All Forum Posts by: Cara Fazio

Interested how others would handle this type of perspective tenant.

My property is very close to a university with a large amount of international students. I was contacted by a perspective tenant who said they were going to be attending the university as a PhD student, but they have no credit since they were not from the US. Obviously, there are plenty of international students who attend this university who would also be responsible tenants. How would you go about qualifying someone like this?

@Ned J. Rent was $1,750. I just had the one month rent as security deposit and not a separate pet deposit. Unfortunately, we tried power washing and it did not help with the smell. It is a small area though, so not too complicated to replace the boards.

Thanks for your input! 

Tenant is a general surgeon who was completing a fellowship at one of the best hospitals in the country and had great credit.  I was not expecting to have this kind of damage and am definitely going to be rethinking my pet policy going forward.  Good news is the place is already rented for May 1st and new tenants have no pets! 

I just had tenants move out a week ago and have incurred some significant expenses getting it cleaned and ready for new occupants.  This is a class A rental that was spotless when the tenants moved in 1.5 years ago.  These tenants had a large dog that was the source of most of the damage. We did our best to clean the affected areas and avoid replacement, but we ended up having to go the replacement rout after spending considerable $$ trying to clean.  

I spent $550 with Stanley Steamer to deep clean and deodorize the carpets and deep clean all of the tile surfaces (mostly the kitchen and back hall area that smelled horribly of dog urine).  The house is mostly hard wood floors with carpet only on the 3rd floor and staircases.  The 3rd floor carpet came out great and looks new again, but the carpet on the stairs from 1st to 2nd floor still smelled like a dirty dog dog bed after cleaning (it was clear they never used a vacuum).  We are now having to replace the carpet on the stairs (I don't have a quote for the carpet replacement yet).  What is reasonable to charge? Carpet was about 2 years old when they moved in. I am thinking I will charge them the full $550 for cleaning and take the hit for replacing the carpet. 

We also discovered the garbage disposal was broken and had been leaking (tenants had a bucket under the sink).  I am now going to be replacing the garbage disposal (which was also only 2 years old).  Is it reasonable to charge the tenants for the replacement since they clearly knew there was an issue and didn't report it?

I also spent $360 having the place professionally deep cleaned, $260 to have furniture they left hauled away and I am having to replace all of the deck boards on the back porch that their dog urinated all over (still waiting on a quote for this).  It is not looking like there will be much left over from their $1,750 deposit.   

It is covered by both the love seat and the curtains.  This is what it looks like up close. 

This is the window in question. Crack is in the bottom left corner of the middle window (window is completely painted shut and doesn't open)

The city inspector has been in the unit 3 times since I purchased the house (for point of sale inspections and occupancy permit) and this issue has never been mentioned.

It is a 100 year old house - front bay window with original details that a vinyl replacement window would not be able to replicate, so replacing the glass is the only option. The rest of the house is all new windows (one of the few in the area that has this upgrade)

I had planned to reglaze and repair when I paint the exterior of the house next year (this is a side by side duplex so there are two matching bay windows I would be reglazing). The question really is can this wait until then?

I had new tenants move in a few weeks ago and they just sent over a list of “maintenance issues”

One of the items is a crack in the front window. I am aware the window is cracked (it has been like that for years and was never mentioned by previous tenants). It is the only original window left in the house and it doesn’t open (middle part of a bay window). The crack is about 12” long in the bottom corner, with no possibility of it spreading further and there is also a storm window that is fully intact.

Do I need to have the glass replaced? It is not a small window and I am worried that replacing the glass will be pricey. I have always thought of it as a cosmetic thing, but obviously want to fix it if it is truly a hazard.

I have a duplex in Cleveland Heights and need to have the roof evaluated.  We had a small leak due to an ice dam in January (when we got that huge snow storm) and I know the roof needs some work.  The shingles look like they are in good condition, but the flashing and the gutters definitely need some work.  Does anyone have recommendations for a roofer in the Cleveland area?