All Forum Posts by: Gabe N.

I need some advice on the following situation.

I am sorry for asking such a basic question, but unfortunately, I am still new to this and never dealt with this type of scenario before.

I have a single family home that is part of an HOA.

My main goal is to protect the asset and avoid any potential financial loss as much as possible.

The current lease agreement states that the tenants are responsible for mowing the grass.

They are also responsible for paying any HOA fines, etc

Unfortunately after multiple attempts to get through to them to cut the grass, the grass was never cut and the yard is getting worst and worst.

They also refuse to turn on the sprinkler system which is causing the grass to slowly die. The lease agreement also states that they are responsible for any landscaping damage due to lack of watering or neglect. However since this is a very large yard their deposit will not cover the amount that would be required to bring the front and back yard to the same condition before they moved in. 

I understand that the best way for me to avoid this type of drama in the future would be for the landlord to handle all lawn maintenance and upkeep

What are my options?

1- Go the eviction route,

Send them a 7 day notice to cure and if they dont comply get someone to cut the grass and send them the bill If they dont pay then go the eviction route. Or send them multiple xx days to cure notices and if they dont comply then start the eviction process.

My concern here is that people can get pissed off and potentially damage the property when they are forced to move out.

2- a more passive approach to just suck it up and when its time to renew the lease then increase the rent by several hundreds of dollars so that they will leave on their own. (there is no restrictions on rent increases in TX)

any other idea on how to handle this type of situation?

I have a prospective tenant that filled out an application.

However I need some advice on qualifying this individual.

The current rent is 3600
The applicant is a family 
The Spouse doesnt work 
The main applicant gross W2 income is around $10000 month
The monthly net income is $5700
No car loan's 
No credit cards balances
They pay $800 month on a personal loan.

Since a rent check is written after net income is received. I am concerned that they might not be able to afford the rent.
would you qualify a prospective tenant based on these numbers?  In the past I have asked for a higher deposit but I just dont want to deal with any potential non payment issues nor evictions.

Hi
I am sorry for asking this topic if it has been covered already.
I have an asset that is a single family home in an upper scale neighborhood.
The current tenants are a family of 4.

In my lease agreement I have spelled out that the tenant is responsible for pulling weeds and raking up the leaves. 
I also have a clause about doing quarterly inspections inside and outside of the property.

In my most recent inspection I noticed that the tenants are letting the weeds grow out of control.
I also noticed that they made a hole in a wall due to slamming the door against the wall.

I asked them to take care of the weeds and explained that letting the weeds grow out of control is a violation of the lease agreement and the HOA rules. The HoA can issue a citation for the yard being full of weeds and that they would be responsible for paying the fines.
I also mentioned about the hole in the wall. However so far i just got lip service and no action. Their lease agreement expires in 11 months.

what is the best approach to motivate the tenants to address these two issues and be as civil as possible about the situation?

I have a single family home that i have been renting to the same family for 7 years. 
During their tendency, I have made a lot of upgrades in the house.  I would like to take some pictures of the house right now
for marketing the property after they leave. The tenant gave me verbal permission and written permissions through a text message that they are fine with me taking and using these pictures of the house for marketing reasons. I am not sure if i am being too paranoid but Should i get them to sign some document indicating that they don't have any rights to these pictures and the landlord is the owner of the pics?

If so, does' anyone have any doc like this that you can give me?

I just had some new tenants move in (a family of 3). When i met them in order to give them the keys I found out that the spouse was 8+ months pregnant. A few days later I found out that her mom will be staying with them for a few weeks in order to help out with the new baby. In my lease agreements it states that no one can stay longer than 1 week without landlords permission.

Even though they never asked me for permission, I honestly dont have any problems if the mother in law lives with them for a few months to help with the baby. However I am curious apart from financial responsibility is there any other reason why everyone who lives in the house needs to be on the lease?

Is it in my best interest to add the newborn to the lease as soon as possible?

What is the best way to handle this type of situation?

Hi

i am not an expert on this, and dont have the best people skills in the world. I noticed a trend that no matter how big or small something is damaged all tenant's seem to always deny it and never seem to accept any responsibility and they always claim that its never their fault. 
I am not interested in pointing fingers but would like to get some advice in order to find a way for the tenant to accept some or all responsibility for damage caused while they are living in the house. Doesn't matter if they did the damage or if it was their kid, dog , friend or if the damage occured without their knowledge. 

The way i look at it , if i borrow my friends car and someone scratches it while i am in the grocery store, even though I didnt cause the damage, its still my responsibility for the damage because it occured on my watch.

How do most people deal with these type of situations where the tenants act like the victim and denies that they did anything wrong?

Hi,
I am looking for some advice on how to find better tenants.

Does anyone have any ideas on some screening questions that will help me find someone that fits the following criteria?
1- Someone who can do minor repairs and would not complain about every little thing, and if they see that the door handle is loose they can get a screw driver and tighten the bolts instead of calling and complaining about it and asking to send someone to fix it.
2- SOmeone who would tell me when there is a problem big or small even if they decide to fix it themselves.
3- Someone who would take care of of all of the yard work and not just mow the grass, for example like trim bushes, pull weeds from flower beds etc.
4- SOmeone who would not make structural changes (like removing closet doors or changing light fixtures ) even though its clearly stated in the lease agreement that its not allowed.

I know that there is no such thing as the perfect tenant and that people will do strange things.
But, I got lucky once and found someone like this in the past but it was due to pure luck.
SO  I am trying to see if there is anything that i can ask a prospective tenant in order to determine if they would be a good match and meet my criteria as best as possible.

Hi 

I have a single family home rental property in Texas.
Their lease is about to expire in 30 days. 14 days after my My tenant gave his 60 day notice, the tenant overfilled the kitchen sink and flooded a portion of the house. He took responsibility and said that he will cover the damages. The same day that this happened he hired and paid for a water removal/restoration company that came and brought some fans and a dehumidifier going for about a week. The tenant paid for this service and told me that he will coverall of the water damages. As time went by we learned that the kitchen cabinets might be damaged and most company's prefer to tear everything out and do a full replace instead of doing the cabinet repair. The tenant proposed that he will pay for the insurance deductible in order to cover the damages.

My concerns are that given my previous interactions with him, he doesn't fulfil his promises and kind of hinted in an indirect way that i can just keep his deposit.  

I don't want to drag this out so I am trying to avoid going through a full kitchen remodel and avoid going through insurance since the house will not be occupied for several months.

For reference most of the quotes that I have received are over 10k.

How much should i charge him for the damage (my insurance deductible or the actual amount I will pay to do the work)?
What is the best course of action that i can take in order to ensure that i get reimbursed or paid for the damage?
What would a professional management company do in this type of scenario?

Thanks in Advance
-Gabe