All Forum Posts by: Karen F.

If you are in an area where the courts are closed, and evictions are suspended, you are out of luck.  These people will sit in the unit, not paying you a penny, and when this is all over, they will up and move and you'll be out 6 months' rent.  Or worse, you'll have to evict them, and you'll lose legal fees and even more months of rent.

In future, this is how you deal with late payers.  You express sympathy for their problem.  You wish them the best.  You tell them, "I'm sure you understand that I just have to start the paperwork moving.  I am sure you will clear all this up when your ship comes in.  And I hope you understand that I just have to start the paperwork moving along.  It will only add X dollars for the marshal service fee, (and the lawyer, if you use one).  And if you're able to clear it all up by such and such a date, I won't even have to file the summons and complaint (after which your name would appear in court records), at an added cost of Y dollars.  And even after that, it would still take two weeks to get into court.  So really, it's no problem, just adds some costs to you.

After you do this a few times and it winds up costing them money to get back into good standing, they'll either stop, or you'll wind up evicting them.

With the problem with the courts being closed, you're probably gonna need a really good eviction lawyer.

In my state, DCF gets notified anytime there is domestic violence going on.  I really think that you should call DCF.  And I think that you should pay this guy to leave.

She's mentally ill, also probably having alcoholic late night rages.  Don't respond to her texts, or her requests, but DO read and save them.  Once I missed a no heat complaint in the midst of a huge text barrage of craziness from a tenant who was in the process of being evicted for non-payment of rent.  Fortunately, we saw it a couple of days later, it had not been cold, and the problem was that only about 1/4 of the unit was not getting heat.  But it could have messed up the eviction, if left unfixed.  So you have to read them, in case there's a report of a true problem buried in the barrage of crazy texts.

Now, as for all she is asking.  Don't do a damned thing, unless it is to protect YOUR property, or in the lease that you must provide it.  So, if she asks for a leaky faucet to be repaired, do so.  If she asks for an outside hose bib, do NOT do so, unless it's in the lease that you will provide this.

If she threatens to withhold rent because you haven't done what she is demanding, don't respond.  Be ready to file for eviction the instant that the rent is late, and get rid of her.  Or maybe your silence and the eviction filing will teach her that you won't take this crap, and she'll pay her rent,  cut it out and find someone else to rage text late at night.

There are children there!  Notify DCF.  Tell them there is hard drug use, screaming and fighting, and heavy traffic in and out of drug users, that the house is a drug house.  Befriend neighbors, encourage them to call police every time there is any disturbance there.  Offer the tenants a LOT of cash for keys, to encourage them to move out.  Carrot and stick approach.

To the poster who listed all his screening methods - many excellent ideas.  I use many of them already, but the fact is, if I were to use all of them, I'd never manage to rent a unit, in my class C area.

The fair market rents listed by sec 8 are for all utilities included, so you have to deduct about 20% if your tenant pays their own gas and electric.

Make sure that the applicant really has a voucher for the number of bedrooms your unit has.  Sec 8 will tell a person holding a 2 BR voucher that they can get a "Two or a three bedroom", but what they mean is, "We allow $900 for your voucher, but if you can find a LL willing to rent you a 3 BR for that price, we'll let you take it."  Then, the person will come saying, "Sec 8 says they will pay $1100 for me", but that is $1100 INCLUDING UTILITIES, but $900 cold flat.  So you go through the whole process, and find out after the unit passes, that they really only have a 2 bedroom voucher, and Sec 8 is now gonna offer you $900 for your 3 BR that goes for $1100.  You wasted your time, and since you cannot have more than one person with a voucher going through the inspection process at a time (and in my area, it takes at least two weeks to get the inspection, plus the unit has to be vacant to be inspected), you may have had to turn away other qualified Sec 8 voucher holders who actually HAVE a 3 BR voucher.

Right now, with no way to evict a tenant, the ONLY new tenant I would take, is a Sec 8 tenant.  Over the past decade, we have had mixed results with Sec 8 in class C multis.  Some have been great families who never move out.  Some have been extraordinarily difficult to deal with, who never move out.  Some have been violent drug dealers who commit arson and prostitute their children, and moved out because they were running from other drug dealers.  No one ever lost their voucher for any reason, including the drug dealing, arson-committing, child prostituting household.  Not even after the SWAT raid.  Not even after DCF took the kids.  Not even after they fled to another part of the state, and we were finally able to evict to regain possession of the unit (after they'd driven out every other family in the building).

We have had uniformly TERRIBLE results with anyone who came with the assistance of an agency, other than just straight section 8.  Every single family that was being moved out of a shelter with assistance, has been impossible to house.  Drugs, domestic violence, refusal to pay their tiny portion of the rent, moving in extra tenants in violation of their lease, terrorizing their neighbors and us.  We've come to the conclusion that anyone who winds up in a shelter, is there because they are essentially impossible to house, so we only take straight Sec 8 at this point, and will not touch anyone who is coming out of a shelter.

Expect that the woman will always bring in a "baby daddy".  If there was any history of domestic violence in her past, there will be again, either from the past abuser, or the next one she brings in.

In our area, Sec 8 sometimes pays over market value.  But we've also found that the vouchers are sometimes managed by intermediary agencies, who offer below market rates (because they have to take a cut from the voucher to support the agency and its employees, who never seem to be available, and really don't seem to do much of anything).  So we have to make sure they are offering at least market rate  Often with that cut-taking agency, we've had to threaten eviction, and even file, to get them to increase rent to market rate on renewals.  All repair costs are borne by the LL, but our tired, worn multis always pass inspection, because we know what Sec 8 inspectors are looking for, and make those repairs.

It has been our experience that Sec 8 agencies see themselves as the tenants' advocate.  So when we complain that the intellectually and physically disabled man who has his voucher, SSI, and Medicaid-paid family care all being hijacked by his extended family so that they can all use his one bedroom unit as a crash pad, and a place to get high, and to terrorize the neighbors and the LL, we suddenly find that the agency has "accidentally" not paid their portion, or that it's perfectly acceptable to them that a tenant gives one day's notice that they're moving out, and we wind up not getting paid.

We have also had Sec 8 offer to pay us 125% of market value (and in our opinion, probably 150% of market value) to house an enormous immigrant family that lives as if they were still living in the stone age.  And believe me, we have earned EVERY penny of it, as the family has repeatedly brought in bedbugs, lives in incredible filth, refused to pay their tiny portion of the rent, concealed earnings from Sec 8 - not, of course, the father's - he never has worked - but the high school aged sons' earnings, and even brought in a young teenage girl who we were quite sure was the next wife - she disappeared after we called the authorities about that.

So it's really been a mixed bag.  And yet, right now, with the courts closed, and the governor of our state having made what amounts to a "free rent for all" proclamation, the ONLY tenant I would rent one of our two currently vacant units to, is a tenant with Sec 8, because with anyone else, I could easily wind up losing at least six months' rent plus costs of eviction.

I realize that this sounds very negative about the program.  As I said in the first paragraph, some of our Sec 8 families are wonderful tenants.  It's just that so many have not been, and the agencies can be very difficult to deal with.  Proceed with great caution, and try to get advice from someone local to your area, on whether it's worth it or not.

Wow, I don't consider tenants who bring in a pitbull in violation of their lease to be great tenants.  I'd send them a formal notice that your insurance does not allow pitbulls , and that they have to get rid of it.

But, you really don't want to lose your paying tenant right now, so after you've sent that notice, I'd let it be, until the courts reopen and you can let them know more firmly.

You can always take the pet rent/fees out of their security at the end, assuming that these perfect tenants don't also leave you with unpaid rent, and damages.

Another thing that you can demand is that they get their own insurance policy on the dog, with their renter's insurance (it's a pretty cheap add on to their car insurance, in many cases, although I don't know if their insurance is going to cover a pitbull).

We have pretty good tenants, and virtually everyone paid up by today (before the 9 day grace period was over, and before the governor's "free rent for everyone" proclamation was made public).  But now, I don't know how much of our May and June rents we will see.

Meanwhile, we have two vacant units.  We've decided that we will only rent them to Section 8 or other subsidized applicants, for the obvious reason that we believe that is the only way we can be sure of getting paid.  I cannot imagine ANY landlord in CT being foolish enough to rent a vacant unit right now to anyone other than Section 8 or other subsidized tenants.  Even if a LL takes the legally allowed max, meaning two months' deposit plus first month's rent, he could see the tenant not pay a penny thereafter, claim the second month of the deposit should be applied to June rent, and the three to six month eviction process would begin only on July 11th, couldn't get into court probably until at least September, because there will be a HUGE wave of evictions for non-payment of rent beginning the minute the courts open July 1st (if even by then).  He'd be lucky to have the person out by November, be lucky to have the unit re-rented by January 1st (and remember, middle of winter is hardest time to rent a unit).  He'd lose minimum six months of rent, plus eviction costs.  No way is it worth the risk.  Better to let the unit sit open until July 1st, when the "free rent for everyone" giveaway hopefully expires.

How in the world are people who are not on Section 8 going to be able to get into a rental unit before summer?  It's bad enough that the courts are closed, but now, with the "free rent for everyone" proclamation, the rental market will be absolutely FROZEN.  Doesn't the governor see that he just left out in the cold anyone who isn't in housing, anyone who needs to escape an abusive household, anyone who needs to move here for a job, or who needs to move, for any reason?

We think 100%.  My state gives a 9 day grace period, so some of my tenants regularly don't pay until tenth of the month, which is today, but they do pay.  I have about 32 units.  We've received the rent from everyone, as far as we can tell, except for one reliable tenant who told us that her hours had been cut, and that she'd pay us next week, and I have every reason to believe she will.

I feel like sending them all a handwritten thank you note.  We're good, attentive landlords.   Most of our tenants are pretty good, and the only problem ones are heavily subsidized by government programs.  Thank GOD we got a bad, non-paying tenant out on March 7th.  If we hadn't, she would have just been handed another five months of free rent by the governor.  I have two vacancies right now, and really, I'm in no hurry to rent them other than to the perfect Sec 8 tenants, what with being only able to take a two month security and the first month's rent before they move in.

I expect that next month won't be as good.

https://portal.ct.gov/Office-of-the-Governor/News/Press-Releases/2020/04-2020/Governor-Lamont-Signs-Executive-Order-Providing-Residential-Rent-Protections?fbclid=IwAR1_ej9w4ehy8nk1tbQqymMiVDJRd38X44AfzFGeHUXqavYaeZW7aitYJ3M

Protections granted to residential renters during COVID-19 crisis

Governor Lamont’s order – Executive Order No. 7X – includes a provision taking the following actions to protect residential renters during the public health crisis:

• All landlords are prohibited from issuing a notice to quit or beginning eviction proceedings before July 1, 2020, except for serious nuisance, such as physically harming another tenant or the landlord.
• For rent due in April 2020, landlords must grant tenants an automatic, 60-day grace period for payment, instead of the existing 9-day grace period.
• For rent due in May 2020, landlords must grant a 60-day grace period for payment upon the request of tenants. Under this provision, a tenant must to notify the landlord that they have lost a job, lost hours, or otherwise lost revenue or faced significant increased expenses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• If a tenant has a paid security deposit of more than one month’s rent, the tenant can apply all or part of that excess to April, May, or June rent. Under this provision, the tenant must notify the landlord that they have lost a job, lost hours, or otherwise lost revenue or faced significant increased expenses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During this crisis, these protections will allow residents to stay safe at home, while prohibiting landlords from charging late fees or interest for nonpayment and provide a buffer for the next couple of months,” Governor Lamont said. “Residential renters need to have added safeguards during times of emergency like this – they have rights and we will see to it that they are protected.”

So, it takes on average AT LEAST TWO MONTHS to run a straightforward eviction for non-payment of rent in CT, and a savvy tenant, or one who is getting coached by Legal Aid, can often draw it out for several months more.  The governor just declared today that no one has to pay rent until July 1st, so he just gave people 3 months of not having to pay rent.  That, plus the two months it takes to evict someone, means that tenants now can get at least 5 months' free rent.  He also has allowed tenants to apply the second month of their security deposit to their rent, meaning that the LL now is left holding only one month of security deposit, in a state where it takes at least two months to run a straightforward eviction for non-payment.  So, assuming that a tenant decides to take advantage of this, and not pay rent beginning April 1st (and a lot of tenants take the grace period, and don't pay until the tenth of the month - the day he announced this), by the time they get into court they'll be 5 months behind in rent, and most judges will give them another few weeks to get ready to move, without making them pay a cent.  For marginal tenants, they may be better off not paying rent, saving their money, finding a new place for September 1st, and just moving, leaving the LL out 6 months of rent, since they won't be able to rent the unit until October 1st at the earliest, plus eviction costs.

The LL still has to maintain the properties, pay mortgages, pay property taxes, pay insurance, not to mention pay his OWN bills, too - this is his livelihood.  It's as if the governor just announced that food from groceries, restaurants, and delivery services is now free for the next five months.  I notice that he hasn't announced a program for the state to pay the landlords for the lost rent.  And none of the federal bailout programs cover mom and pop small landlords, since they have no employees.