All Forum Posts by: Ricardo R.

@Kayla Weigel no worries, BP doesn't allow links but I did send you a DM, if possible you can just quickly type it and leave it that way. Reagarding month-to-month, yes that's a misconception... I a perfect world yes but in reality and in a judges eyes... if someone is on lets say a 5 year lease and they want to leave in month 2.... there is nothing you can do to stop them nor can you go after the 5 year payout, the most you can do is keep their security deposit but even so... that is not a given. So... if all is the same and the only thing a yearly lease do is 'bind' YOU then why not go month-to-month... and in fact since month-to-month automatically renews there is no 'event' for the Tenant to shop around every year. Something to consider.  

@Clinton Davis sorry to hear you are going through this. 

1) You SHOULD give him 24 hours notice to entry. I know he is not a Tenant (no lease) but better safe than sorry to cover your butt. Give 24 hours notice, you're not asking him... you're telling him. 

2) If you are worried, yes you can call the local police department, explain the situation and request a police escort, it they decline at least you have it on record that you requested. If you decide to proceed, record everything. 

3) Many ways to go about this but you should consult an attorney before even going over there to review your options but you will likely have 2 main options all of which lead to him moving out: 

- You can go it the nice way and offer keys for cash, you pay him (an amount less than you would pay for legal fees) to move out; the contigencies are that he must move out all of his belongings, sign a termination, and you pay him on the day he leaves at the door as he is moving out (you then change the locks) - he's out and you have a signed termination, the end. 

- You can go it the more heavy handed way and you will likley be able to file for an emergency eviction becuase your property is being destroyed, to do this you should take photos of the damages during your walk-through. 

*There is one last method, which I do not recommend but it is a method nontheless, you can sign a lease for the property with yourself as the Tenant or anyother person you trust. In this method you are looking for police removal and bypassing the eviction process altogether because after all he is squatter not a tenant. In this method you or the rightfull Tenant on the lease and have much more leverage to file criminal charges vs. the squatter and seek police removal immediately.

Again, you should CONSULT AN ATTORNEY now before you even schedule a walk-through to review your options, you can pursue one option at a time OR you can pursue ALL of them at the same time.  Sent you a DM on BP, if you can assist I would appreciate. 

@Kayla Weigel I will try to help you a bit, I'll send you a DM on BP hopefully you can leave us a review. Also, it goes without saying that you should consult an attorney; Okay briefly reading over your lease agreement, it's a good agreement but it is very loosely written and does not provide for many remedies prior to eviction so... that is something you should look to improve on moving forward, there should be an escalation of force in as $XX fee until rectafied and THEN otherwise eviction, also you should number your lease clauses.

Regarding the current situation first and formost, I understand you live in the property as well but you should certainly take on a 'HANDS OFF' approach in regards to internal disputes amongst Tenants; you are after all a landlord, not the ethics police nor the real police.... if other Tenants have issues such as those they should inform you and then they should contact the police... if it's not police worthy than it is more than likely just internal bickering. 

Okay, now reading over your lease agreement as I noted earlier and as you mentioned, it could be better but, there is one clause 'Noise/Waste' that could apply here, is the Tenant creating a nuiscance? possibly... but to proceed with this you must get everything in writing... meaning that when other Tenants complain to you, you need to have them do so in writing (email is fine; not text) otherwise you should inform them that you won't be able to assist. IN ADDITION once you do have the complaints in writing, section 'Disputes' in your agreement REQUIRES you to attempt to find a solution with the problem Tenant before escalating. Again, you should be able to put this into motion as long as you start a paper trail now, if you haven't done so already; you want accounts from different Tenants covering different instances in writing to show a pattern. 

I will mention it once more, you are landlord/investor - not the ethics police, nor the bickering police, nor an investigator - aside from property maintenace issues and rent, nothing else is your resposibility nor should you involve yourself in issues other than these. 

Moving foward: 1) Enter into month-to-month leases instead of yearly (term) - they are the SAME to YOU but month-to-month give you all the leverage should this occur again in the future. 2) You should add a clause to elaborate on and expand on the current 'Noise/Waste' clause and the new clause should focus mostly on nuiscance and violation of other Tenant's quiet enjoyment and the remedies (fines) leading up to eviction if the issue is not corrected. 3) You should add a clause to protect yourself from the other Tenants (the good Tenants) ensuring to clearly spell out that you are not resposible nor do you guarantee that other Tenants will abide by the lease nor is it your respobility to enforce the lease vs. other Tenants, nor do you guarantee safety. 4) This is the most imporant one that will fix most of your issues: Because you are adding #3, you will now add yet another clause that gives ALL Tenants the right to enforce the lease in regards to your new 'Noise/Waste clause 2'  against any other Tenant who violates it and will idemnify you and hold you harmless, ensure to limit the right to only the pertinent clauses ---- essentially, if Tenant A complains to you that Tenant B is making funny faces at them... you can inform and remind Tenant A (in writing) that if the issue is a problem they have the right to pursue legal action vs. Tenant B as per your new clause... the end... you are no longer stuck in the middle nor are you the bad guy (you will however still retain the right to pursue Tenant B via fines or the same, but ONLY IF YOU CHOOSE and can be done so in conjuction with other Tenants)

I hope this helps, I send you DM on BP, I would truly appreciate if you can assist. 

@Aspen Jay it could be a good idea. Yes you would certainly need to close off the upstairs from the downstairs preferrably with a wall, placed in an area that you can easily take down later down the road when you sell, not to say that you couldn't sell it as a 2 unit but it would be nice for you to keep that option later down the road. 

Regarding the new unit, it should also have a seperate entry and as you mentioned it has its own bathroom and kitchen areas. The other issue to think about is mechanicals i.e. heating and cooling access and control, water heater access, and washer and dryer access. Lastly, you should certainly check with the township as to wheather they have any restrictions or direction on this (they most likely do) so you certainly want to abide by them. I hope this helps, I sent you a DM on BP hope you can assist. 

@Curtis Anderson yes

@Rebekah Bloom I can try to give you some advice but, could you elaborate on the types of 'crazy' fees? what they were and how much they were?

@Nicholas Arcidiacono online rental applications are the standard now. There are many platforms but an easy one and one that you may be familiar with is Zillow... you can certainly have that as your application process and you can QR code it; just right click and select 'Creat QR for this page'. I hope this helps. I sent you a DM on BP, hopefully you can assist. 

@Tyreek King-El Ideally you would want it be as 'clean' as possible. Meaning you would want to have management handle the entire eviction until the very end or you will want to take it over now before they get too far along in the process. Something to keep in mind however is that your choices may be limited depending on weather your PMC filed for eviction as 'them vs. tenant' (which is quite likely how it is now), if so, then you will have two choices: 1) You will have to let them handle eviction until the end OR 2) you will have to re-file for evition as 'you vs. tenant'. 

You mentioned that the eviction process 'has begun' so, you should contact your attorney (preferrably the one you will use) and double tap and verify that what I said is accurate and if so, then go ahead and re-file for eviction NOW as 'you vs. tenant' --- of course you will need to let your PMC know before you do that, to keep them in the loop. I hope this helps, it's always nice to be able to assist another service member; I sent you a DM on BP -- if you are able to assist I would greatly appreciate it. 

@Account Closed sorry to hear that but yeah for sure. As PM's we're exposed to the good and the bad... and that includes BOTH Tenants and Owners. Some owners want to do some unreasonable and 'shady' things like you mentioned regarding the Tenant's security deposit and some others may be too far the other way... for example wanting to stop by every other week to check to see if the Tenant is okay... all very silly. Most Tenants and Owners are great and by far are rockstars but every now and then it amazes me that we'll get an owner that hires us for our experience and expertise and then tries to step in and "co-manage" or want things a certain way aside from our system... we call these time wasters and quickly say 'no thank you'... we have too many GOOD owners and tenants we have to focus on and important things like running a reputable business and ensuring properties are taken cared of for this -- based on data and experience... not opinion. Thank you so much for sharing. 

@Peter D. Selling the lot next door to your rental property may 'de-value' it but it may also help to increase the vaule over-time as well. I'll give my advise based on my understanding of the sitution so hopefully, I understand it correctly: You bought an investment property with a structure (house) on it but which also includes an additional .34 acre lot next to it which is included in the deed and you now want to SPLIT the undeveloped .34 acre from your property and sell it sepearately, do I have that correctly? 

If so, then what I would do is- 1) You mentioned 'wooded' lot, so depending on how much wood we are referring to, I would seek and get bids for selling the wood (I dont imgaine it would be much if anything at all cosidering .34 acres) additionally, you don't want to get rid of every tree; 2) When you split, you can certainly put restrictions in the new deed, i.e. any future structure being build most be between 1,000-1,500 sq.ft., must be single-family use... etc., etc. 

Depending on how many restrictions and what restrictions you put in the new deed (if any) it may decrease the value of the new lot BUT... it may not especially if those restrictions are congruent with the types of properties in the area AND doing so will then ensure that whoever puchases the lot next door to your existing investment property won't be able to build something that will decrease your property value, in fact if you do it properly the restrictions should help INCREASE your property value on the lot you retain. -- So really, yes any value you loose on the split, you should make up for in ensuring that the property next door (whenever it is built) is not run-down and of a certain caliber. 

So the above, is directly in response to your question/strategy BUT, I would certainly consider NOT SELLING THE LOT NEXT DOOR... especially since you said you're seeking 'additional cash-flow' -- if you sell, it won't be recurring cash-flow instead it will be a one-time infusion of cash into your bank account and then its done AND you won't have much control on what happens next door aside from what restrictions you have placed in the deed... why not instead of selling consider... offering it as a 'ground lease' whereas, the person seeking the lot is allowed to build on the lot but then will pay you rent for the use of the land... this would be similar to some commercial agreements or even mobile homes where the tenant owns the structure but you own the land on which it sits on.. it's also quite similar to how McDonalds and some other franchise businesses operate it's how they are able to ensure that the properties being built are built and operated in accordance with their vision, if a tenant does not build it or operate it 'correctly' then the Landlord will have leverage in ensuring that it is rectfied... because after all you do still own the land and may terminate lease if the terms are violated. 

Offering the lot as a ground lease will certainly remain on the market for longer and may take awhile to find a tenant and you ofcourse would not be getting as much of an upfront cash-infusion as if you sold it outright HOWEVER, you can draft up any agreement you want i.e. $XX,XXX upfront and then $xxx per month or per year... whatever, the options are endless here on the agreement side and the additional benefit is there is NOTHING for you to upkeep because again the Tenant owns the structure, lastly if there is a default and your agreement allows it you may assess penalties to ensure it does not bring down your existing property's value, and beyond penalties if the default continues you can foreclose on the structure... the structure is your security. 

Just food for thought, I sent you DM on BP, if you are able to assist I would great appreciate it. I hope this helps.