All Forum Posts by: Jonathan Leake

Mm that is interesting re Master Insurance Policy. I'm about to acquire my third multifamily so the timing to looking into that could be right. My partner and I do not put our properties in an LLC and rather just own the individual properties in our names and protect ourselves with insurance on each one. Would a master insurance policy allow one property to put another property at risk and vis versa?

@Will Kenner I'd say its a combination of reducing redundancies, simplifying my renter experience, and also not piling on rent increases this year. I have two leases rolling off at the end of April and I am just concerned that if I increase rent by 7% (inflation) AND require an additional $100 expense (~10% of rent) the increase would be too high (17% increase YoY) it might encourage the tenants to look elsewhere rather than hitting the easy button. 

Hello,

I was thinking about requiring renter's insurance as part of my lease. But now that I am looking over the lease documents and there is this section already in there: 

"All personal property placed in the leased premises, or in any other part of the building, or any place appurtenant thereto, or in
any vehicle on or about the premises or on any parking facility maintained by Lessor for Lessee shall be at the sole risk of Lessee
or the parties owning same, and Lessor shall in no event be liable for the loss of property of any kind, which may be lost or
stolen, damaged or destroyed by fire, water, steam, defective refrigeration, or otherwise, while on the leased premises or in any
storage spaces in the building. Lessee understands and agrees that it shall be Lessee's obligation to insure this personal property
and Lessor recommends that Lessee obtain renter's insurance."

Now, obviously there is what's written and then there's what's actually legally binding and defensible. So for all the legal and insurance people out there, is this paragraph good enough to protect my interests or should I still be requiring renter's insurance?

Best,

Jon

Details:
2nd floor tenant steam boiler was not heating his apartment, so instead of calling us to fix it, he turned a water valve that proceeded to send a massive amount of water into the radiator system, sending water all the way up to his radiators on the second floor and the water was shooting everywhere and also flooding through the ceiling into the 1st floor unit. The 2nd floor is hardwood floors, the 1st floor has blue board ceilings covering up horse plaster ceilings. 

Tenant turned off water relatively quickly and our plumber/HVAC guy arrived and got everything under control from a systems perspective. 

The first floor had water pouring down some walls, but by the end of it, there was no discernable staining or warping or bubbling of the ceilings (as of now, writing this post a few hours after this happened). The apartment is in the northeast and its relatively cold right now so thats probably a plus from a mold/mildew perspective.

At this point in time there is no noticeable water damage to the ceilings or walls, but the question is what is lying behind what the eye can see? How extensive is this damage and over what time frame will it show itself? 

Our current plan is to buy some air circulators and point them at some of the spots where water flow was visible, but other than that we do not know what to do.

Questions:
Should I call our insurance company to let them know about the incident even though currently we have no claim to make?

Should I call the tenants renters insurance companies to see what they cover in case we need to do any work? Would the 2nd floor tenant policy be responsible for the housing costs of the 1st floor tenant? 

Should we call a water damage remediation company? I am always skeptical about calling contractors for these kinds of things because incentives are just not aligned at all. They might call for a lot more work than what is necessary. 

My partner and I are willing to do our own work. Should we be investing in moisture meters and other things? Should we try to do our own remediation work? If so, what is the strategy/game plan?

Are there any questions I am not thinking of?