? re mark up rates and fees to tenants

[Diane Menke]

We do a little landlording renting out SFH's. We try to run this like a business. The tenants are our customers and we provide services in the form of clean decent housing. Usually it goes well.

Over the years we have had some bad tenants who seem to always have problems like mice, bugs, damage, stuck drains, they move out leaving huge piles of debris we have to haul away, and they leave the place so dirty it needs sanitizing and a full paint job.

We try to shift these expenses to the tenants via charges to their security deposits. More recently when I had to pay the pest control guy a 3rd time to take care of mice in a house where the tenants were storing garbage in the kitchen, I thought to bill THEM for this visit. Ditto the clogged drains caused when they jammed uneaten cereal into the pipe.

Typically we bill the tenants for the cost of the service multiplied by a Mark Up. Right now our MU is 1.5. So if it costs me $100 it costs them $150.00.

Does anyone else mark up costs and if so by how much? What things do you cover as normal maintenance and what do you bill for? Pests? Unusual wear and tear? Hauling? What rate do you use to you bill for your own time?

Thanks very much
Diane