All Forum Posts by: Justin Igoe

Thanks for your replies. I'm just going to ask her to clarify.

Thanks for your feedback. Btw certain google searches would probably have the law at your door.

Those are certainly possibilities but so is that I could end up with a 40 year old man living in my house that didn't complete an application and credit check. I just want to be sure it's legal for me to ask her the second question from my post above. The protected classes I was referring to are familial status, marital status and age.

I have a women applying with 2 teenagers (under 18) listed on her application who I was about to approve when I noticed something weird. She's moving out of the current house which her ex-boyfriend owns because their relationship is ending. That address's parcel records confirm the ex-boyfriend named is the owner. The weird thing is a google search of her children's names with that address result in nuwber.com showing that a man in his 40's lives there with the exact same name as one of her teens listed on the application. (it's the same last name as the applicant & her 2 children). 

First am I even allowed to google search an applicant's child's name that would be an occupant? 

Can I flat out ask her why nuwber.com records show that a man in his 40's with same name as your son is living at the address of your supposed ex-boyfriend?

My concern is this might fall under protected classes etc. Normally I'd move on to next applicant but besides the situation mentioned, her income and credit score are excellent and it's been difficult finding a qualified Tenant at this time of year. 

Everyone is in agreement on this issue which makes it an easy decision to handle it myself. Thanks for all your input, I appreciate it!

Point taken, and I'm leaning towards trying to take care of it myself but normally Tenant responsibilities are exactly that, although situations like this can be difficult to decide where to draw the line. The rent is at least $100 below market.

Ok thanks Michael. I'll try to confirm if that's accurate.

I have a single family rental that has a groundhog living and digging tunnels underneath the house. When the Tenant notified me of the groundhog we agreed I'd supply her with a trap and she'd try catching it. The groundhog came into the trap and took the food once but escaped squeezing out the back, so no luck yet and this has been going on for months. 

After recently reading the DE Pest and Bugs code, it sounds like the owner's only responsible for pests before renting, but after it's rented(free of pests) it becomes the Tenant's responsibility. I saw no indication of a groundhog before renting it out and the Tenant had already lived there for 7 months when she notified me of the groundhog. She said the neighbors told her that the previous owner had also been trying to remove a groundhog. She's been an excellent Tenant. I want to be fair with her and also want to make sure this groundhog is removed asap as I have no idea how much damage is being done from these tunnels underneath the house. 

Does anyone have advice on whether I should tell her it's actually her responsibility and she needs to have it removed, or should I continue working on other solutions myself to remove it?

Here is the Pest and Bugs DE code: 

(a) Owner's responsibility.--The owner of any structure shall be responsible for extermination of insects, rats, vermin or other pests within the structure prior to renting, leasing or selling the structure.

(b) Tenant-occupant's responsibility.--The tenant-occupant of any structure shall be responsible for the continued rat proof condition of the structure, and if the tenant occupant fails to maintain the rat-proof condition, the cost of extermination shall be the responsibility of the tenant-occupant.

(c) Single unit occupant's responsibility.--The occupant of a structure containing a single dwelling unit shall be responsible for the extermination of any insects, rats or other pests in the structure or on the premises.

 Hi Michael,

My wife is on the mortgage and we'd both be owners of the new LLC Series. Fannie Mae allows you to transfer into LLC. Is there a law stating that all owners of the LLC need to be listed as borrowers on the mortgage?

 Hi Jason,

Thanks for the info. So do you think that by transferring our house into our series LLC (with current mortgage still in my wife's name only) that could pierce the corporate veil?