All Forum Posts by: Brian Berry

I have a Section 8 tenant has been in place for nearly 3 years. Her rent is paid 100% by Chicago Housing Authority. The tenant has been mostly good, but I have had concerns about housekeeping (she has complained about mildew in the bathroom, which I attempted to address by having a ventilation fan installed with a timer so she could easily have the air cleared while showering and for a set time afterwards). Things seemed fine for the last year. 

There was an electrical issue last month. The electrician I use told me after he worked on the home that there is dog feces throughout the house. The lease specifies that no pets are allowed in the home. Not wanting to throw the contractor under the bus, I requested an inspection through the service that I use for managing service requests. The tenant then filed a maintenance request for a slow toilet draining issue, and another for an odor in the bathroom. The service company sent me a message this morning that the tenant has not responded to scheduling requests for any of the three pending requests. I messaged her today regarding her lack of response. 

I wanted to keep her in the home until late winter/early spring, and then have her move on, rehab the home, list the home, and reinvest in a different property (a multi-family that would accommodate our son who attends school at DePaul University). 

My question is, at what point should I/would you involve CHA to get her move initiated? The home will definitely need some repairs (carpet for sure, paint and patching, and a handful of other stuff). Would you let her float until winter passes, or tell CHA now that she needs to move? 

Added info: I was using a property management company when the home was rented to her. I never would have accepted this tenant had I done the screening (after taking over managing the property I found out that her last lessor never responded to reference checks, previous lessor was her grandmother, and before that she had multiple evictions, plus felony convictions). 

My tenant failed to pay her gas bill, resulting in the service being shut off. Once the tenant paid for the service, it took several days until the gas company was able to get out to restore service. I was unaware that the gas had been shut off. 

The gas company went out to restore the service today, but refused because the existing gas line to the stove does not meet current code (it is a brass line which is apparently no longer allowed). I have arranged to have this replaced tomorrow morning (as well as updating the entire gas line inside the house to ensure there are no additional issues going forward) . 

The problem is that there is no way at this point to know how long it will take the gas company to come back and restore the gas service once the repairs have been completed. 

The home has gas heat and stove. So until gas is restored, she won't have a way to cook or have hot water. She does have a couple of space heaters which will provide heat in the mean time. 

Her biggest concern is not being able to bathe her kids (up until now she has been heating water in the microwave). 

What would you do in this situation? 

 Hi Mark - 

You have always been so generous with your time and resources. I greatly appreciate that! You are truly one of the greatest contributors to the BP forums! 

I'm looking to decrease my maintenance expenses. I am looking for someone who can do the first level troubleshooting (and possible repair) before calling in a more skilled tradesman.

Example: if a tenant has a toilet drainage issue, can a handyman deal with it? Or do we need a professional plumber? Sometimes it is just a clog that the tenant doesn't know how to resolve. Sometimes it is serious issue that needs a more technical person to diagnose and fix. I'm looking for someone to span that bridge. 

That is what I'm looking for. A first-level troubleshooter. 

I am self-managing a property in the Hegewisch neighborhood of Chicago. I am looking for referrals for license/bonded handymen who will service that area. The people I have been finding ghost me once they learn that I am an out of state investor. 

Latchel is trying to charge me for over $2,000 for something I have never approved. My limit is set to $500, and I never was sent a request for this repair. The initial tenant issue was settled at $700 and change, which I paid. And with the way Latchel works I haven't been able to figure out a way to challenge this. This isn't the first time they've charged more than I approved. RentRedi should cease doing business with them. 

Update:

As it turns out, the issue wasn't as bad as it seemed. The leak was a problem with the drain from the shower - not a constant running problem as I'd feared (and as the report indicated). That has been fixed, and the damage is very minimal. 

So a lot of people have been suggesting using a property manager. I have used two property management companies. The first was pretty bad (it took them five months to get a nearly turn-key rental on the rental market). They were fairly highly rated, and performed well on my extensive screening interview (we went over an hour).

The second was even worse. His company has a 5-star rating, and upon reading the fine print I discovered he has a non-disparagement clause in his contract. I *should* have caught that before I signed on. The owner of the PM company ALSO owns the maintenance company that does all of their work. As an aside, when I ended the contract with that firm, they mysteriously had maintenance fees that equaled the amount of money in my holding account (nearly $1500!). 

Since I've been self-managing, my tenant has been FAR happier, and my maintenance costs have gone way down. I also manage property in my home town, so I am very familiar with what it takes to manage a property. I just have not encountered this particular situation before, and was looking for suggestions. 

I plan to continue self-managing this property from afar. I was just hoping for some constructive, helpful suggestions on how to proceed with this unusual situation. 

I do have a preferred vendors list that I have been curating since I've taken on management. 

It's kind of frustrating to see all of the negative comments. I *thought* this was a supportive, helpful community. But what I'm seeing is a lot of people making assumptions and finger wagging. 

I have requested a police welfare check, and am awaiting a response. 

Unfortunately I don't have any other contact information for her. The tenant was placed by the property management company I was using at the time, and they either didn't collect information for additional contacts, or didn't pass it along. 

It's an out of state property, so going to check it out for myself isn't a viable option. 

The tenant is on permanent disability, and has been hospitalized a handful of times in the two years that she has lived there. I'm concerned that this might be what's going on now. 

I have a tenant in an out of state property which I am self managing. She put in a maintenance request through Latchel (the RentRedi maintenance management system) for a leaky pipe in the (unfinished) basement. They reached out to me two days later and said they weren't able to contact her via phone, text, or email. She recently changed her phone number, so I gave them the new number. She hasn't responded on that number, either. I've tried to get ahold of her, too, but she hasn't responded. Usually she gets back to me within a couple of hours, but it has been over a day now with no response. 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed? 

Thanks!

Not much - just over $3k. Their plan is to sell each property around the 5 year mark. There was talk of eventually allowing investors to independently sell their shares, but I haven't heard anything about that lately.