Landlording in McAllen Area

[Soumya Brijesh]

Hello BP Community, 

I just purchased an 8-plex in the McAllen Tx area and wanted your thoughts on how you manage it. 

Some specifics about the units

All 8 units are adjacent to each other in a row. Each unit has access to a backyard. 4 Units have it as private and 4 shares it with each other. 

Upon speaking to the tenants, they claim:-

1. The previous landlord paid for Pest Control inside each unit. (i looked at the previous owner lease no mention of pest control)
2. The previous landlord changed the A/C filters for every unit
3. The previous landlord provided light bulbs.
4. Is that common in Texas? I recently moved to Texas so I am not familiar with the rules and laws here.

[Jake F.]

@Soumya Brijesh I have an 8plex in McAllen. I pay for exterior pest control, but not inside. As per the lease that is their responsibility. Unless there is an issue within 30 days of the tenant moving in. 

I have my guy change the AC filters, but only so that I can get a peak inside the units to make sure they aren't doing anything unsafe or that will cost me money. Also, there's no way the tenants would change the filters every month. I'm not sure if that's common. 

I definitely don't provide lightbulbs. The units come with working bulbs when they move in, and they have to provide working bulbs when they move out. Anything in between is on them. This is in my lease. 

It doesn't really matter what the last landlord did unless it's in the leases you inherited. Check the leases, make sure that your tenants understand the rules, then enforce the rules that are in place.