All Forum Posts by: Shawn Davis

Hi Robert - The first thing you need to do is pull out your lease and see what it says regarding lease term.  If you are still within the timeframe of a term lease then the rent cannot be raised until the end of the term.  If the term of your initial lease is long past (or you don't have a written lease) then you are on a month-to-month and the new landlord can raise rent with the proper notice for your area.  You say yourself that your rent is well under market.  That you think the new owners purchased at a bad price is completely irrelevant.   If the property supports a higher rent then someone will pay it.  If you like living there then maybe that person will be you.  If not, you are free to leave with the proper notice.  If it has been a while since your rent has been raised you might be in for a nasty surprise about what market rent is.  Rents all over the country have gone up considerably in the last few years.  Landlords typically like to keep good tenants so if you and your mom are good tenants, then you might find that the $200 increase would still be under market and fair given market rents in your area.  Finally, keep in mind that there are ongoing costs to maintaining a property that might not be readily apparent to a long time renter.  The rent you pay isn't all profit to your landlord.  There are a lot of expenses involved.  Take a few minutes and look on Craigslist at what your rental options would be if you decided to move. You might find that you have nothing to complain about or you might find a nicer place for a price that you are willing to pay.  Good luck to you and your mom.

Hi David - Something to be aware of - There are likely landlord/tenant laws in effect for your area that spell out the amount of notice required for termination of a month-to-month lease.  If so, they trump whatever your agreement says, so if the law states 30 day notice (very common on a MTM) then your 60 day notice requirement isn't valid even if he signed the lease with that provision included.  I'm with @John Anderson on this one but if you want to keep what you are entitled to, you need to make sure that you know what the rules are.  Its highly likely that you are only entitled to a portion of October's rent.

There is a noticeable difference in your response rate to advertising for an open unit in the winter vs. the summer.    When it is an intra-city move, I have found that my first responders are people who NEED to move and often times aren't the kind of renter's I am looking for.  

Having said that, in a city the size of Chicago, people are moving at all times of the year but you should plan for a longer vacancy if you are seeking a renter in November -Jan.  Just price that into your offer or look at properties with existing tenants/leases.  Because the slow season is typically slower for sellers too and they may be motivated to get it sold before winter as well.

I go out of my way to avoid vacancies in November and December.  But if you are purchasing, just manipulate the closing date so you aren't holding a vacant property during these times.

If you need to do work on the property anyway, you can try to get it done during the slow rent months and be ready to rent in January-February when things are moving again.  

It also depends on your target renter(s) given the quality/location of the property you are seeking.  Professionals move in and out of Chicago at all times of the year for work

Hi Tony - If it is standard in your market is for leases to begin/end at the beginning and end of a month  then do it the way you initially thought.   You will have the best chance at a quick turnover if you do it that way (more likely someone will want to move in on the 1st than the 24th.  In my market, people move on any given day of the month so when I have a situation like this, I typically have the lease end on a Friday night so new tenants have the weekend to move in. I always run it by the prospective tenant first.  Good luck.

Hi Julie - I am sorry you are having this experience.  If what you are saying about your agent is true (they are saying they are showing it but they aren't, the home was under contract but It hasn't been in two weeks, and your agent's advertising still shows under contract) both are COMPLETELY  UNACCEPTABLE for any licensed professional.  I personally would drop this agent immediately.  But I would have already talked with him about these issues if I knew he was lying about showing it or if I noticed the status was incorrect.  Like another poster said, you may have to discuss this with his broker but a good broker will realize that, if substantiated, these are not petty concerns either.  

I do wonder, you mentioned that the only place your broker has your home listed is on Realtor.com which I find extremely odd. Do you not have a local MLS? In our state, a listing must be placed on the MLS within a short amount of time from taking the listing agreement unless the seller requests otherwise. Why wouldn't the broker use what is arguably the best mode of advertising a listing to other realtors?

You may have to drop the price to get it sold.  This would be a good conversation to have with your realtor if you had confidence in them.

Hi Michael - are you clear about what your prospective tenant was asking?  Was he letting you know that he was licensed to GROW marijuana or use it as part of a medical treatment plan?  I don't know any doctor that prescribes smoking of marijuana as a medical treatment but I'm sure those seeking such a thing could get it.  I'm wondering if he was trying to find out how you felt about having medical marijuana grown on your property in which case my response would be absolutely not.  I purchased a home out of foreclosure where the prior tenants had used the home to grow and there was a lot that had to be done in remediation.  It's NOT good for your home. As far as the medical marijuana goes, it's  legal in Oregon as well but we have an explicit right to say "no thank you" as landlords here (there is even a provision in the state endorsed lease that says no marijuana for any reason)  I'm sure the state of Colorado has dealt with this and you will want to know what the law there is before you respond.

who is paying the water and electric on the washer/dryer usage?  

When you purchase a property with a lease in place you inherit the lease as it is and must abide by its terms.  You indicate that the lease "expires in May" which tells me that it is a term lease.  Rent may not be raised by notice during the term of the existing lease.  If you want to raise rent, get clear about how much notice you must give pursuant to your local rules and then make sure you notify your tenant that many days out from the end of their lease.  If they are a good tenant and you want to keep them (remember, vacancies are among the most costly "expenses" for a landlord),  you can point out to them where the extra value is in what they are getting. I also like to tell my good tenants that I appreciate them, and want to incentivize them for continuing on with me but I need to bring them closer to market rent.  I always give my continuing good tenants a slight break in rent $10-25/month as recognition that they are valuable to me.  Not everyone agrees with this but for me, my first 3 week vacancy taught me a lot about the economics of an empty unit (not just loss of rent but also make ready expenses in addition, and the added part of not knowing how the new tenant would be).  After that, I always balance the real cost of vacancy with the loss to lease for not keeping rent at market.  

Good grief - are you serious?  Maybe there is more to this story you aren't telling us?  I'm not trying to pick on you because I think you are asking in earnest so here goes.  I was a landlord in Chicago for many years and while I always paid the interest (it really is a pittance) for many years, I was not aware that the interest had to be paid out periodically for long term tenants and I would just give it back at the end.  Once I learned that it had to be paid out periodically, I did so and frankly my tenants were always surprised and didn't expect it.  My question for you is what is your aim here?  I believe there is a VERY big difference between knowing your rights to protect yourself and knowing your rights so you can wait for a mis-step to pounce and hopefully profit from someone's mistake.   If your landlord was halfway decent (and if you got your security deposit back - that says a lot) for goodness sakes, let it go.   Give a little grace, maybe someday you might need it too.  

Lest you think we are taking it easy on one of our own, I can assure that the responses would be the same if there was a landlord on the forums up in arms because an otherwise decent tenant moved out owing $1.00.  Move on...

hi Janier - Ned is right.  It sure sounds like you had several legitimate reasons to withhold portions of the security deposit but it will ultimately come down to weather you properly documented the renter's deficiencies and if you did a proper and timely security deposit accounting per The laws in Massachusettes.  Imagine that the judge won't let you talk at all - can you tell the story through proper documentation?  If you did, I wouldn't be too concerned with her threats, but if not...