All Forum Posts by: Jennifer L.

I wouldn't allow it.  If utilities are included, then you are incurring additional expense.  Three more people means more wear and tear on your unit.  Not to mention, what happens if your tenants decide to move out and leave the financially unable people to stay... then you have only the security deposit to compensate you while you go through eviction proceedings.

Be firm and say no.  There is always the chance that your tenants are secretly hoping that you take this position...

I don't recommend that you allow your tenant to do the deposit directly into your savings account. Problems may arise if the tenant is unable to make the monthly rent.  So instead of paying the full amount, they could deposit less, but since you "accepted" the payment, you could run into problems if you needed to initiate an eviction.

There are many low friction solutions for rental payments.  I use Cozy.co: it is a free ACH transaction and the tenant cannot deposit less than the full month's rent.  It does take about 5 business days for the funds to deposit, but I've never had an issue in the 18 months since I started using it.  You can elect to pay $3 a month and get the funds expedited into your account if you so choose.

eRentpayment is another service.  They charge about $3 per month and I believe this can be paid by you, the tenant or split.  Deposits happen within a couple of days, from what I understand.  eRentpayment gives you the option of reporting the payments to a credit agency.  This may be an attractive to your tenants.

If you search automated rental payments here, you will find threads which mention these and other services available.  Good luck!

@Tom Ray I'm guessing that the poster means that Cozy transactions only go in one direction: from tenant to landlord.  When it comes time to refund a security deposit, then you have to cut a check or generate the transaction from your bank.

My single frustration has been with initial security deposit and first month rent payment.  You cannot expedite this with a new tenant (I tried), so if you are going to accept these payments from a new tenant, the transaction has to begin in plenty of time before turning over the keys.  I managed to make this work last time as my tenants were moving from out of state and had a lag time between lease signing and move in, but in the future, I would probably go back to taking a cashiers check for the initial payment.

@Brian Christoff I'm not sure that potential tenants will want to fill out a questionnaire and then fill out an application.  You can automate this process by referring potential tenants to apply through Cozy.co.  Cozy will also run credit/background checks which the potential tenants pay themselves.  What I did was direct tenants not to pay for the screening until I have had a chance to review their application and they have decided they wanted to move forward with renting.  I ended up with 3 applicants, and I accepted the first qualified one.  I knew which one was first because it was date and time stamped.

Obviously, if your tenant pool is not tech-savvy, this won't be the best approach.  But if they are, you can then offer them the ability to automatic payments for free through Cozy.  This will save you the hassle of having to deposit checks and them the hassle of writing them.

Finally, if you do deny someone for poor credit, you have to tell them in writing the reason you have denied them.  Otherwise, you don't have to give an explanation. But usually a simple "an earlier qualified applicant has signed a lease" will do.

@Richard Le When you are screening tenants, you can have the pay for credit/background check.  It is about $40.  Cozy does not report to credit bureaus. There are services that report to credit agencies, such as PayLease, eRentpayment and Rental Kharma.

@Jen L. I've been very happy with Cozy.co for rent collection.  I even used them for the security deposit this go-around.  

@Casey Cousins I've been using Cozy for my last two leases.  It has worked great and I like the ease of getting background checks/credit checks when it was time to turn over the rental.  I'm not sure about bimonthly payments.  If you email or tweet them, they are pretty quick to respond.

@Jen L. So it sounds like it is perhaps shifting to a renters' market in SF.  Are you considering reducing your asking price?  Are your competitors allowing pets?

@Jen L. I'd look for a well-trained, friendly, well-groomed/kept dog. As for breeds, if you google "blacklisted dog breeds" for insurance purposes, you can get a list of dogs that your insurance will not cover.  Call you insurance broker and ask how you can limit your liability.  You can demand higher limit on the Renter's insurance if your insurance company recommends it.  

http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/09/14/new-law-prot...

So the governor just signed into law this new legislation.  The old law stated that if a tenant didn't prevail in an eviction lawsuit within 60 days, their names get revealed and can be collected by tenant screening companies.

The new law says that the names get reported only if the landlord wins within 60 days, or if the landlord wins after trial if longer than 60 days.  

What I don't know is whether you can still see their names on the local county websites.  Regardless, California landlords will have to be much more vigilant in their tenant vetting process, and not overly dependent on the paid screening services. So talk to those old landlords and make sure there aren't gaps in their rental history!