All Forum Posts by: Jennifer L.

I wouldn't have a problem showing my ID to an applicant in person, but I wouldn't copy my ID for them.  I get being cautious about renting, and there are a lot of scams, but unless you are telling them you can't show them the place because you had a family emergency so just peek in the windows, send you a security deposit by money order and you'll send them the keys,  they are being paranoid.

I've turned over my rental in 2015 and 2016.  In 2015, I only advertised on Craigslist and got plenty of interest and rented it within a couple of days of listing.  In 2016, the rental market softened and the way people looked for rentals in my area had changed, so I had to use other free listing services such as Zillow to get my ad out in as many different websites as possible.  

When you are at the correct price point, you will get enough inquiries.  Too low and you will get flooded with inquiries.  Too high and crickets will be chirping.

Since driving to your rental is inconvenient, you should speak to potential tenants over the phone. Ask them why they are moving and what is their time frame.  Find out where they work and what their gross salary is.  Ask them if they will have a clean background check and if they know their approximate credit score.    

Once you get enough people interested in seeing the property, schedule all of your showings in the same block of time.  Saturday afternoons are a good time or after work on weeknights. I would schedule showings 10 to 15 minutes apart.  That way, hopefully, people would overlap and potential tenants might feel an increased urgency to sign a lease.

I'd be wary of allowing my tenants to call for repair people at their discretion.  If you screen your tenants properly, you should weed out problem tenants anyway.  When they look at your property, are they pointing out all of the things that need to be fixed?  That is a tenant who is going to be calling you all the time.  Talk to the last two landlords and find out if they paid their rent on time and whether they were high maintenance.

I don't like the idea of letting my tenants call vendors directly for repairs. I would hire a property manager before I would place that level of trust with my tenants.

Here is a good starting off point for you.  http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/handling-te...  

Bottom line: I think you are going to have to give your evicted tenants notice before you dispose of the property. Before towing, I would make sure that the impound lot wont go after you for storing expenses, which can really add up.  

I used Cozy.co to do my tenant screening and it worked great.  It was also easy to transition my new tenants into making online payments through them.

One word of advice though: if your local court is searchable online, it is a good idea to search prospective tenants through them.  You can get a lot of information about people.  I had one prospective tenant that sued a local restaurant which led to them going out of business.  I had another one with judgments that were older and not showing up on the background check, but it was important information for me to have.

It is also very important to check references.  Make sure they are employed by whom they say they are employed.  Talk to their most recent landlord, and even more importantly, the landlord before the last one.  

Good luck!

@Gino Zahnd Thanks for the quick response.  I did do that and most of my applicants were savvy enough not to pay for the background check until we decided to move forward.  But it seems that even if you are not requiring the credit/background check, applicants can still elect to purchase one.  It would be nice for a landlord to be able to block this from happening until they want the reports.  

@Ryan K. You can add a charge for your tenants through Cozy easily.  You don't have to change the rental amount and you can note for your tenant what the charge is for.

@Gino Zahnd May I make a suggestion?  For the tenant application process, it would be great if the applicant could not actually pay for/have a background check done until specifically authorized by the landlord.  I had a couple of applicants that paid for the screening even though my listing stated that it wasn't required.  I felt bad for them because they were not even close to qualifying for my property and they were out $40.  

@Account Closed It is a huge liability for the landlord, even if they are regulated.  If a child gets injured or worse, you can be guaranteed that you will be sued as the "deep pocket." Obviously, if your tenant sets up a licensed day care, you would have to increase your liability insurance.  As a landlord, if I found myself in a situation where my tenants were setting up a daycare, I would consult with an attorney and insist that any clients sign a release of liability waiver.

@Jeff B. I was a little surprised when I found this statute while tweaking my lease this summer. Thankfully, it has never been used against me. 

@Jeff B. I hope you aren't leasing out residential property in California.  Did you know that there is a law in place which states that you have to allow a daycare ?  Check Ca Health and Safety Code Section 1597.40.  If your properties are in other states which do not have such a law, then your lease is enforceable.  Here is the exact language from the statute: "(b) Every provision in a written instrument entered into relating to real property which purports to forbid or restrict the conveyance, encumbrance, leasing, or mortgaging of the real property for use or occupancy as a family day care home for children, is void and every restriction or prohibition in any such written instrument as to the use or occupancy of the property as a family day care home for children is void."

As for AirBnB, my leases specifically prohibit the sublease of my rentals for any portion of the property and for any amount of time.  This prevents my tenants from subleasing the entire property, the garage as storage space, from subleasing a room to another person, or to use Airbnb or another service for short term rentals.  

@Colin Reid With a quick google search, in Texas, it appears that you have to make reasonable efforts to re-rent the property.  So, tell your PM to work on finding another tenant for when the vacancy is going to occur. Your PM should know the law and should be advising you, by the way.

Your tenants are on the hook for the remainder of the lease, but because you have a duty to mitigate, you can't just sit back and let the property remain vacant.  You have to try to rent it out, but you don't have to relax your standards. 

By the way, this happened to me in California this summer.  I got the place leased the day after the old tenants turned over their keys.  I didn't lose any money and they got their deposit back.  It was a little stressful, but it worked out.