All Forum Posts by: Karen F.

As bad as CT is for landlords in terms of housing court, NY State is much, much worse.  Have you looked into NJ?  PA?  All this is assuming you're gonna keep it and rent it out.

In CT, right now there is a moratorium on evictions.  In general, once the courts open up, it is possible to run a straight forward eviction for non-payment without using a lawyer, and you can get them out in 2-3 months, although a smart tenant can string it out for 6 months or longer.  Overall, the state is tenant-friendly.

NY, I wouldn't buy a doghouse there now, after their new tenant-friendly laws.  NY real estate buyers are coming to CT to buy.

I bought a 9 unit property about a year ago, all the tenants were paying below market.  Some have come up to just below market.  Several we have had to evict for non-payment of rent - we were SO happy to see them and their lease violations gone!  We have one older gentleman who was I think paying $550/month on a unit that Sec 8 and the market would pay $800 on.  We raised his rent immediately to $600.  6 months later, we raised it to $650, told him that it was still $150 below market, and that he could expect increases every 6 months of $50/month until it got closer to market rate, and that he should look for a new place, if he couldn't afford it.  He's a great tenant, pays on time, and we hate to do it.  But he's in his late 60s I think, not 85.

Honestly, with an 85 year old, you've got a real problem.  I cannot imagine an 85 year old even packing up to move, let alone being able to move, and she cannot afford movers on that income.  It would be reasonable for you to carry her if she were paying maybe $100 below market, but she's paying $550 below market, nearly 40% below market. I think you need to get social services involved for her.  With income that low, she probably qualifies for some assistance to keep her in her unit.  If you can find someplace for her that she can afford, and pay for the move, then counsel her into that.  But I doubt you'll be able to find that.

Are there children involved?  How's her health?

My impression is that the rental market in SLC is pretty tight, and that deposits there are ridiculously low.  Here in CT we insist on the max legal - 2 months' rent.  Out there it's usually a half month's rent.  Me?  I would build the cost of cleaning carpets between tenants into the cost of the one year lease, put in an early termination fee of X amount to cover reconditioning and vacancy time if they stay less than a year, and make the deposit just that, a security deposit.  If they stay longer than a year, great, you get more than the cost of cleaning the carpets.  If they stay 5 years, you can pay for new carpets on the difference they were paying.

 All that notwithstanding, I would walk away from this argumentative tenant.  Warning you, he's gonna be trouble.

I recently researched the market in CT for hard money, and then did a deal with a trusted employee with bad credit on a property that we helped him find.  Purchase 131K, after about 20K plus sweat equity rehab would be worth 200K.  We lent him 150K at 10% simple interest, 2 points, two year term, can pay off early. He also paid our attorney's fee for the mortgage, which wasn't much.  Of course, he paid all other closing costs for himself, too.  Otherwise, he put no money into the deal.  Market rate would have been about 11.5%, 70% loan on purchase price, 2.5-3 points, and they'd have expected him to have good credit, and put down 30% plus closing costs.

It was a good deal for him and for us, he's done a beautiful job fixing it up and renting it out, his credit is improving, and we're already looking for his next deal.  But we would never have done the deal for someone we didn't know and trust.

My son is moving from a one bedroom to a two bedroom (at a higher rent) within a building owned by one LL.  He told the LL probably over 6 months ago that when a two bedroom became available, he would like one.  One has now become available, and my son is going to move into it.  But the LL is demanding a lease termination fee because he is ending his lease on the one bedroom early (I think he's been there over a year), even though he's doing it to move into another of the LL's units, and even though he has found a well-qualified person to take the old unit.  In addition, I had to send my teen (good kid) out to live with him, because of the pandemic.  The LL wants to charge my son an extra $35 a month "guest fee" for the kid, even though my son is now his guardian (we sent him notarized papers), even though son is paying for a two bedroom.  The lease term fee is a little over half a month's rent.

This is a good building in a good location, and the rent is probably about 15% below market.  I think that the place is owned by an older man who just wants excellent tenants, and realizes that he's made a TON of money on increase in property value, just wants to leave the place to his kids at the stepped up value.  My son is a perfect tenant - earns plenty, pays on time every month, never makes any trouble, never asks for any repairs.

Yeah, because the place is below market rate, he's gonna stay, and we'll pay the lease break fee and the extra money "guest fee", but I'm just irked.  We would never THINK of asking for a lease term fee when a tenant moves units while staying with us.  And we would never expect a guest fee when the unit is so under-occupied - we would normally allow two occupants/bedroom.  I have a feeling that the new property manager is pulling a fast one - that if my son were to speak with the owner, none of this would be charged.  But I don't want to jeopardize the rental situation, since it is under market, and since finding a new place in the pandemic would be difficult.  Advice?  

BTW, OP mentioned that maybe he'd just get a PM, as if a PM would be better at managing his few properties than he is.  If one really has no interest in managing a few properties, one should consider selling.  Does anyone really believe that a PM is more highly motivated to make your properties produce than you are, just because you are paying him a flat rate?

In many states, you can get in line for the court, by filing the notice to quit or its equivalent, and the summons and complaint or its equivalent.  The courts are still accepting filings electronically or by mail.  That way, you'll be first in line for a court hearing date to get them out, and they'll know that you're serious this time, and maybe pay up.

Unfortunately, in my state (CT), the governor just gave tenants a loud and clear invitation to simply pay no rent, by publicly ordering that they could use the second month of their security deposit as rent, and by giving them a 60 day grace period on rent.  But in other states, you may have options.  In this climate, I'd use a really savvy eviction lawyer who ONLY does evictions, and who is young enough and smart enough to be able to learn the new regulations, and tech savvy enough to do all filings electronically.

She's going.  Take her rent, as much as you can get from her, and try to get it re-rented as quickly as possible.  Then use her deposit to cover the rent for the time it was vacant, and if it's not enough, sue her in small claims IF you think you can recover from her.  If not, send her an accounting billing her for the remainder of the lease, and show how the deposit was applied to the remainder of the rent.

Take what they will give you, and hope they will pay the rest.  In my state, the governor just issued an emergency decree that tenants could apply their second month of security to rent, and take a 60 day grace period.  Consider yourself lucky that you're not in CT!

I hope they will be, but their assumption that they didn't have to pay rent does not bode well for the future....