All Forum Posts by: David Jay

Quote from @John Reagan Johnson:

Quote from @Steve Smith:

Who gives a rats behind if the bathroom is dirty? If you have a paying tenant, especially for several years. KEEP HIM!

If the dirty bathroom bothers you that much, send in a cleaning crew and clean it for him, but emphasize that he'll have to keep it clean in the future. Cleaning or doing work on a house with a paying tenant in it is usually much better than having it vacant with no rent coming in.

Tenant turn over is way more expensive than cleaning a bathroom.

 I second this Steve! It will cost more in vacancy time and leasing to find a new tenant, than it will to have the bathrooms professionally cleaned. Keep the good tenants in your property, and continue to collect the rent! 

As I mentioned before I don’t consider tenants who don’t take care of the property to be good tenants. My properties are A/B+ and the tenants I rent to have good credit scores. With over a dozen of years as a landlord and over a dozen properties I’ve only had one eviction for non payment. I’d say on literally 50% of my turnovers the tenants have had the place professionally cleaned when they vacate leaving it in the same shape when they took possession.  The tenants have been served with violations, it’s their responsibility, we’ll see what they choose and I’m fine if they decide to leave. 

For years I’ve had almost all my leases rollover to M2M at the end of the first twelve months. Yes, I get an occasional turnover at a less desirable time, but find there’s also less inventory then which helps. But in general my tenants have gone on to stay for years after going M2M. I wonder how often a tenant does not want to lock into another year lease but then goes M2M and ends up staying for years, at least for me it’s worked out OK. In fact I have a several tenants that have been in my properties 7-12 years under that arrangement. I’m almost ready for them to move at this point, just for the opportunity to really go through the property and decide if I want to do something different. 

Just a little follow up.  I spoke with my PM who already issued lease violations for unsanitary conditions.  The units will be reinspected and if the bathrooms are not cleaned up the PM will send in cleaners at the tenants expense.  Current rent increase will be $200/month which is more than the 3-5% they are accustomed too.  While market may be $100 more per month that is assuming better condition which at a minimum will require full interior repaint, cleaning etc...So they will either change or move, I'm fine with either, but no way am I going to send in cleaners at my expense to keep them as tenants.  While long term tenants are fine, my rentals are all nice sfh that have appreciated massively since purchase.  Personally, I'm fine and in a way prefer if a tenant moves after 5-7 years, it gives me a way to really look at the home and protect my investment. 

Quote from @Steve Smith:

I could argue strongly to keep the tenant and if there's no major concerns of significant damage, just clean if you want. You've got room to increase the rent by 3% per year which is a good number. Keeps up with inflation and a good tenant won't move because of that.

I would NOT inspect more than once a year, and might only inspect at the time you do something for him, like clean the ducts and replace filters.... and carefully work with the tenant to get things cleaned up. A good tenant that is putting money in your pocket is worth keeping and bending a lot to keep him. 

That’s just it. I don’t think a tenant that literally does not clean at all is a good tenant. My properties are pretty upscale, granite kitchens, upscale appliances, nice LVP or laminate floors and are immaculately clean when they move in. They have modern HVAC that I service twice yearly and I maintain all the landscaping in great shape. I’ve found that these types of properties generally attract a higher quality tenant. Most of my turnovers are very quick, some touch up paint a thorough cleaning and minor repairs. I’ve only had one other property that was left pretty filthy and the deposit did not cover the cost to refresh the unit. In fact I also have a couple student rentals and they have always been clean. I even had 3 football players in one for a few years and they left the place in great shape. The thing is a tenant like this can rent similar square footage and yard space in the same neighborhood for a few hundred less without the upscale touches. So why spend the extra on rent when you live like a pig. In fact they are already breaking the lease since there’s a clause about maintaining it in a sanitary condition and this is decidedly not sanitary. 

My rentals are mostly nice sfh, solid B properties in good neighborhoods. I maintain them well and they are always in great condition when I rent them. I have a few long term tenants that have been there 6-12 years. I recently had my property manager inspect some of the long terms. Honestly on a couple it looks like the bathrooms have not been cleaned since the tenants moved in. The PM sent me pictures and it makes me wonder if the showers will ever be the same. Coincidentally, or not these rentals have a single male or two male roommates. In 13 years of doing this I’ve only had one other turn over that filthy (also a single male). So what would you do with the dirty ones at this point. My inclination is to raise the rent substantially, eg current rent is $2300 market is now $2600.  So I’d just raise it $300 instead of the $100-$150 I was planning. Or simply terminate the lease, take my lumps, and re rent it at market. How have you handled filthy tenants. I’d add nothing seems destroyed per se, but one house had a brand new shower when the tenant moved in and I wonder if it will ever be the same. Besides a deep cleaning the house would need a full repaint to turn over. 

I’ve always done 1 year than month to month afterwards. Sometimes the tenant wants to renew the lease for their stability and I’m fine with that. I have a few student rentals and on those I always time the lease for June and make them sign another year if they plan to stay. That’s worked fine for me. 

Who are you negotiating with, the tenant or the property manager. I wouldn’t negotiate with either. You offered a reasonable increase and continued below market rent. If you are right about the market it’s not like the tenant can simply relocate to something cheaper that will compare with your current rental. If the current tenants can’t afford to keep up with the market you may not want them long term. Personally, I do keep my reliable tenants a bit below market, but if markets $1800 they might be at $1650 at best. I wouldn’t fear a turnover if it will get you to market and moving forward you do yearly rent increases. 

I'd recommend Shoenberger and Shoenberger.  George Shoenberger the owner is very responsive to his clients.  They do an all around great job.  He's been managing multiple properties for me for over ten years.

Wow. I’ve never interviewed a contractor without a set project in mind. Rather I’ve gotten a bid on the project and the”interview” and the bid are one and the same. 

So if I’m understanding this correctly you live next door to a house that looks terrible. It’s inhabited by a bunch of drug addicts. So I’m thinking one of two things is happening. 
There are a bunch of deadbeats living off the son. They drink and smoke weed and come and go at odd hours in junker cars. Hey I wouldn’t want to live next door to them either. But I get that the cops have bigger fish to fry and I doubt a lawsuit will solve it. 
Or there are true criminals with weapons dealing meth and fentanyl with cars pulling up day and night to buy drugs. Have to believe even in California the cops would shut that sh.t down. 
if it’s truly criminal activity you need the police. You just need to keep pushing up the chain of command. If it’s more a nuisance consult a lawyer. They can probably provide better advice then a random forum post.