All Forum Posts by: Kaycee Miller

Yes to @Thomas S., you absolutely need to know all the state and local landlord-tenant laws. Your state might also have specific laws about the tenant screening process, like you might have to approve the first qualified tenant who applied, not the one that you like the best (sometimes referred to a first-come first-serve policy).

Get your rental agreement reviewed by an attorney to make sure all your clauses are legal and you include the necessary disclosures. You wont have to do this every time, but at the beginning of your landlording career, it's a good idea to verify you have a legal lease. Remember that every state and your city or county will have different rental laws. 

Run a credit, criminal, and eviction check on every adult who's name will be listed on the lease. This means parents and students!  

Good luck and congratulations!

I wonder how much it actually makes the properties more marketable? Are vacancy rates higher in these A-properties that makes the owner need to have a move-in incentive? I think a one month rent discount would be more compelling and then you don't have to deal with bad paint jobs, or tenant deciding to paint the living room black. Plus the cost of a single month discount sounds more affordable that offering to pay for entire paint job for your new renters

I would definitely charge an additional deposit and a monthly pet rent/fee. A pet will cause damage, even if it's only staining the carpet or making brown spots on the lawn. These are areas you will want to fix after the tenant moves out and it's easier to use a pre-collected pet deposit than rely only on the security deposit. As for the pet fee, pet-friendly properties are a premium amenity that renters will pay for. That fee suddenly becomes additional income, whereas a pet deposit will have to get returned if unused.

It is absolutely a renter responsibility to change the filters. But I don't think renters know or care enough to do it themselves. Set up reminders to send your tenants every three months to change the air filters. Do a six-month inspection, like @Roger S. recommends, and  when you check the filter and discover it hasn't been changed, even after you reminded them, it will show them how serious you are. You can give your tenants a filter this one time, and show them how easy it is to change. Let them know this one is a gift, but per their lease it is their responsibility to change them. Remind your tenant that they are super affordable. But if you discover they haven't been changing the filter during the next inspection, they will be charged a lease violation fee and have to pay for the cost of a new replacement filter which you install.

If the lease your tenant currently signed doesn't mention an additional occupant fee, not sure you will be able to pull this off.   Also charging rent on a per-person basis, is in a gray area for potentially violating the Fair Housing Act, as it might be discriminatory towards familia status. So be EXTRA careful if you are considering this. 

You should absolutely make all occupants submit a rental application and go through your tenant screening process. What's the point of having only the lease signer provide a rental application, when it sounds like 3 other occupants will be calling this place home and should be responsible for rent, damages, and upholding lease terms. 

As I am sure you realize, you need to check your state and local laws about any specific requirements for handling a tenant's death appropriately. Your property manager should be knowledgeable about your state and local landlord-tenant laws.

In most cases, follow these procedures.

1.Get a written notice about a tenant’s death from next of kin or the executor, so you can start the transition to re-renting and recoup any financial loss.

2. Secure the property. Work with the next of kin to coordinate times for you to let them into the property to clean and remove items. Do not personally touch anything.   If you have to remove garbage and rotting food that is attracting rodents, take video evidence of everything you are throwing away. Don't throw anything away that isn't rotting garbage. 

3. Work with the next of kin to get them to remove the deceased tenant's belongings. Set a realistic timeline for the family to remove the belongings and clean the property. Anywhere from 2 weeks to 30 days is a good time frame. You can let the family know that they will be responsible for rent for the amount of time it takes them to clean the property and return possession back to you.

If the amount of rent, damages and cleaning exceed the total security deposit, you’ll need to petition the deceased tenant’s estate for compensation.  If the tenant did not issue a notice for intent to vacate, it sounds like you have a good case that she intended to live there for the current month, in which case that rent is still due to you. 

Hope that's a helpful starting point. 

They have no right to request to be present during the showings and you do not need to accommodate their schedule. As long as you are giving them proper notice about the showings, you are holding up your end of the deal. 

But as you mentioned, these high maintenance tenants don't sounds like are going to be easy to deal with. Is there a reason they insist on being present during the showings? 

Could you schedule an open house that allows multiple families to come on one day. One suggestion is to get the tenants movie tickets or a gift certificate for dinner, and show the property when they are out of the house for the activity. 

Most cloud-based property management software programs will work on Macs and Windows. You'll be able to work from any device, on the go. I know Rentec Direct, Buildium and Appfolio all work on both operating systems. They also offer free trials for you to play around with and make sure you like them. Good luck!

Depending on your area's laws, you should be entitled to receive receipts and documentation.

You should also have an understanding about how the "move-in" deposit can be used, which may very well include fines for violating move-in conditions. However, if the move-in deposit is only to be used to cover damage that happened while you were moving, you might have to pay out of pocket for the extra fine.

The security deposit can only be used when you vacate to restore the property to pre-move-in condition or to cover any unpaid rent or fines incurred while living on the property. 

@Matt Shields nailed it!