All Forum Posts by: Karen P.

To enforce a no pets policy, first talk to them and remind them of the lease policy of no pets. If they fail to remedy the situation, send a notice that they are violating the lease.

As far as you having one: That seems like a PR nightmare. It's difficult enough balancing tenant relations, why intentionally stir the pot?

For me personally, after spending thousands on repair and still can't get the awful odor out of the apartment, I will not be allowing pets. No pet fee or deposit will ever cover the cost of the damage.

I have no shortage of renters from my new "no pets" stance. I now have residence base that doesn't want to live around pets. :)

I worried about that when we first bought our small 13 unit. No pool. No spa etc... I have been amazed at the number of people who come to my property searching for peace and quiet. They don't want to live in loud, busy complexes.  As the others have said, you have to view it as a different niche. Advertise it as such and you will have a waiting list!

In our area vinyl wood planks are really popular for rentals.  That's what we've been having installed in our apartment rehabs.  It looks really great and is extremely durable! Love it.

One thing we did after we bought our apartment was read all the leases we inherited.  Then we gave each of the tenants a letter introducing ourselves and "reminding" them of what their current leases said about rent.  We then explained in detail what would happen when and if rent was late etc. 

Everyone seemed to appreciate the clarity and knowing what was expected from the new landlords in regards to paying promptly.

But I agree with the others, just give them a call and remind them. 

Update on the apartment horror story:  She got the letter and called. I have to admit I was a bit nervous on this one! Besides all the dog waste, her apartment is like a Little Shop of Horrors. No joke. Very creepy. There was a doll head with pins sticking in its eyes on the coffee table....gulp.

Anyway, needless to say she was very upset. I stayed to the facts and tried to keep her calm.  She of course tried to explain the situation. We offered to help her in finding a service to clean, but she declined.  She said she would get it cleaned up.  I'll believe it when I see it.  Right now it's a matter of weighing the cost of having to rehab that unit to get it rented. 

It's kind of an interesting issue. We bought the building 100% occupied. Within the first weeks two people left. So we rehabbed those units. They needed major electrical and plumbing work. We then raised the rents on those two units by $115. The current tenants loved them so much they moved in. So then we had two more to rehab and so on and so forth. It's been musical apartments! So the rehabs having been coming faster than we had anticipated in our original plan. But in the end, it's all good, since we are able to get the rents up to market rate.

Thanks for all of the great input!! I really appreciated it.

Thanks everyone! I will definitely check with my attorney.  Seems that if I take that part out about the violation of lease and just ask her to clean for health reasons, and just rescind the moving offer, I'll probably be good. But I will def. check.

Her current lease is up in June.  As leases have come up, we've put them on a standard TAA lease.  Besides this weird hiccup, everything else has been going smoothly.

On initial inspection, she had the stomach flu, and her dogs were not present. So we all guessed that's what the weird smell was. It's honestly a very strange odor. Sickly smelling.

We are going on our 3rd month of owing the property. 

Her lease does not address anything. It's basically worthless. 

This is the letter I was thinking of sending: What do you think?
 

Dear Ms. Smith,

On Friday April 24th, our contractor stopped by your apartment to determine the turn cost for that unit. After his visit we were contacted about the condition of your apartment. Specifically the unsanitary smell and amount of animal waste improperly disposed of and on the floors.

Please be aware that the condition of your apartment is unacceptable and unsanitary for not only you but your animals as well. It is also a violation of your lease contract for failure to maintain the cleanliness and condition of our unit. This is causing permanent damage the flooring and subflooring, which you are responsible for, but can be a health issue for other residents in the building as well.

Effective immediately, your apartment must be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and maintained. Another inspection will take place on May 8th to verify that steps have been taken to remedy the situation.

Items to be addressed are listed below:

During the inspection the following items were found:

1. Litter box under kitchen sink over filled with animal waste.
2. Mold growing on the animal waste in the litter box.
3. Kitchen sink drains extremely dirty and filled with a thick layer of grim.
4. Pet waste found on floors.
5. Strong unsanitary smell.

After discovering the condition of your unit, the decision has been made to rescind the transfer offer.

Failure to comply with the above request will result in termination of your right of occupancy and you will have to move from the premises.

Please make every effort to remedy this serious situation. Please contact to confirm receipt of this notice by Friday May 1st.

You may reach me at --------

I'll try to make this not too crazy complicated. We recently bought an 11 unit complex. The aquired leases were handwritten, one page and very lacking.

We have been rehabbing the empty units and significantly raising the rents, getting them up to market.

The current residents love the new units and have been happily moving into the more expensive redone ones.

So here comes my dilemma. This past week one of the current residents asked to move into one we are finishing and I verbally said yes. My contractor and I walked her current unit this past Friday to see the scope of rehab needed for her apartment once vacant.

Well, the smell about dropped us both. She has 2 little dogs that she obviously allows to go potty on the floors, all. the. time. When we opened under the kitchen sink to inspect the disposal, we found a litter box of dog poop over filling the box and white fuzzy mold growing on it!!!

How would you handle this situation. I obviously do not want her moving into the newly remodeled unit. I want to tell her this and tell her she needs to clean her apartment. At the same time, I want to be delicate as possible. Thanks!!

I am currenty taking the CAM classes. And we were instructed that we are not allowed to disclose why an applicant was turned down, etc. or the actual results of the information. You are to give them the address and phone number of the agency used and direct the applicant to them. 

Hello from Mckinney, Texas! Welcome to BP. My husband and I are new as well and also looking to meet up with other investors in the area.