All Forum Posts by: Alex O.

Hello everyone,

I need some expert advice and opinion on this situation. In my 4-Plex, I have one unit with roommates who have been generating a lot of noise complaints from the unit below them. They are loud in the middle of the night and make it hard for him to sleep. This happened earlier in the year and the situation seemed to be resolved with one of the roommates giving her number to the other tenant and saying to let them know if there is a bother. That has seemed to work for awhile, but they have picked up again and the annoyed tenant now feels like he lives in a frat house.

Additionally, while I cannot prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, the tenant and I think that they moved in their boyfriends. This angers me because we do very strict screening and having an unknown element, while most likely harmless, it is not good business. The rent is always paid on time and the lease ends at the end of June, so about 9 more weeks. They are already not being renewed so the problem will eventually go away. In fact I plan on marketing it as a one bedroom plus den to avoid getting into a roommate situation again.

I need some advice on what to do; I feel like an RA in a dorm! The rest of the tenants are great and have no problems. I really think it's just roommates that make the worst tenants.

What's the most tactful way to resolve this? Accusing them of having more people in there won't really gain me anything - I see it devolving into a he said/she said. Plus, what are the consequences at this point if they don't comply? An eviction seems like an overreaction and a waste of resources, especially since they will be gone soon and are paying. I can ask them if they want to leave early (it will rent quick) but that's not a guarantee and not the most feasible thing right now.

Am I stuck to a strongly worded email asking them to be mindful and also reminding them that they are not permitted to bring people to live there that aren't on the lease?

Thanks!

Here, Chase is the prevalent bank and I've trained all my tenants to use their person to person quickpay service. It's free and easy to use and setup. Even if they don't have a Chase account, they can link any other account to it and send me the rent electronically - I get text and email notifications. The money clears same day if it's a Chase account sending to a Chase account and if it's just a linked account, it takes an additional day or two. I've never had a problem with it before.

https://www.chase.com/online-banking/quickpay

I've used it for contracts both as a landlord and for contracts in my 9-5 with no issue. Electronic signature's have been legal for quite sometime now, so it shouldn't be an issue of legality.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_signature#Enforceability_of_electronic_signatures

I also don't trust tenants for maintenance things. But I like to do it myself because it gives me an excuse to inspect the property. This way I have a legit maintenance excuse to drop-in, look around and make sure everything is going as planned.

Get familiar with your local laws and make sure your lease complies. Where I am, IL has it's own laws regulating deposits (nothing too extreme), but for Chicago, there's another set of laws that's just downright anti-landlord. Everything from notice periods to deposits are spelled out and violating it will get you absolutely screwed in front of a judge if it comes to that.

If you have a tenant that wants a landline, most if not all cable companies offer phone line service. The line runs through their regular coax cable and uses what is essentially a special modem. As long as you have cable, you have phone access.

Thanks to everyone for their quick replies! I've had my share of stupid from tenants and sadly, now that I think about it, this one isn't even the worst.

The dryer is definitely vented to the outside. You are all right, I will just pay for the repair, I was going to fix it anyways, because it just needs to be done, but I won't press on it with the tenant.

Jon, you are right, it is absolutely part of the deal. For me, I added a W/D to a unit that didn't have one at all; the increase alone in rent paid for the W/D and the work in about 6 months. But I do know I'm playing with fire :)

Tenant who has been in the unit for about 2 months contacted me the other day about the in unit stacked dryer being broken. For reference, it's stacked, with the washer on the bottom and the gas dryer on top in a custom closet, it's fully enclosed with one of those vented folding doors on it. There was an error code and it wouldn't work, the unit is just over a year old, so out of warranty. I researched and it turns out the code indicates something overheated and it's a failsafe to replace a specific part. I just called a repair company who was able to meet the tenant same day and the part is on order.

I head over to the building today to do my usual changing of the air filters and general inspection of each unit. I decide to check out the dryer myself, to no surprise, it had the issues and won't work. However, I notice the tenant decided to stack a bunch of moving boxes to the sides of the unit. I mean packed in there nice and tight, as many as he could cram. Common sense indicates that 1. it's a fire hazard and 2. it's restricting the airflow and probably caused the overheating.

I called the repair place and talked to the tech, he confirmed that the cardboard was there when he showed up, so at least the tenant can't claim he just happened to put it there yesterday. But he hemmed and hawed as to whether the cardboard caused the damage and said it could be a blocked vent, but he would know more when the part comes in and they do the fix. The repair will cost me at least $210.

My question is, how should I play this? To me it seems like common sense that this guy caused the problem. My issue is, if I deduct it from his deposit and he contests it, I will have to prove to a judge with absolute certainty that he did this. Deposit penalties where I am are insane and just wouldn't be worth it on the chance I lost. I've already sent an email telling him to move the cardboard because it's a fire hazard and he has acknowledged it, apologized and said he will move it.

I know I screwed up by trusting this guy would have some damn common sense and not inspecting the issue in person. Had I seen the cardboard, the whole thing would have been different and I would have put the repair on him. Lesson learned. Also, I know that a lot of the experts don't like providing in unit W/D, but where I am, apartments in these neighborhoods always provide laundry. It's just standard to have them in nicer units as absolutely no one owns their own to bring along. The better tenants that I cater to expect this and will pay for it; going to a laundromat isn't an option.

For me it's a mixed bag; when it's the "high season" - April through Sept, I've been getting people jumping on showings same day or the next day at the latest. I prefer to do a cattle call of showings, cramming them in 10 minute blocks starting at 5:30 (right after work for most). That way, the prospects see the next person waiting out front and can make eye contact with their competition. It lets them know that there is real interest and if you really want it, you should jump on the application. If your PM isn't doing any weekday showings, he's doing you a disservice. He should work a little harder for his taste of your investment otherwise you should find other means to get this handled.

I've trained all my tenants to use Chase Person to Person Quickpay. It's free (even if you don't have a Chase account), really easy to use and you don't have to give out account information; they just email you the funds. Just a word of caution, they only let you send $2k in a transaction, so if someone's rent is higher, it might not be the best option. Your bank might have a similar service.