All Forum Posts by: Jack B.

Well, considering I'm having a tough time finding another house to buy at a deal price in this uber hot Seattle area market, I'm likely to move back into the house in a few months. 

I am writing a note to her as follows, paraphrased:

1) Thanking her for telling me about the leak rather than trying to get up there and fixing it herself as I don't want my tenants to try to do their own repairs [for liability reasons of course, she had mentioned she hadn't had a chance of getting up on the roof to inspect it, yikes!] and won't even touch electrical, plumbing, roofing, etc. myself since I prefer having a pro who knows what they are doing deal with repairs, etc. [Am I saying too much here? I obviously didn't mention liability as a reason to her in my drafted email, but I want to make it clear I don't authorize such things, since if I don't, it could be misconstrued as tacit approval of such behavior since she mentioned considering it. I didn't mention liability because I don't want to plant the seed in her mind.]

2) Telling here about an upcoming plumbing improvement. Replacing WH.

3) Asking if her cats are fixed, because I noticed a few stains, some fresh, and a smell of cat urine in a few areas. Offering her the opportunity to clean and prevent the problem, and doing a follow up in a few months. Likely before I move back in.

Or should I charge her for the stains now? Or upon move out? If I don't find a place in the next two months (I live in another house I own now but want to turn it into a rental) I will likely move back in before next summer, but I will give her 2+ months notice more than likely. She is on a MTM lease....So perhaps it's not the biggest issue since she will likely be moving out in the near future. But if I DO find another house my some miracle in the next few months and they stay there...

Thoughts?

 I really wish people would stop giving out advice that is a huge liability. Having only one person on the lease is a huge liability, period. What if the other person trashes the place? They are not bound by the terms of your lease because they didn't sign one with you, their SO did. 

 I have a clause for a $10.00 day fine per unauthorized occupant. I get 20's somethings have dates. I had dates spend the night when I lived there. Heck, I'm not sure that he is or isn't a romantic interest. I don't really care. The issue is getting him screened and on the lease if he is going to be living there. I just want to find out how to go about it, sooner rather than later. I suppose I could do a six month inspection. Only 2.5 months to go. 

With my C Class properties I think I need to check twice a year to see what is going on. My last tenant at this house had her sister and her kids move in. Luckily in that situation, they were moving out in two months anyways, so there wasn't any reason to get her on the lease at that point, she had already been living there for a few months apparently. There was def. something off about her sister. She seemed out of it all the time. 

I get where you are coming from, but having someone who is potentially living there full time in violation of the lease terms with her, is a risk to me. I have a person on the property that is not bound by my lease agreement, and the legal protections I'm provided therein. 

Merely wanting to find out who is living in a house I paid for and getting them on the lease isn't denying her of her right to life. She can have anyone who fills out an application passes the background and signs the lease stay. I just want to take measures to protect myself. I do not want a violent felon living in my house. She doesn't have a magical right to break my rules. I DO have a right to set the rules of the screening process of her and anyone else who lives there.  Doing so isn't unreasonable. Letting just anyone move in there after the fact negates the purpose of a screening process and a lease. I might as well not do any screening at all using that logic.

As long as you can get a qualified tenant easily, why take the risk? I don't care what the cause was, you're running a business, and part of that business is risk management. If you can get a qualified tenant without the issues then why risk it on a potentially  bad tenant regardless of what the cause was? For all we know he had multiple affairs and that led to his divorce, so he has reckless behaviors that led to his financial issues. Or maybe his wife was the one that stepped out. At the end of the day, it's not worth the risk taking on someone with any drama in their past, regardless of their culpability.

It was just supposed to be her and her two kids, and she said she was single, had no time to date, works 70 hours a week, two jobs, hardly home, etc.

As I like to do, I drove by the unit recently, as I have the past 3.5 months since she has lived there, to check on the area. So, yesterday, I saw two vehicles, construction type vehicles with ladders, gutters, etc. in addition to her vehicle. It wasn't dinner time or anything, and it's possible they were just hanging out there, but what's the best way to handle this?

I suspect I should go there at NIGHT when it's bed time to see if the cars are parked there. Over a span of three weeks? The lease allows a guest to stay there for 14 days, so I figure if I see them there over that, then they are in violation.

I'm not extremely alarmed, as she had mentioned she had a friend that does gutter work, when I had mentioned that I was going to replace the gutters soon. I think one of the vehicles belongs to him. Could be a romantic friend, who knows.

Anyways, if it turns out other people have moved in, I will just approach it in a friendly manner citing that it is OK, but that they need to be background checked, pay the fee, and sign a lease. If I get push back, I will then serve her the 10 day notice to comply or vacate.

Thoughts? Should I even keep driving by at night? It's a 2 hour drive round trip for me, at night, so perhaps I could just send her a friendly email reminding her of the policy because I had another tenant that recently violated, etc. so I'm sending notices to everyone.

Results :

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/256696-hmmmdid-an-inspection-at-one-of-my-rentals-today

Not terrible, but not spectacular "I want these people to live here forever" feeling. The mothers bedroom with in suite master bath was fine. Cluttered, these people are slight hoarders. Cat had just pissed on the carpet, within an hour. Girls rooms had some stains on the carpet, and just cluttered. My girlfriend said it didn't look that bad from the pictures I showed her while I was venting. Alas, I'm glad I went out and know what's going on in my house. I might step inspections up to twice a year, as these are C area neighborhoods.

Oh, and according to the roofer, the brick chimney sucks in water and there are classic signs of that happening here. Sealing it will have to be done almost yearly he states. I had asked for a quote for the roofing job while he was at it. About 10K + tax for 30 year compositions shingles by CertainTeed, for 24 squares.

Yeah, I'm at the point where I will no longer allow pets. Dogs OR cats. My other rental they had cats and got an unauthorized dog. Cat urine smell issue in some rooms until the carpet was cleaned and dried. Ugh.

I have two cats, but they've never been a problem and any house I lived in was in better condition when I moved out then when I moved in. Not because of major repairs and renovations or anything, but because I don't wear my shoes in the house, don't allow food or drinks other than water on carpeted areas, etc. AND clean everything like crazy.

I'm not sure what to think. I went to visit due to an inspection I scheduled, and was then notified that the chimney was leaking into the garage a little bit. She claimed that she was going to contact me about it THAT day (yeah right, but you only mentioned it after I email you for an inspection a couple of days).

So I get there. It looked and smelled like one of her two cats (allowed on lease, pet fee of $300 was paid) had pissed in a couple areas; there was a smell of cat piss in a couple areas, but not permeating the house necessarily. The kitchen looked overall fine. Stove rings were a bit dirty and rusted, not like that before. The bathrooms, well the girls bathrooms were decent I guess, but a bit messy. Not really the worry some part of my visit. I will say the wood laminate flooring looks like a freaking CHAMP! That stuff looks the same as the day I had moved in there. 

That dove tails into my next point. Besides the cat piss stain that was recent (within an hour) by the front door, on the carpet, the girls bedrooms, one of them anyways, had several stains on the carpet. NONE of these stains were there before. The stains LOOK like they MIGHT come out with carpet cleaning. I'm not sure what they are. 

Besides the cat piss and 3-6 stains on the carpet throughout the carpeted areas of the house, the house is just cluttered. It's not a small place, but man, it's cluttered and just disorganized. 

I'm not sure how to take it up with the tenant. We were considering moving back there, and actually planning on it, so I put them on a month-to-month lease when they renewed. I could just give them the required 20 days notice or more, when I want to move back in, but should I address the stains and such with her now, or just ding her deposit when the time comes? I have a signed inventory sheet from when they moved in, AND pictures of the place spotless and clean when they received it. I also took pictures of the condition of the house while I was there. What would you do?

@Matt R.

Thanks, yeah I figure it will help someone else out down the road to post the results. I suspected something was off. I get not having an up to code ADU to keep property taxes low when keeping the property, but when you are selling, why not get the permits and get the extra money from the extra sf?

How lucky I was to visit the place on a rainy day (not hard this time of year in Seattle!) and find the tub full of green water that turned out to be sewer water! Wasn't like that the first time I visited it. Luckily my inspector flagged a bunch of other problems as well so even if the sewer issue was not as evident on the visit I still would have walked. The sewer issue made it a decision that I am beyond certain was right.

@Michaela G.

So how does that work in, "The ATL"? When you live in the house it can't be considered grandfathered, but if you rent it out it can? Except if you don't rent it out for a year then it's not exempt again? Ever? Or just until you rent it out again?