All Forum Posts by: Troy B.

Is anyone aware of law or even fed. tax laws on having a tenant perform small maintenance jobs such as cleaning public areas, mowing and shoving snow in exchange for lower rent? Anyone have experience with this?

I have a tenant who will be moving in soon and he inquired about doing small jobs for a lower rent. 

I'm renovating a portion of my apartment building from a office to a residential apartment. My question is on the flooring. I decided to install laminate flooring and use area rugs. Would both the floating laminate and area rugs be a five year depreciation since they are not a permanent part of the building?

My lease says under Access to Premises, the landlord reserves the right to enter residence  at a reasonable time to inspect or make necessary repairs. Notice will be given 24 hrs before entry.

I have always requested to do a quick walk though of my tenants apartments once or twice a year and it has never been an issue for any tenant. Now I have a newer tenant who has been renting for two months and he won't return my calls for a walk though request. Do other landlords perform frequent apartment checks? If someone refuses what is your recourse action? The lease states I have the right to do apartment checks.

I did raise the rent by about 30%. One elderly tenant moved to a assisted care home where she needed to be anyway because of bad health and the other shopped around for other apartments but discovered even after I raised the rent some, it was still much lower then any other comparable apartment out there. She is still living in the apartment and is a good tenant.

I have 12 rentals and I have always done 3 month leases, which then turn into month to month leases. While my apartments are well maintained and reasonably prices, there still seems to be a lot of tenants that shop around for lower rents and move out at the end of three months. I guess maybe it's that "grass is always greener" syndrome. I was considering going to one year leases but adding a Break Out Clause to the lease as well. Does anyone have experiences with them and any examples of the wording?

I'm closing on a 5 unit in a few days. The one tenant is a 68 year old veteran that smokes like a chimney. The apartment is already covered with brown walls and ceilings and can't really get much worse. The previous landlord was charging him significantly more then the other tenants because of the smoking. 

In my other properties I only permit smoking outside and inspect often. My question is would it be ok to permit one tenant to smoke and but forbid the other new tenants from smoking in theirs. The building has a shared hallway so it's pretty hard to hide to the others that he is smoking. Has anyone had to deal with a situation like this or what would you do?

I have a Android phone and would love to see a app for biggerpockets on it. Also Android now makes up a larger percent of the market then iOS, so I think you would get many more users.

I'm in the process of closing on a duplex property where both units have 80 yr old tenants that have been living there for 15+ yrs with very low rent. The ladies keep the apartments very clean and neat but the rent they have been paying are 50-60% lower then the current market. I would like them to stay but can't keep them at the current rent with a new mortgage to pay. They have no leases. Should I up their rent gradually once I own it or just tell them the new rent and let them decide to stay or leave?

no city. It's in a small town of 14k in the north western area of the state.