All Forum Posts by: James Strawser

My senior tenant decided to not sign a new lease agreement with increased rental charge as of June 1st. I served him a notice of termination of the verbal agreement in May. Asked him to sign new lease, he declined and said "no you will have to evict me and you cant because of COVID-19". On June 17th I still have not received any rent or a new signed lease. I went to the property to do some maintenance and checked on the tenant. I ended up calling EMS to have him taken as he was barely conscious on tue floor. He is still in the hospital as of today.

Can I take back over the property in 14 days as abandonment? If he is still away from the property and behind on June rents.

Do I need to give notice at the hospital he is at that he has an avandoned the property and not paid rent?

What have other landlord's done in this situation?

An attorney has only said that we could sue the tenant for June's rent and that is all no eviction at this point in time.

According to what I have read in the FL statues it appears legal and justified. Although I may only be looking at it through my own eyes of wanting my property back.

I am under the FHA loan, and doing house hacking on this triplex.

Thanks for any information given!

I want to thank everyone for the prompt replies as I am in a crunch window. 

@Bjorn Ahlblad I do have a signed lease as it was needed for Salvation Army to process the first months rent check. I will ask to see if they are willing to give up the lease. 

@Wayne Brooks I will talk to them tomorrow and see if they can move in on May 1st. I do believe they should have all the money for first months rent with the Salvation Army check. As mentioned above I do have a lease signed and I do have an added addendum to the lease stating if they do not pay full months rent of April by May 1st I will not be renting to them. 

@Kim Meredith Hampton Great thoughts and ideas, Salvation Army only pays for the first month from what I understand. No last months or extra security deposit checks given. I will definitely seek counsel for more information on the proper legalities. 

If I postpone the lease until May 1st as the start date as the addendum states. It will give them at least more time for them to get their fixed income checks and possibly find another job.  

I may have to bite the bullet on this one and cross my fingers that they will do the right thing and continut to pay rent. Otherwise I will have to begin planning for an eviction in the coming months. 

I do have one question at the moment. I have recently signed a lease for a tenant (D level tenant barely passed screening) that was using the Salvation army program to help pay for first months rent. They were supposed to have the check cut to me by April 1st. I still do not have the check in hand to pay for the first months rent. The tenant did give me a security deposit of $1200 on March 30th. I found out today the tenant's have both lost their jobs. This would disqualify them from the initial screening of applicants. The one tenant does have a fixed income of $1700 a month. The rent I am charging is $1200. for a 2/2 not including utilities. The tenant is not in the unit at this point in time.

Can I refund the security deposit and send the Salvation Army check back legally? Not renting to these tenants and waiting for a better applicant due to the recent job loss.

Am I stuck with these tenants now with under my requirement for income to rent my property?

What legalities am I under or is there still a chance to get out of the lease?

Is an empty unit better than a tenant that can't pay rent at this point in the recession?

Can I postpone the tenants moving in till May 1st to give them extra money in hand to cover expenses?

I can cover the mortgage with my W-2 job and all expenses at this point in time(I am in an essential business). I am not in a position to cover any major repairs as I have dwindled down my reserves prior to CV. I have two units that are rented any paying rent.

Thank you for all of your shared knowledge and input.

James Strawser

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Thank you for the information and clarifying some items that I may have overlooked. 

@Brian Van Pelt

I do have one question at the moment. I have recently signed a lease for a tenant (D level tenant barely passed screening) that was using the Salvation army program to help pay for first months rent. They were supposed to have the check cut to me by April 1st. I still do not have the check in hand to pay for the first months rent. The tenant did give me a security deposit of $1200 on March 30th. I found out today the tenant's have both lost their jobs. This would disqualify them from the initial screening of applicants. The one tenant does have a fixed income of $1700 a month. The rent I am charging is $1200. for a 2/2 not including utilities. The tenant is not in the unit at this point in time. 

Can I refund the security deposit and send the Salvation Army check back legally? Not renting to these tenants and waiting for a better applicant due to the recent job loss. 

Am I stuck with these tenants now with under my requirement for income to rent my property? 

What legalities am I under or is there still a chance to get out of the lease?

Is an empty unit better than a tenant that can't pay rent at this point in the recession? 

Can I postpone the tenants moving in till May 1st to give them extra money in hand to cover expenses?

I can cover the mortgage with my W-2 job and all expenses at this point in time(I am in an essential business). I am not in a position to cover any major repairs as I have dwindled down my reserves prior to CV. I have two units that are rented any paying rent. 

Thank you for all of your shared knowledge and input. 

Being completely honest, my reserves got tapped out. My triplex (live in) has bled me almost completely dry. Fortunately I have one tenant that is on fixed income still paying. I had to ask a tenant to vacate on February 1st and rehab repairs got me done the hard road. I am renting all the units out starting April 1st and will begin to rebuild the emergency fund. Reserve funds and start to pay off credit cards etc. Luckily I am still working and live on a tight budget. 

Right at this moment, month to month for my expenses. Shout out to everyone who posted as it inspiring even though I may not be in that position at this moment. 

Wish me luck and or patience to get through this tight time. Prior to vacancy's and CV I had 6 months reserve. I will get there soon even having to put my own money back into the jar. 

I just spoke with the tenant that had a verbal agreement today. I did not review the discussion before hand and will have a verbal agreement written up. It appears to be a charity case, older gentlemen, no next of kin or family that he associates with, on fixed income, nurse comes to visit daily.  What did I get myself into?!!!?

One tenant is on a verbal agreement!!! The other tenant is on a one year (expires 5-5-20) lease that I have reviewed thoroughly and not impressed with the verbiage and lack of addendum's. I knew this going into the deal and know that I will have to face evictions sooner than later. 

@Tyler Gibson Thank you so much for the reply and advice. I will be setting up a checking account and a savings (Deposit) account for the unit A, B & C respectively with with Cozy or one of the online company's for payments and processing. I will be the manager and learn the ropers create my processes etc at this point in time if I want it done right I gotta do it myself! 

I forgot to mention I inherited two tenants that are to say the least not the ideal candidates. One will be getting served an eviction notice and I have taken over the lease agreement that was already in place. Great for immediate cash flow... if they pay rent on time. 

In regards to this lease original agreement does anyone know if I can add addendum's to it now that oId lease? As I  am the new owner and don't want to be paying for filters, light bulbs etc. general maintenance that a renter would normally pay but not stated in this lease agreement.   

Just wanted to let everyone know I closed on a deal and will be moving in on October 1st. I have a few weeks to get the unit I want to rehab up to speed for a renter to move in on Nov 1st. I am not much of an administrative guy more hands on with the ground work and seeing the future property bring in cash flow. 

I am still researching on the blogs and discussions so my outright apologies if the questions are redundant. 

I am setting up the administrative side of the property. Eventually I would like to turn it into an LLC in a year or two from now. Until that time some general advice would be greatly appreciated as I would like the property to have the plans and processes in place prior to most foreseen circumstances.

What has worked well for the paperwork side of owning a property? Cloud based? Hard paper copies on sight? One copy in safe deposit box? (Hurricanes in Florida gotta be prepared)

File folders for each individual unit sub categorized for inspections, tenants, expenses and income?

One general folder for the property broken down into sub categories?

Banking accounts:

Should I open three to four new accounts for each unit with a local bank and the entire property even if I am living in one? To record income (deposits, rent) from each unit and expenses out of that unit specifically?

Even though I would still have to pay out the mortgage with these accounts? Or my own separate checking account and any large cap ex costs if tenants don't pay. Initially I will have to pay (rent) so to speak to myself to cover my additional calculations of expenses and cap ex savings etc. 

Ideally speaking all units will be rental incomes after a year or two, (BRRRR) refinance or the new LLC I create take over the loan.

Being this is my first property should I let an experienced property management company handle this property for the first year?

Thank you for your time and patience with this topic as I am sure many more questions will occur.