All Forum Posts by: Jeremy Mullin

I was just kicking around the idea in my head of putting deposit money into a super safe interest earning savings account or 11 month cd. Could easily be returned after the year is up and the tenants move out.   I assumed there'd be laws governing this (ie is it allowed, who gets the interest, etc) and came across something on an Ohio Code website that states:

(A) Any security deposit in excess of fifty dollars or one month's periodic rent, whichever is greater, shall bear interest on the excess at the rate of five per cent per annum if the tenant remains in possession of the premises for six months or more, and shall be computed and paid annually by the landlord to the tenant.

Help me understand that. Is it saying if I were to charge MORE than 1 month's rent as a deposit, I'd need to give back 5% interest on the amount over 1 month's rent?  That's all I can find on it, so I'm thinking it would be OK for me to open an 11 month CD or savings account for security deposits and earn interest (my deposits will not be more than 1 months rent)? I'm just getting started in this and want to make absolutely sure I'm maximizing potential while keeping it all by-the-books.  I'm not seeing any rules in Ohio about setting it in a trust, etc. I know to keep the money separate from all other money.

Quote from @Scott Mac:

[1] As said above maybe it's grandfathered in.

[2] You house other peoples kids, while other people house your kids--why not call the owner and discuss this, maybe he/she is a don't wanter, and you can fix the situation, and save on the rent.

[3] What is your boy studying (???) 

Good Luck!

 Unfortunately it's a different campus, he will be moving to the other campus next fall so he'll be in my rental then.   He's studying personal finance, with the goal of using that to fund his real estate empire. Wouldn't be surprised if he's already registered here and reads all the posts. He's intelligent, extremely well read, but the real world is gonna knock him down a few times before he sees that it's not as easy as the podcasters make it sound.  The goal is to get him out of college with enough money to not have to move back home. Thankfully he's a hard worker and a penny pincher so he's well on his way.

I appreciate all of the responses. While I don't think it reasonable at all to expect a 19 year old to understand fire safety code, he's certainly learning it now.  I've come at this as a parent, not a landlord (although I am one). I'd say talking about potential life or death safety is not helicopter parenting, but instinctual for any decent parent. There's no lessons to be learned from dying in a fire or suffering burns, however small the chance. I rent to college students and while it hasn't happened yet, I expect down the road a parent will come at me with safety concerns. I totally think it's my job to appease that, within reason.  My son is actually a partial owner in the property we have (a minor stake, I wouldn't let him do much until he is out of school with a job).  He'll learn from this and it'll help him see that when you're a lousy landlord, your tenants start noticing every defect and judging every slow response.   I'll take note of the valuable advice some of you have given and we'll decide how to proceed.  Thanks again!

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Jeremy Mullin:

I disagree with the others. Your son had an opportunity to inspect before renting. He agreed to rent it. He should fulfill his obligation instead of looking for an excuse to back out.

I bet dollars to donuts your son didn't care about the window and would have never thought of it until his "helicopter parent" starts questioning the size of egress windows.

0.25% (1/4 of one percent) of all homes in America will catch fire next year. Out of those 350,000 fires, 1,600 people will die, which is 0.5% of all house fires. Instead of instilling fear in your son over such a low risk, buy him a step ladder and teach him the importance of calculated risk, "caveat emptor", and the responsibility to honor contracts. That will serve him better in life than making him afraid of something with almost no risk.

You're right man. Let 'em burn if he's one of the unlucky 0.25%. I've got 4 other kids anyway. 

Quote from @Deandra Perruccio:

I signed up for this site just so I can respond to this forum chain because I think people are misjudging the comparability between a fire extinguisher and a ladder. If there is an emergency where a fire ladder would be needed, NO extinguisher is going to do the job at that point. Especially should a fire reach the second or third floor of a building, it is most likely to a point where a fire extinguisher will not be effective. If a fire ladder is needing to be used that means possibility of evacuation through the building has passed and this is most likely a potentially fatal situation. As a previous writer said, the death of tenants in comparison to the cost (and alleged liability- although I find it hard to believe any court would condone improper use of an emergency fire ladder by faulting a landlord) of a fire ladder is something that may be a problem for 1. legal liability, and 2. YOUR OWN CONSCIENCE. The death of young tenants due to my lack of responsibility would certainly keep me up at night more than concern over what I am seeing as an ageist assumption that they will "party hard" with the emergency ladder. 

Just reading through old posts for advice and tips. I'm renting to college students and this is EXACTLY my thought. Whether I'm required to do it or not, each floor has a fire extinguisher, every bedroom has a smoke alarm, every hallway outside a bedroom has a CO alarm.  I put one emergency ladder in each room above the 1st floor. There's a big sign taped to the box that says "for emergency use only". Maybe some slick lawyer will fight it in court if someone does something stupid when there's not an emergency, but conscience won't allow me to put these kids in a room without a means of escape. My son and his friends were my first tenants so I did everything I'd want done as a parent.  Might have cost me a bit more one time (in 10 years I'll need to spend again on detectors and in a few years I'll need to replace extinguishers), I'm willing to sacrifice a couple of hundred extra dollars every few years to make sure I can sleep at night. 

Quote from @Patricia Steiner:

It never seems urgent or important to act until something goes wrong.  Don't wait for that...it will be a great education for your son and the landlord.  Thanks for reminding us that "Dad knows best." 

This is "mom knows best" here. She's a bulldog for our children. I just bought him a ladder and moved his furniture to give him an easy way out. She's ready to go up there with a sawzall to make a bigger window if needed. 

Quote from @Matt Devincenzo:

e fact that the property was rented as is and while 28"X28" may not be todays 'code' it by your own admission is sufficient for him to egress if needed. The minimum egress dimensions are I believe 24" tall and 20" wide, however it also needs 5.7 SF net clear. The 28" by 28" window meets both of these dimensions and is only ~3/4" shy of what is needed on both sides to meet the net clear standard...so it's very close especially if the age of the home is what I believe it may be. 

 The home is probably 100+ years old, although the attic conversion is decidedly newer. I'll do some more research about code in that case.  Also I'll mention that the 28x28 window is a triangle shaped window, so we're talking about half of the clear space that you calculated (2.7ish cu ft). Certainly there are lessons to be learned here, but absolutely not at the expense of a life (worst case scenario, never going to happen, but that's why those codes exist now).   Ultimate goal is to get the owner to do something about it and move on staying there with his buddies. Having some teeth behind the demand is my goal here with this post. 

Quote from @Greg M.:

Assuming that it does not meet legal code in his area and they rented him that room specifically, he could probably break the lease as the room is not habitable. The question is what did they rent him? Did they rent 3 people a house and each assumed there was an individual bedroom or did they rent each person a specified bedroom?

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It was listed as a "5" bedroom house for my son and 4 friends.  2 rooms are an attic converted. It seems though that my son's room is the only one without real windows. I'll look at the lease and see if it says 5 inhabitants or 5 rooms. I suppose they could say it fits 5 people but someone should be sharing a room instead of using that 5th room as a bedroom. Unfortunately when we looked at it, this is just not something we considered. As I've bought something similar since I feel hyper aware of liabilities and safety concerns, but this is my son so my hyper awareness is justified to me.

I have a list of some safety concerns including railings that fell off after showing but before move in that remain laying in the yard 2 months later. My next step will be to address them with the landlord for the 3rd time, this time including the window. I'm not sure he cares much though so I'm preparing to back up my bluff if needed. 

As far as I can find in Ohio Egress codes, the window size requirement is the same as below ground, but if anyone knows differently that would be helpful. I'm really sure he's safe there because what are the odds of a bad fire and technically he can fit through that window, I'm just frustrated that this guy is renting that out to kids and obviously if something did happen I don't want my son (or anyone) somehow not making it out. We've added the ladder and moved some furniture so he can easily climb up to the window height for now. We're just concerned at the lack of concern by the landlord over this and some missing railings outside on a patio/porch. Safety does not seem to matter to this guy, which has me wondering what else he's skimped on.

Not sure if this is the right place to put this question. I have a college town rental property and added an egress window to a basement bedroom- the additional bedroom is worth about $650/month so it's a no brainer.  Morally, I'd never want a kid living in a room that he couldn't get out of if there was a fire, legally I'm certain I wouldn't want that either. Unfortunately I don't think safety come in to every landlord's mind, which brings me to my question.  My son is living in a 3rd floor room of a college house (different campus than mine) and has two triangle shaped windows in his room, 28" x 28" so no where near the required egress area of 5.7 cu ft (although he could fit through them if he had a step stool to get to them).  I'm fairly certain knowing what I know now that the landlord should not be renting that room out to tenants. Does anyone have any opinions on if something like this (as well as no emergency ladder to escape-although we ended up buying him one for our piece of mind) is grounds for breaking a lease?  As a landlord, I'm not too interested in hurting a small business guy doing exactly what I'm doing. As a father, I'll do what I can to make sure my son lives in a safe place and isn't penalized financially for trying to attain that.