant, when it comes to work, or anything else.

You cannot evict anyone now.  Better to offer to pay them to leave - but you pay them AFTER they are out, and you've changed the locks, and you've gotten them to sign a paper giving up all rights to the property.  I think that a month's rent is a good place to start the bargaining.

It's a violation of your lease, I'm sure.  But it's now there.  So find out how much the extra insurance is going to cost, find out the cost of removing and re-conditioning, and make her pay for it all.  You need a big policy with no deductible for that pool, in case someone gets hurt.  You need an extra deposit to cover getting the pool removed, disposing of it, and restoring the lawn.  If she's not paying the water bill, you need her to pay the water bill since before the pool was installed, and forevermore going forward.  Also, did she permit it with the town?  Was she required to?  She needs to pay for fixing that, too.

In my town, I think you STILL need to have a fence, even for an above-ground pool.  But a fence on the pool edge may suffice.  She needs to do all that, too, and pay for it.  And you need to make it clear to her that she needs to check with you before doing anything more than changing a lightbulb, from now on.

We have not entered any unit except for essential repairs, and when we do, we require that ALL residents vacate well before we enter, and don't return until after we've left, to protect us.  We would never think of showing an occupied unit at this time.  How would you feel if someone had entered YOUR home, with this virus issue going on?  If it means we're going to have a month's vacancy in between tenants, so be it.

And tell your tenant that this "guest" is very likely to endanger his tenancy.  Tell him very clearly what the regulations are regarding guests.

They're just taking advantage of the fact that the courts are closed.  Assuming that they are not illegal, they're getting more in unemployment than they used to earn, plus they got $2400 stimulus money.  You will never see a penny from them.  They will sit there, not paying rent, until you evict them.

Offer them cash tonight, to leave by the end of the weekend.  About a month's worth of rent would probably be enough to motivate them.  Pay them only after they have removed everything, and signed a paper saying that they give up all claim to the unit, and you've changed the locks with them outside.

After it's all over, I don't see why you couldn't sue them in small claims court for the two months of unpaid rent, assuming they have real jobs where you could garnish wages.

You're surely not the only landlord experiencing this.

And making the tenant responsible for extermination costs in the lease means NOTHING.  It's YOUR house that gets infested, and if they don't pay for it, you have to.  Just don't take them.

NO NO NO!!!! They will bring the bedbugs with them, no matter how hard they try not to.  The only way that they could avoid bringing the bedbugs with them is if they arrived naked and barefoot, with NOTHING.  (Well, if you're highly motivated and have educated yourself about how to move without bringing the bedbugs, there is a CHANCE of doing it - but why would you trust them?)

Always ask people nicely why they're moving.  If they say, "It was time...", ask nicely again and again, sounding very open and understanding, and they will talk.   If they're moving because they're coming from a bad neighborhood with shooting, fine.  If it's a landlord who won't fix things, ask what he won't fix - if it's something that you would not hesitate to fix, fine.  If they're moving due to rats or mice, fine - they don't follow the tenant.  But if it's roaches, they'll bring them in their possessions, although it's possible to eradicate the roaches once they're in your unit, if you find out early enough.  Bedbugs?  100% guaranteed that they will come with the tenants, it will cost you thousands, and you will never get rid of them.

Jason, I sent you a message about how we handle it.

Look on the internet and you will find many, many reports of people who had the heat treatment done, and it STILL didn't get rid of the problem!