All Forum Posts by: Andrew B.

@Saulo Queiroz I have a ceiling fan in my personal home and the fan and light are both linked to the same light switch (so they both go on and off at the same time). How difficult would it be to separate them into two switches? Is this something a beginner should tackle? I am handy enough to install light fixtures and outlets, but I have never put anything new in.

I think everyone needs clarification from OP. From my understanding, this is a month to month tenancy and the renter just happens to be using it only on weekends. In this case, renter is liable for safe care of the property. Your lease probably has a clause stating a minimum temperature for the house, which would likely have kept the pipe from freezing.

Some of these responses make it seem like this is a STR, in which case I believe owner would be responsible.

Tracy is correct. I believe in all states you would not be allowed to evict based on you selling the house. Your only option to get them out by closing is likely cash for keys.

Some jurisdictions do allow eviction based on owner occupancy, but that would mean you have to sell the house, then new owners would have to evict, but only if that is possible in your local jurisdiction. also, unlikely to be very appealing to a homebuyer

you cannot discriminate against them, but you surely can ask their age after accepting them. Assuming you already know how many human bodies are occupying the residence you can just follow up with an "FYI, anyone above the age of 18 residing here will need to be on the lease. Anyone under 18 will need to be listed as an occupant."

The only way you can get in trouble is if they say they have a child over 18 and you tell them you will not allow more than two adults, but if he was younger he would be ok. That would be discrimination.

I believe if you sell to them at significantly less than market value, there is a way to consider it a "gift" of equity. so instead of giving them cash, you would give them $60k in equity and they would then have to get a mortgage for $40k...assuming a $100k purchase price.

This may be something to look into.

Jersey laws are a little funky, so do follow up research, but landlord is typically allowed to set occupancy limits for their rental properties. you are free to set it at 4, 3, 2, or even 1 person as a limit, but this must be enacted across the board, to all future prospects. you also can not distinguish a difference between adults and children. I.e. you can say there is a limit of 3 humans, but you cannot say 2 adults and 1 child.

you should be perfectly within your rights to deny this family and it would not be a fair housing violation.

I am not a lawyer and the above is not legal advice

this is entirely location dependent. find similar properties with porches and find similar without. the difference in rent is x. if x per month is a high enough rate of return for you to spend an extra $9k then do it.

does $6k to tear down porch include any costs to close the doorways onto the porches? I imagine you cannot leave those intact for safety reasons.

pr8nt out a copy of your local landlord tenant regulations now. do not pass go. do not collect $200. do it now. if you mishandle the return of deposit, you will likely have to return the whole thing, and in some states can be liable for treble damages. your local regulations will answer both questions. in the future, i suggest you get a property manager and spend the next year learning your regulations before you try self managing again

@John Anderson why do you even look in this forum if thats the only thing you ever post? its rude and unhelpful. @Kelly Holly unfortunately i do not have a lot of experience getting stuff fron HOAs. my only suggestion is to read your bylaws very well, and if you can find anything specific that might point to their responsibility, quote it in a strongly worded letter. if necessary have a friend draft it or pay a lawyer to write it. if they still refuse you may have to pay an attorney to fight it for you, at which point it may be cheaper to fix yourself.

without knowing anything about your landlord/tenant laws, this is what I think...

they pay for a whole month. if a tenant decides to move out in the middle of a month, you wouldn't refund half the rent. same should apply here. that being said, typically you are not allowed to earn double rent so if a tenant left halfway through and you re-rented immediately you would then have to refund original tenant.

you are now taking rental off the market, so in my opinion the right thing to do would be to refund for any days you occupy, same as if a new tenant were taking over. if you move in on 15th, refund 1/2 if you move in on 20th refund 1/3, etc. that's my moral assumption, and is not based on your local laws and is not intended to be taken as legal advice.

now...if you wanna be a nice guy you can refund half the tenants rent for the month in light of the fact that you are forcing them to uproot their lives, and thank your lucky stars you are not in a state that requires you to pay moving expenses when owner occupying...this is purely a good will gesture though and has no business value