All Forum Posts by: Abigail K.

Good morning!

We just switched from a rent collection company to a more robust property management software. Unfortunately the rent collection company had a third party eviction lawyer that we now no longer have access to. Does anyone in NJ have an eviction lawyer they can recommend that handles the process at a reasonable rate or a flat rate per step? We tend to send a few notices and they rarely go all the way to court so I don’t want to end up paying an exorbitant amount just to get a tenant back on track.

Thanks for the input!!

Hi there,

There are a lot of posts on this topic but none I could find with extremely recent testimonials on Buildium. I am deciding between these two software options for my portfolio of about 100 units and was initially pretty sold on Buildium until they told me there was a one-time $99 fee for each tenant to set up a bank account for online rent payments. Given fairly regular turnover and the fact that most of our tenants pay online (and we would like to encourage that) this turns into a pretty substantial cost for us (way over Appfolio's minimums). What have you found are the pro's and con's with each of these guys? I have read some pretty scary things about Appfolio's accounting and expense tracking/imports/compatibility with quickbooks and am wondering if any of these glitches have been addressed since the last reviews were posted on here 1 year+ ago.

Hi There,

I have read a number of posts on renter's insurance and I require it for all my properties. Many of the apartments I manage were inherited from a previous manager who did not require this. As the leases come up for renewal I am sending out notices that renewing tenants from previous management are required to show proof of renter's insurance within 30 days of their lease renewal. Naturally I don't plan to evict someone over renter's insurance but I have read more than enough case studies as to when renter's insurance proved extremely helpful for the landlord and I am firm on the issue that I will be buying the insurance on their behalf and adding it to the rent if they do not comply. 

That being said, I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to do so. Most of my tenants are compliant and very responsive but of course there are a select few who ignore the emails. I am finding that a lot of renter's insurance providers require you create a new account for each insured address/name. If the tenant is paying for this at the end of the day they are the ones that should be covered, not me, so it should be in their name (unless I am mistaken), and it sounds silly but I don't have 20 different email addresses to keep making accounts! Are there any providers that make it easy to have multiple policies under one email address/account and designated to different insured parties?

Thanks in advance!

I agree it all sounds ridiculous (not to mention I am sure there is already someone in one of my buildings doing this but since they never asked I don't know), but in this case since I was expressly asked I started to look into it. This would not be the craziest law I've seen if it did exist, I appreciate the insights!

I know I'm out on a limb here but I've scoured the internet to come up with nothing and on the off chance someone has experience with this I could avoid an attorney bill for the sake of my curiosity. 

A prospective tenant in New Jersey recently asked me if she is allowed to rent a one bedroom for her and her 8 year old child. I have found an article stating that occupants in a bedroom must have ample room (I.e. 70 sq ft for the first occupant and 50 sq ft for every additional) so theoretically if an apartment had a massive bedroom any number of people could live there. I'm always especially wary, however, when children are involved and I can't seem to find any NJ laws that dictate this.

Has anyone encountered this before?

Thank you both so much, this is so helpful! @Pavel K. 

@Ryan B.

Hi There, 

Me again. I'm scouring the internet and can't seem to find a straight answer on a few questions regarding Section 8 tenants, I'm not sure if any of you have dealt with the specifics of the below but I would appreciate your guidance:

• If my unit is listed at $1,850 (for example) and I receive an application from a section 8 tenant, would the part of rent not covered by a section 8 voucher be paid by the tenant? Or am I now under scrutiny for the original rent amount?
• What happens in the case of a rent increase? I understand I am to apply through the housing authority who will assess if the increase is fair, is there anything else I need to know?

Thank you in advance for your help!

@Theresa Harris rental laws in New Jersey heavily protect the tenant and most towns are rent controlled. There are rent control laws that do not allow me to raise the rent more than something around 3-4% each year (per my township ordinance) so sadly it’s going to be a long haul with this one.

Haha! Thank you all for your input, a lot of great ideas an I will be putting them to action. Unfortunately in New Jersey not renewing or evicting a tenant is close to impossible but all of the feedback is extremely helpful as always! 

Hi there,

A bit of a sidebar issue but there’s so much experience on BP I’m curious if someone has an opinion I haven’t thought of. I have a consistently painful tenant who complains constantly, harasses, yells, curses and is under the impression that all requests he makes are emergencies. When things have escalated on his end in the past I have offered him the option to break his lease and he has made it very clear that he has no intention of ever leaving (just complaining forever, lucky me). After his threats bordered infringing on my personal safety, I searched public court records and found that he has declared bankruptcy twice (this building was rented when I purchased it and the tenants came with it, with very little record of what dd was run on them) and the tenant constantly threatens to withhold rent for minuscule inconveniences. 

Most recently he has been complaining that dryers in our building (coin operated) do not get hot enough and that it is affecting his quality of life (literal quote). I have not received any other complaints from the other 9 units in the building but i brought out a maintenance technician and he thoroughly tested all the dryers and confirmed everything was fine. I communicated this to the tenant and he was extremely unhappy, continuously bombarding me with emails that I should be listening to tenants not repairmen (which I told him is not going to be my strategy). My long winded question is-am I obligated to keep chasing these complaints or am I justified in closing these types of things once I receive a confirmation that they are functioning correctly?