All Forum Posts by: Gail K.

Any idea why these ceilings are short?  Can they be raised?  I have one house where the ceilings are shorter than normal (probably 7 feet tall).  This is a rental though.  Interestingly, tenants don't mind as this helps with the utility costs.  The two young men who currently rent this are quite tall (both over six feet) and did ask if the ceiling fans could be replaced with flush mounted ceiling lights as they were worried about bumping into the fans.  I have friends who rent apartments converted in very old homes in our "Old Towne" area that have 10-12 foot ceilings and very large, older windows.  They love the look but often comment that their utility costs of heating and cooling are very, very high.

When a tenant breaks a lease the landlord does have an obligation to make the effort to try and rent the property again.  The very general rule is giving the landlord 2 months to do this.  This is why many lease breaking clauses require a certain number of days notice plus 2 months worth of rent on the part of the tenant.   In cases where tenants have sued landlords for not returning funds such as a security deposit or prepaid rent the landlord must show the court they have made a reasonable attempt to find a replacement tenant.  The emphasis is on reasonable, not heroic.  You would not have to take the first applicant who contacts you; you are allowed to screen applicants as you normally would.

Thus if you find a suitable tenant one month after this tenant has vacated you need to return their two months worth of prepaid rent to them.

Often the documentation of the service of eviction notices will be online through the local law enforcement agency that provides these notifications and oversees evictions.

I had to go back (waay back) to pull up a youtube video I saw quite a while ago regarding a product called Ekopel 2K for do it yourself reglazing of bathtubs.  More expensive than the stuff from the big box stores (but those products don't last very long) but less expensive than professional reglazing.  Adequate prep is vital when trying this yourself.

I grew up in Illinois and we lived in apartments most of the time (my father was a janitor who managed three buildings and one of these gave the janitor the basement apartment rent free with the stipulation he was "on call" 23/7).  All we had was radiator steam heat.  There are still lots of properties (especially in the northeast) that use this method for heating.  Current radiators are probably more efficient than what we had so if you find the older ones don't look or work so well you can consider replacing them and keep the steam heat process.

When gas got deregulated in many areas of the country (quite a few years ago) many were happy because now they had a wide variety of companies to go with as their source of gas.  The problem is that many of the lines bringing gas INTO properties are still owned by the original company and they take their cut of the cost via what they often describe as a "pass through" charge.

I recently had gas turned on at a property we were selling as required for the inspection.  It was still warm here in Georgia so no need for extra heat and the gas was used only during the inspection.  Charged for turn on (of course) which is handled by the original company that still has the contract to do this.  Final bill received showed 3/4's of the charges were for "pass through".

In my neck of the woods professional reglazing tub estimates run $600 to $950.  Companies that provide and cover the old tub have estimates close to $2K.

Plumbing issues seem to be one issue that a fair number of landlords get contacted about and that, if a landlord wishes, they can address themselves.  These are fairly simple repairs; a leak under the sink, a clogged sink, a running toilet.  Tools such as a pipe wrench (to tighten leaks), flappers (to replace a running toilet), toilet "guts" (these can also wear out) are handy to keep around.  A simple toilet plunger is what we use first to try to clear a clogged sink (although sometimes one has to remove the p-trap under the sink to find the clog).  If that doesn't work I really like the product called "Thrift"; it's pure lye and activated by pouring it into the sink and following it up with boiling water (stand back when you do this).  Some use "snakes" to clear a clog.

Many landlords don't care to address electrical issues but often these might involve replacing an outlet or a light switch that have bit the dust.  Not a difficult job but throw the breaker (and check you've thrown the correct one) before attempting.

And while this sounds strange, keep lightbulbs handy.  Nothing like going into, say a bathroom to address a repair and that light you put in that once held 3 bulbs now has 2 burned out and the tenant hasn't replaced these.  We now make sure to use LED bulbs (Daylight) in all the fixtures prior to a tenant moving in but still these don't last forever.  

When tenants start to fall behind on rent payments the writing is on the wall that things are going to continue rapidly downhill.  You can't negotiate this gingerly, which unfortunately, many landlords do.  It gets pretty depressing going to the mailbox day by day hoping there's a rent check in there only to have moths fly out at you when you open it up.

  It's time to end this (for me her comment that you should have known she was having trouble paying the rent and done something about it closed the books on this one).

Is it currently difficult to evict someone for nonpayment of rent in your state?  If so, hire an eviction attorney to initiate the process with this tenant.

Ceiling fans wired to wall switches to avoid tenants pulling out the starters.  And I've had at least two incidents where, upon moveout, one four blade ceiling fan was down to just three blades.