All Forum Posts by: John Sanderson

I use https://communityrentals.ucsc.edu/pdf/rental-condition-checklist.pdf for a checklist. If you want the tenant to acknowledge pictures you could try Docusign or another similar program.

I agree, being consistent has nothing to do with personality, but the consistency you use has everything to do with personality. I'll probably get flack for this, but I'm nice to my tenants, and convey that in my messages to them. I don't pretend to be friends with them, but which restaurant would you go back to and pay for, one that treats you like crap, or one that treats you like a person? It's a similar trade off with rentals, the difference being that rentals have a contract in place.

@Thomas S. we actually have quite a bit in common. I enforce my lease to the letter, as all landlords should. I enforce late fees and all other terms contained within the lease. I think the main difference is that I have separate conversations with my tenants aside from the legal jargon. I don't know if you do, but if you don't, I'd encourage you to work an automated system into place for doing so. I don't know how many rentals you own, but even if contacting a tenant lets you retain a few leases per year, that should be worth it, no? A turnover costs money, even if the previous tenant leaves the unit in rental condition.

I'm not about cow-towing to renters, but if you can save yourself a turnover with either a few minutes of work, or a few hours of crafting an automated system to deal with problem tenants, isn't that worth it? Like I said, the majority of tenants will not be fantastic tenants, and one way you can deal with them is through fantastic customer service, all the while adhering to the terms of your lease.

There's a lot of variables in this question. But I think the main thing is how long are you planning on owning the rental?

If you're planning on selling the unit in under 5 years or so, it's unlikely any upgrades you do will pay for themselves or give you an ROI. If you are planning on owning the property for 30 years, what are the current fixtures costing you? What would new, water efficient fixtures cost you to run? What would they cost to install?

If you are going to own a property long-term(greater than 5 years) it's worthwhile to consider these things. If upgrading showerheads, toilets, faucets, and/or washing machines would cost you $1000, but save you $15/month over the next 20 years, I'd say it's worth it

I'd agree with @Andrew B., make sure you document everything. If it's broken when the tenant moves in, you shouldn't charge them for it, but if it isn't, they should definitely get a charge for it. It's hard to go overboard on move-in photos or videos, so the more documentation you have, the better. I would also share any documentation you have with your tenant. If you have pictures or videos you took, upload them to a google drive account or something similar and share them with the tenant. When it comes time to move out, if the tenant knows you have documentation that everything was perfect when they moved in, they'll be less likely to dispute any security deposit deductions, if there are any.

@Michael Guzik Excellent point about social media. If you are a small operation, social media most likely won't have any affect on you, but in larger operations, such as PM companies and Landlords with hundreds of properties, social media will certainly affect how much traffic you get for you rentals. As to the extent positive or negative social media attention will influence your business, I can't comment, but it would be naive to think the influence isn't there.

I think everyone is on the same page about enforcing the lease, I just think the way we go about it can vary greatly. Every Landlord wants to get paid, and should be paid, for services rendered, but the ways we go about it can be vastly different. I view it is as a customer service role, whereas I get the feeling many landlords view rentals similar to serfdom, to some extent.

@Thomas S. has a very bulldog approach in my opinion, but if it works, there's no reason to change it, we just have different operating styles. As long as the money reaches your bank account, legally, the means justify the ends.

For electric, there may be options for which company generates your power, but you are most likely stuck with PSEG for transporting the electricity from the supplier to your property.

@Thomas S.

You are correct about the late rent, I was mixing the PUC and Landlord-Tenant Laws. Again, regardless of whether the law states it or not, I give my tenants a 5 day grace period, and they are given a 3 day notice to Pay or Quit, so regardless of circumstances, if rent is not paid by the 8th day after it is due, they are taken to court. Along with that notice they are usually sent a text or e-mail reminder to pay, without all the legal jargon involved.

As for softening the blow, why wouldn't you? It really doesn't have to take any extra time, you send a premade text or e-mail at the same time as the legal notice. Whenever you put someone at odds with you, you are less likely to get a positive outcome. When you threaten someone with a legal notice, they reasonably become defensive. Most will pay when given a legal notice, but those aren't the tenants I'm worried about. I'm worried about maintaining the few that are in between legal notice and eviction. If sending a premade text along with the notice gets me rent, what does it hurt? It sounds like you let your pride get in your way of doing business. It's your way, or the highway. 

I get doing your job, and you shouldn't apologize for doing your job. It's beneficial for yourself and tenants. However, if doing your job puts you at odds with your tenants, you are more likely to have to turn over a unit, whether it be an eviction or just terminating a lease if they're on month to month at that point.

As far as money you've already earned, what are you talking about? The only money I've already earned is the money in my bank account. If you think you've earned money that hasn't been given to you already, you are mistaken.

I would have to differ again to local laws and I'm also unfamiliar with renting out bedrooms instead of whole units. Someone else may be able to give more insight into that, sorry I can't help more.

@Nathan Gesner I completely agree with you about being wishy-washy, as the Landlord you owe it to yourself and your tenants to be clear on what you expect from them. What I'm saying is, you should do what you can to work with your tenants to keep them in the property, so long as you stick to your lease and maintain the same standards across the board. Currently I have 2 tenants paying bi-monthly, instead of monthly, and it has worked out well for both. For both cases it is written into the lease, so that should they ever fail to pay on either payment, I have recourse and will not be held accountable for a partial rent payment. 

I'll admit that this does not work with every tenant, I've had to evict another tenant that was given the same option, paying bi-monthly, and failed to live up to the terms. I didn't hesitate to evict them, however I made every possible effort to work with them, rather than just sending a pay or quit notice and be done with it.

My position is that I feel like a lot of Landlords are too set on following the law to the letter(which is not bad in and of itself) that they don't take the customer service aspect seriously. If I'd not allowed 2 tenants to pay bi-monthly with a new lease, I would've had to turn over 2 units. The returns on keeping current tenants for the past 1.5 years have far outweighed turning over each unit.

My point is that there are many ways to keep a current tenant, maintain positive cash-flow, and cover yourself all at the same time. You should never let your tenant walk all over you, but at the same time, you should not walk all over your tenant.

It sounds like it may be a local ordinance, or those particular apartments are piggybacking off each other, using an illegal approach to limiting the number of occupants. My suggestion would be to first read up on the State Landlord-Tenant laws if you're unfamiliar with them, and then find any local ordinances which may account for the 1 bed per bedroom rules in those apartments. Failing to find that information, I would consult with a local attorney.

As much as you may want to limit wear and tear, legal issues will result in far more out of pocket than extra wear and tear from 1 or 2 extra tenants.