All Forum Posts by: Ralph S.

Check out the licensing for a rooming house, as well. Rooming houses are not the same as apartments, and are likely treated differently by your local municipality. Could be room fees, city inspections, business licenses and other goodies depending upon your local government.

I once considered a multi-use. Leased Sports Bar downstairs, rooming house upstairs. The list of licenses and fee schedules, inspections and such were too much for me.

Eva
Perhaps you misunderstand.
A notice to the tenant every time they pay late is not your only recourse, regardless of the state of the lease. Repeated violation of the terms should be enough for an eviction.
Have that talk with the lawyer.

Steve
Besides posting here and phone calls to your landlord, what exactly have you done to get yourself out of this situation? After following this thread, I can only say you have failed to get yourself out of this situation after your landlord didn't agree to let you off the hook at their expense. You've gotten some very good advice, but haven't acted on it.

Besides all the good stuff already mentioned, you need to better understand WHY the LL hasn't re-rented your apartment, and why it is foolish for them to do so, and foolish for you to expect them to.

1. They can't steer any tenant to your apartment, as has already been mentioned. Large complexes will not advertise inidividual units, they advertise their complex and its amenities. A 100+ unit complex will almost certainly have vacancies in all sized apartments. Advertising individual units is not going to happen.
2. It is just not in their financial interest to re-rent your apartment. For them to rent your apartment, as long as there is even one other like it empty, costs them money.
3. Having your rent paid unit empty is the LL's wildest dream come true. What LL wouldn't just love to get the rent without wear and tear, traffic, etc. I wish I had a 100 units rented, all without the hassles of tenants!
4. They are not going to agree to anything that causes them to lose rents that is not contained or allowed for in the lease. So if early termination is not permitted, asking for it is a waste of breath. It is not like a cell phone, and at the same time, exactly like a cell phone: The agreement between the parties rules! A little rule of landlording stems from the fair housing laws in this land. That rule says you treat everyone the same, all the time, no exeptions. To not do this puts the landlord in a position of favoratism or descrimination, and they risk someone else later coming in saying they've been descriminated against. In your situation, if they let you out of your lease, and not the next person who asks for the same thing, that next person would have a good argument that they were descriminated against. It is just not good business practice for any landlord to do what you ask.
5. They know the law much better than you do. They are not going to say or reviel anything to you that makes it appear as though they are not doing what they are required to.

You're in a tough spot. Your tough spot, not theirs. Their tough spot is minimizing vacancy in this market. You made the commitment and so far are doing the right thing in keeping your commitment. You now need to do the right things that get you out of this situation at the lowest cost to you.

You advertise. You enlist your friends, former co-workers, anyone there who can help find someone to take it over. Find a lawyer and get some good legal advice on what your rights are and what you can or need to do. Maybe even find another management co who would find a tenant for a flat fee.

You have the financial interest in getting someone in your old apartment, not them. Even if you end up in court, I think you'll have to demonstrate that you have taken action to re-rent the apartment, you can't simply claim they didn't, but what their responsibilites are, what yours are, and proving they did or didn't, well, that's something you'll have to hear from a lawyer.

The ball is in your court, not theirs. Don't expect them to fix your situation at their expense.
Good luck.

Sage advice.

Supply, demand, local economy and access to financing are all going to trump the value of the dollar when it comes to real estate valuation. It is too local in nature. Economic growth or decline at a local level cares little about international currency trading levels.
More important, I think, is that somewhere down the road we need to see a return to the correlation, at least on a national level, of inflation to real estate apreciation that went out of whack early in the last decade.
IMO, real estate values will remain location, location, location.

Require your sub-letting tenant to get his own insurance policy and add you as a co-insured. As co-insured, you should be notified if the insurance was cancelled or lapsed.

I don't allow anyone to automatically debit my account, having twice now experienced someone else getting that information and using my account information.

One was ebay, and my banking information they require, and the other was Southwest Airlines where I had one of their frequent flyer programs. In both instances, the card in their records was used to for their services!

Find an institution that offers bill pay and set up recurring payments.

Well, I'm sorry if my post was interpreted as an attack. Such is the way with written communication. I guess mine was less than perfect, and I think, supports my counterpoint very well.

I, too, am irked sometimes by the topic, who isn't, but without recognizing or acknowledging the relative value of proper English, which can be negligible in some cases, or using it to convey a degree of professionalism, well, I just don't agree that those dots are always connected. Not an attack, but an observation based on my own experiences and the old adage that you can't tell a book by its cover.

Two each there're own. What P NW said. Any communication clearly understood is less than perfect?

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/69/topics/44212-banks-need-are-help

First, you'd have to be sure the land is subdividable. Buying a 10 acre parcel only to find the city/county has a 10 acre minimum on lots would scuttle your plan.
Even if it could be split, you still would run into minimum lot sizes and various regulations on road frontage, utilities, etc. It is really a parcel by parcel thing.