Selective with tenants in my house?

Question

Stephanie Dupuis · Answer

Yup...it's called the "Mrs. Murphy" Exemption.

"Federal Fair Housing Act:

The law does not apply to the rental of a unit or room in a dwelling of up to four units, provided that:

1. The owner occupied one of the units

2. No real estate agent is employed

3. No discriminatory advertising is used

This is sometimes called the Mrs. Murphy exemption."

p. 343 of the Washington Real Estate Fundamentals course book for Real Estate Agents.

Rob K. · Answer

Section 8 is a voluntary program. Check your state laws to be sure.

I have some Section 8 tenants and can tell you that I wouldn't want them to live anywhere near me, especially in my own residence.

Curt Smith · Answer

@Joe Kato

The goal of being a landlord is to get the rent paid on time every month and to minimize maintenance and capital expenditure (capex) fixing the units back up. So you'll NEED to weed out the professional tenants and dead beats.  Fortunately they actually do know that they are bad tenants and know when  they are dealing with a serious landlord and won't bother to give you an application IF you are clear that you know what you are doing:

Write these lines at the top of your application:

Minimum requirements to get an application accepted:

1) Each adult has verifiable income.  Cash jobs won't be considered.  You'll need a W2, paystub, or last years tax return.

2) We file for eviction on day 6 if your rent is late, no exceptions.

3) No dogs over 15 pounds.

4) We terminate leases if your unit does not pass quarterly inspections.

Folks know what their bad habits are and that they are not reliable payers. You'll rarely get a bad tenant if you clearly state who you won't take and who you will take up front.  I've also posted my tenant screening steps here.

Tenant screening on page 3

Stephanie Dupuis · Answer

@Joe Kato

- You say you live in this multi-plex? What size multi is it?

The Fair Housing laws have exemptions for owner-occ rentals under 4 units that do not use a RE Agent, and also do not have any discriminatory advertising - if you follow these rules, you can rent to anyone you want. Meaning, you do not have to rent to this family, from what I understand. I'll go look this up to make sure I am correct on this, but this is my understanding. Hopefully someone here will correct or support my post. Hold on...going to check on my dinner, then will look this up.

Account Closed · Answer

Doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. They are probably just following up on a complaint. However, in the future, I recommend that you tell them you do a background check, but leave out your opinion on whether they might meet your guidelines or not. She probably blew what you said way out of proportion.

I would call the Family Services person back just to see what they want, but don't offer any information. Don't agree or disagree with anything they say. Ask them to put it in writing so you can run it by your attorney. Then let your attorney handle it.

Joe Kato · Answer

Thanks Rob and Stephanie.  I looked up Mrs. Murphy and in Conn. for example it only applies to 2 families, in RI its hard to distinguish what is possible from the statue..  http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/title34/34-37/34-37-4.HTM

wish there was an easy button to transfer the pages and pages into a few bullet points.

Stephanie Dupuis · Answer

Yes, you can say you don't take Sect. 8. It gets you off the phone faster.

Check with your city/county about max occupancy per unit/building, etc. Your local rental assoc. will know.

I just dealt with this and we don't have a max occupancy limit in our city (arghh). Many LL in our area are getting tons of weird calls right now.

If this is the apt. with your primary residence, remember you've got Mrs. Murphy Law. You can put whoever you want in there - they're living with you.

Joe Kato · Answer

Another doosey today...  Get a call from someone that wants Section 8.  Can I say I don't take section 8? (I haven't tried to get approved for sec.8)  Is there restrictions against that?  Also can I set a person limit on the apartment for how many residents there are?

Joe Kato · Answer

OK, how to reply to this??

Get email asking me to call them about apartment.  I call them and while chatting, hear she is married to a guy who was in the paper last month for domestic violence.  I said on the phone we do a background check and do not allow any tenants with a record in their past.  I said I was not sure she would meet the application guidelines.  and hangs up.

Get voice mail later in afternoon from someone at child and family services calling about someone who called earlier.. Did I do something wrong?

Melanie Noblin · Answer

Could you hear the kids screaming in the background? Sorry, had to ask! :D

Selective with tenants in my house?

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