All Forum Posts by: Art Maydan

@Ann Folan

Hey Ann,

The CAR lease says, "Tenant shall not sublease this Lease without the prior written consent of the Landlord, which shall not be unreasonably withheld."

I was told by a lawyer that means that if they bring me someone who's "equally qualified" on paper and I say no, that would constitute unreasonable withholding and might cross over into discrimination. Is that not correct? I would love to be able to deny subleases.

I gave the tenant 48 hours notice yesterday and told her she needs to pay the fee and May rent for the lease to be valid and now she's trying to schedule. Well, what's actually happening is she started a group text with me and her boyfriend or whatever and now they're arguing about their own schedules. I'm just going to come when I gave notice for. These people are crazy and that's why I hate subleases. Crazy isn't a protected class.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll keep you posted.

I thought that here in Chicago, you can't deny a sublease if they bring you a "similarly qualified" tenant. Is there something you guys do to get around that? I hate subleases too.

I have a tenant in a triplex whose lease is up at the end of the month, but they bought a house 5 months ago and found a subtenant. I'm holding the tenant's security deposit and the tenant is holding the subtenant's security deposit. The subtenant signed a new lease with us starting May 1 with no deposit but a $500 move-in fee.

This subtenant has been a pain, but not enough of one to risk vacancy. I texted her this morning asking when in the next few days works for her to do a move-out inspection. We can then give the tenant back their deposit who can in turn give her back her deposit and she can pay the move-in fee. She's telling me she's swamped all week. I know thew type of people who are very busy and she is not one of them. She finally said she'd get back to me with a time that works in the next few days.I won't count on it. 

My concerns are: 

1. I can't return the original tenant's deposit until we do an inspection.

2. I'm concerned she plans to not pay rent starting May 1 and see how long she can stay for free seeing as she's already got squatter's rights.

I'm thinking I give her until later today to call with a time and then say tell her I'm coming with the original tenant in 48 hours and we're going to do an inspection ourselves. And if she doesn't pay the move-in fee, she'll be squatting and we'll have to begin eviction. And if she changed the locks, then she's trespassing and we call the police.

Is that how you'd do it or is there a more amicable way to handle this?

Guys, it's a troll. Just stop replying.

I have a triplex with an ongoing mouse issue I'm dealing with. Only the top two units have mice. I've done a lot of sealing and had an exterminator come out several times, so hopefully they'll be gone soon between what we're doing and it warming up. One of the tenants has two cats and a dog who catch the mice, eat them, and get sick. They're asking for some kind of compensation. The vet wouldn't provide a letter saying the pets got sick from the mice. It does seem like the right thing to do to pay them something for putting up with this issue over the last few months. I've told them I appreciate them working with me and agree some money paid to them would be fair, but let's wait until the issue is definitively concluded first and then we'll evaluate.

1. What amount would you pay? I was thinking $300-$500. Rent is $1,800.

2. The second tenant hasn't asked for any compensation yet and hasn't had pets get sick. I'd like to avoid them finding out I paid the first tenant and wanting some money too.

3. What are the legal implications with this? Should we sign some sort of addendum? I'm doing everything I can to remedy the issue. How else can I avoid liability?

How would you play this?

Thank you,

Art

@Matthew Paul I understand what you're saying. Our situation is a bit unique because we work closely with the same contractor on many jobs and incentives are pretty aligned. So I've been asked by both the company owner and contractor to look into ways to keep track of the workers. Although I'm not sure that will solve their core concern, which is that work isn't being done quickly enough.

What services do you guys use to track contractor hours with GPS? There are a lot of companies that do this. Looks like pricing ranges from freemium to ~$4/contractor. So far, looks like the best ones are advancesystemsinc, myhours, epaysystems, and clockshark.

@Michael Hacker Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I'll PM you.

@Nicholas Scatton We have 5 multifamily projects going and a dozen in the pipeline, so I'm looking for all sources. Open to buying in large bulk and storing

I recently listened to BP Podcast 258 and heard Gabe talking about making deals with manufacturers he'd met at trade shows to get discounted materials in bulk. The next IBS show is Feb 19-21 in Vegas and I plan on going. Wanted to start a discussion on where you guys get discounted materials. Any materials: Lumber, plumbing, fixtures, cabinets, lights, tubs, etc.

One source I have to share are Habitat For Humanity stores: https://www.habitat.org/restores

You won't find inventory online so you have to stop in, but they have a very large stock of discounted donated materials. Mostly new. Where do you guys get building materials at good prices for your rehabs/constructions?