Construction and tenants

[Mirla Montanez]

Hello, need some advice and help on this situation. I have a single fam 5bed2bath which is in process of being converted into a duplex. Tenants are already in and it was written in the lease that construction will be done and their cooperation needed in the process. I’ve been doing everything I can to stay on top of it but of course I’m on the city schedule when it comes to inspections. It’s been 2 months and they have grown impatient and now they are trying to negotiate paying half the rent. Note that it’s a big family who wants to rent both units once done. Should give them the option to look for another place? Do you guys have a good property management company out in Bakersfield, California? Thank you in advamce

[Sanjeev Advani]

@Mirla Montanez if it is in your lease agreement you should be able to enforce the fact that you can do construction. That shouldn’t change. If they would like to look for another unit that should also be your prerogative since you are technically in contract with them.

That being said, since they are a larger family I would suggest to them that they can pay a higher rent and keep the whole house so you don’t have to go to the expense of doing the construction with Tenants in place. I would also possibly let them out of their lease if your property becomes much more lucrative with your duplex.

Just back of the napkin here, I would think you will have a 3 bed unit and a 2 bed unit. I would wager a guess in SW or NW, possibly NE. Given these factors I would wager a guess of around $2300-$2500/month in rents, however with a 5 bedroom home in one of these areas it can be very possible to get that in rents without having to go to the headache of rehab.

I would say that it is possible that you can get higher rents than that but while tenants live in a construction zone they won’t be happy and it’ll eat into your piece of mind as well since they’ll be requesting different items along the way to help deal with ‘being put out’.

Just a thought.

Hope this helps. Feel free to PM me to chat further as well.

Best Sunny