All Forum Posts by: Fred Lutes

Thanks so much for your great advice in the past. I have a quick question concerning potential mold: I am renting a 2004 built, 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in a fairly dry climate. My tenants informed me on Wednesday, (2 days ago) by text that they think there is a leak in the roof above the master bathroom and sent a picture of what looks like a slight bubble in the sheetrock paint about 2.5 inches in diameter. It was raining on Wednesday, so I told them that I wanted to wait until the roof was dryed out somewhat to get on the roof. I told them possibly Friday. It was still damp today, (Friday), so I told them I would be over Sunday or Monday. (I had mentioned to them that it was likely a worn out rubber boot on the plumbing vent or the vent for the bathroom exhaust fan because these were the only penetrations on the roof.) I also have a glass guy coming on Monday to adjust the patio slider because they had complained that the door was becoming difficult to open. I texted to them that the glass guy was coming at 11am on Monday, (I intend to meet him there).

After my text this morning, My tenant texted back: 'I am very sensitive to molds and have not been feeling well the last couple of days so please do  as I am sure you would ensure inspection is thorough for that and the bedroom smelled very musty when I got home from work last night'.

I texted back that the roof should be safe to walk on by Sunday and that I have a roofer coming over on Monday. (3 days from today.)

They texted back that 'You want to look at it from the attic asap before it dries out and would be most concerned about mold. I had to tear out a ceiling about 4 years ago for same reason.'

After this text, I decided to contact a local restoration company to test for mold and give me a report. The representative said that he could make it over this Monday, so I am scheduling him at the same time as the roofer.

My tenants of 1 3/4 years are nice people but demanding and recently used the veiled threat of a teenage son with emotional issues needing a service animal to 'persuade' us to allow a dog. (Another story which I resolved thanks to some excellent advice received here.)

Sorry for the long story but wanted to give some background for a better picture and am hoping to get advice. My opinion is that there is no mold and in our fairly dry climate, mold is very uncommon but not unheard of.

After arranging for the roof repair and inspection 3 days from now, is there anything else that I should do that would be prudent and practical.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Thank you so much to all of you for the excellent replies. Lots of great information and suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time to share your wisdom. Thank you again!

Our tenants have been renting our house (single family-3 bdrm, 2 bath, 2 car garage) for about the past 18 months. We rent it at slightly below the market (we are renting it at $1450 per month and the market is $1500-$1550 per month, but we are also providing lawn care at a cost of about $1200 per year. I bring this up to illustrate that we believe our tenants are getting a very fair deal.)

Their first 12 months was a 1 year lease and after one year, we signed a new lease, but changed it to a month to month lease so at this time they are in a month to month lease with us. Our original lease and our new month to month lease stated that there were no pets and they agreed with this. About 5 months into their tenancy, they approached us and asked if we would change our mind and allow them to get a dog? (They said they used to own a Golden Lab Retriever and said that is what they would like to get.) We sympathized with them but said that we would not allow them to have a dog at this house. I told them at the time that I understood how important a dog is to many people (We also have dogs so we get it, and we have also seen how destructive dogs can be.) and we would allow them to break the remainder of their one year lease without penalty and move to a place where they could have a dog. At that time, they decided not to get a dog.

Fast forward to today: They met with us and said that their 17 year old son (They also have a 21 year old son at home.) has been 'acting out' and had many difficulties. They related that he is currently under therapy and his therapist has recommended that an emotional support animal may be helpful. They said that they have not pursued getting a dog because they wanted to talk with us first. We told them that we were not enthusiastic about changing our mind and allowing dogs. They said that they thought that a Golden Lab Retriever would make an ideal emotional support animal. They brought up possibly paying a larger deposit and spoke with me to try to isolate our objections to see what could be done to change our mind. I also mentioned that there may be other places they could live that would welcome pets and they said that they didn't want to move and changing their son's environment would not be good for him. We left our meeting on good terms with me communicating that we were not inclined to agree with the idea but would consider what they said and get back to them in the next several days.

These tenants have paid on time and been somewhat demanding but take decent care of the home. We have had a fairly positive relationship with them, but our bottom line is that we don't want to allow pets at this house. We would be sorry to have these folks move out but would far rather have them move out than allow them to have a dog.

We are located in Washington State and I have done some studying of the laws concerning service animals and a little bit concerning emotional support animals and we're not sure of our rights with existing tenants. We realize that our options as landlords may be limited. We are members of the local rental owners association and plan to check with their hotline number for advice and also plan to get recommendations for a local attorney and plan to buy an hour or two of their time for advice.

Has anyone here ran into this issue with existing tenants?

Any additional or alternative suggestions on how me might proceed?

Thanks for your help!

Brian, Thanks for the answer & info. I appreciate it!

I am planning to convert a company 401k plan from a previous employer to a solo 401k plan and purchase a single family home as a rental with those funds.  I currently own and manage 2 properties and am a real estate professional. I understand that the rules on working on or adding value to a property purchased through a solo 401K plan are pretty clear. You can't. The info on managing these properties seems to be less clear. Can I act as an uncompensated property manager for this property? Typical duties being advertising, receiving screening results from screening companies, collecting rents, ordering & paying for maintenance etc? What is the consensus here on me doing that? All help appreciated!