All Forum Posts by: Hal Cranmer

Thanks Phil - I really appreciate it. I may be calling him in the next couple of days.

I am having the worst luck finding a good licensed plumber in Minneapolis that is not very expensive. Do they exist? What is the best way to find a great one? Are there any Minneapolis investors out there who can make a recommendation?

Thanks Joel and Dick for this information.

Joel - The rent is far below market rent and that is why my partners and I want to re-rent the place.

Hi,

I just inherited a section 8 tenant on a new property that I purchased. I gave her a letter stating that I am terminating her month to month lease and that she needs to move out in 30 days (actually I am giving her 45 days notice). She replied that with Section 8 I have to give 60 days written notice. I tried to google it, but could not find anything. Does anyone know on this? I have never dealt with Section 8 before. Thanks.

Thanks for all your help everyone. It seems to have worked. I offered one guy who was not paying rent $500 if he could be out by this Friday, and gave him $100 of it up front to show I was serious. He accepted. The guy in the illegal unit thinks he can be out by end of February, and my section 8 tenant just paid her portion of the rent. I told her I will also need a security deposit and she is contacting several agencies to get assistance to pay it. I told her no deposit, no rental and she understands.

I even have an old (good) tenant call me up and ask if I had anything open! Things are working out and I appreciate the help.

OK - I talked to the tenants and told them that they needed to get the rent in by Thursday or eviction will start. Now I realized I don't have the full name of one of the tenants and my prepaid Legal service will not help me without their full name. There is no lease in place with these tenants right now. When i call this tenant now they won't answer the phone. Anyone have any ideas on how I could find out their name? I tried calling the previous landlord and can't get a hold of him either. Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for getting back to me. Don - I can't make it a fourth without rezoning it - a lengthy and expensive process in MN. Cash for keys may be the way to go. We'll see how it goes.

What about calling the Section 8 office and telling them she is not paying her portion of the rent?

Jon - Thanks for responding so quickly. Sounds like good advice on the non-paying tenants. Can I tell the Section 8 tenant that she could lose her voucher if I call the Section 8 office? I'd rather not go through the whole eviction procedure but if that is what it takes...

As for the non-permitted unit, I can ask the guy. He is paying rent now. I would however, like to fix up the other units before I move anyone in. As for the triplex/duplex question, right now there are 4 units being rented it, so it would go from a quad to a try. I will remove a wall and the illegal unit will become a finished basement for one of the other units.

I just closed on a short-saled triplex, that is full of tenants. Sounds good at first. However, at the closing, the previous owner said that there is one tenant that only paid half the rent for January and has not paid the February rent. Another tenant is section 8 but is not paying her portion of the section 8. Then there is a tenant down in a makeshift illegal basement unit (4th unit) that is paying on time, but I cannot continue letting him live down there if I am going to get a rental license from the city.

I am meeting with the non-section 8 tenant who is not paying their rent, and the illegal basement dweller today, and was looking for tips on how to gently explain they need to go - and soon. They did not put down security deposits (why do you think I got such a great deal on the short sale:)) and I want to convince them it is in their best interest to just leave. I will tell them they don't owe me a thing if they can be out very soon, but would be interested in any other tips and techniques that have worked for people in the past?

I also meet with the Section 8 person this weekend. Should I tell her I will be calling the Section 8 office? I've never rented to section 8 and don't intend to once this tenant is out. Thanks.

I have a tenant who owes me a lot of rent and did not leave a forwarding address when he left (surprise, surprise). If I find him and get a judgment against him, can I use a debt collection service to collect? Has anyone done this and how successful have they been with it?