All Forum Posts by: Arvand Sabetian

As you're probably aware, AB 1482 caps annual rent increases at 5% + CPI or 10%, whichever is lower. Be aware of any local regulations in Emeryville as well.

Please make sure your 4plex isn't exempt from AB 1482. Since you're an individual, mainly whether or not the 4plex was built in the last 15 years.

Assuming the tenants have occupied their units for over a year you'll want to give a 60 day notice.

Alternative route? Have a discussion with the tenants. Most likely you'll have pushback, but you may get lucky and them being open to increases and signing a new lease. Otherwise, weigh your options with estimated vacancy and remodeling time, but how you may be able to mitigate losses longer-term with the higher rents you'll presumably be able to collect with new tenants. 

It really depends on who you choose. I'd recommend getting multiple quotes from service providers to see what pricing is going to look like per square footage.

Without too much information provided and depending on the size of your home it could be anywhere from $5,000-$15,000+

@Madelyn Felix we're using Igloohome lockboxes and have developed our own platform to automatically generate and remove codes.

If you and the tenant can work things out amicably and determine a move out date + monetary amount for early lease termination I'd also speak with them about having permission to show the unit prior to their move out date. This can help with limiting the time your unit sits vacant.

These situations can get tricky, but I always recommend staying level headed during your interactions with the tenant.

The worst case scenario is the tenant ends up unhappy that you don't want them to break the lease early and/or they don't want to pay for an early lease break (hopefully defined in your lease agreement with them) and ends up damaging your property, costing more, prior to their actual move out date.

I think most others have already provided sound advice.

I wanted to emphasis having a conversation with your tenants about the septic tank, not just a clause in the lease that you assume they'll read and understand.

Many people are unaware of what they can be doing that causes issues to septic tanks (e.g., flushing the wrong items).

Also, make sure you do a walkthrough yourself prior to filling the unit. Document the condition of your property inside and out so you have that as a reference point later down the road.

If you're planning on utilizing a self-showing model with cameras you'll need to make sure you disclose to prospective tenants viewing the property that there are cameras on premise.

At scale, we've coordinated 160,000+ on-demand/self showings with smart lockboxes over the past 5 almost 6 years with very few issues. Some landlords have requested cameras (they being responsible for setting those up if they want them) or already have cameras installed, but you want to make sure any prospective tenant is fully aware cameras are actively recording and it's clearly communicated to them.

Seasonality always comes into play! Some areas are seeing declines while others are holding steady. I always remind myself that nothing can be as bad as the rent decline in 2020-2021 in major cities such as SF..

Depending on your insurance policy and insurer, you should be able to add a property manager to your policy. You will see that many property managers request this for liability coverage.

To put into perspective--we charge $1,250 for tenant placement. This includes handling inbound leads, communication with the prospective tenants, tenant screening/background checks, application processing, lease generation.

Many PMs will charge 50% of your first month's rent or 100% of first month's rent for tenant placement. Some have higher flat fees. It just depends on the PM you're considering.

A PM will also handling coordination with vendors. Whether that's for routine maintenance or emergency repairs. It takes a lot of time for PMs to build relationships with trusted and licensed vendors in their network.

All of this requires time and has overhead costs associated to it (employees). If you don't think any sort of fee is reasonable then continuing managing your unit may be in your best interest.

Are you also keeping up to date with legislative changes in your area. Notable changes in 2024 for Virginia:

- Amendments made to the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act relating to restrictions on fees charged to tenants.

- Enhanced Tenant Rights and Responsibilities Statement. Landlords are required to provide prospective tenants with updated Statement of Tenant Rights and Responsibilities.

- New legislative reforms for the eviction process--notice periods and protections tenants have.

Hope this helps put some things into perspective.

This can complicate things unless you're willing to add another electrical line as @Adam Bartomeo stated. It's something that'll be a one-time cost and set you up for the future.

Unless you get tenants to agree to split utility and water bills separately (50/50), this can get messy, there's not many options. What if one tenant is late or doesn't pay their amount? You've now become a mediator between them.

I assume you prefer not to have the utilities and water accounts under your name. If you decide to go this route, you could inform the tenants that they will be responsible for a separate monthly utilities charge in addition to their rent. The utility and water bills would be calculated each month (by you) and evenly split between them. This of course, would need to be defined in their lease agreements and would also require more work collecting those payments. Again, what if one of them is late or doesn't pay?

This is somewhat subjective to you. Of course, it's always smart to keep funds aside for unforeseen or emergency related costs.

Others who have already responded have provided some great opinions.