All Forum Posts by: Kee Lee

As you are aware, the water leak was directly caused by your failure to change the air filter. It is your responsibility to change the air filter to prevent this from occurring (see Lease, page 3, paragraph 2).

Your negligence in failure to change the air filter has directly caused me to incur significant expenses. Not only did I have to hire someone to diagnose and remedy the cause of the leak, as well as dry the affected area, but I am now facing a $12,000 expense to remediate the mold your negligence caused.

Due to your negligence causing these large expenses, it is necessary for me to file a claim with your renters insurance policy. If you also have losses that you feel may be covered under your renters insurance policy, I suggest you do the same. However, I bear no responsibility for your damages as they were directly caused by your negligent actions.

Sincerely,

Landlord

PS: Your rent will be going up due to this!!

Wow thanks so much for your advice, I will present this to my attorney and see what he says. I tried to be nice and work this out privately offered them around 6k compensation package now they want like year of free rent (24K) and 8k in cash, these are section 8 tenants. They were paying only 350 and 2100 from section 8 but now since Jan 2024 they pay 2100 only 350 is covered by section 8, not sure what happened. But did hire a mold remediation company and there is definitely mold there, estimate is 10k, time is of the essence so I asked my property manager to go ahead and remediate. Sometimes niceness doesn't payoff :-(

You are right, being nice doesn't always work. The tenant is clearly after something. When is their lease up? I'd work on getting them out and finding a new tenant. I'd also bet if you went to check the filter, they still haven't changed it since your handyman put one in last year.

Yeah they are month to month but in washington dc it is very had to get them out even for legitimate reasons but thanks for advice.

Have you considered hitting them with a Stone Cold Stunner?

And what would that be?

bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Ah I get ya, yeah that would be nice to put some sense into them, but these are elderly couple and have some starndards, looks like they are coming around any may settle for two months free rent. The mold remediation will take couple days and set me back thousands but someone has to pay for the mold remediation and it's not like the insurance or the tenant will cover it.

Doesn't matter that they are old. If she acts up, Grandma can get it too.

LOL, Yessir!

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Quote from @Greg M.:

Spend a couple hundred dollars and have an attorney draft a f*** off letter.

Dear Tenant:

Sincerely,

Landlord

PS: Your rent will be going up due to this!!

Yeah they are month to month but in washington dc it is very had to get them out even for legitimate reasons but thanks for advice.

Have you considered hitting them with a Stone Cold Stunner?

And what would that be?

bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Quote from @Greg M.:

Spend a couple hundred dollars and have an attorney draft a f*** off letter.

Dear Tenant:

Sincerely,

Landlord

PS: Your rent will be going up due to this!!

Yeah they are month to month but in washington dc it is very had to get them out even for legitimate reasons but thanks for advice.

Have you considered hitting them with a Stone Cold Stunner?

And what would that be?

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Quote from @Greg M.:

Spend a couple hundred dollars and have an attorney draft a f*** off letter.

Dear Tenant:

Sincerely,

Landlord

PS: Your rent will be going up due to this!!

Yeah they are month to month but in washington dc it is very had to get them out even for legitimate reasons but thanks for advice.

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Tenants love to ask for compensation. You need to educate yourself and stand your ground.

I also recommend you revise your lease. Tenants should be 100% responsible for consumables like air filters, water filters, light bulbs, etc. Put it in your lease, teach them how to change them, buy them a one-year supply (usually $20), and then hold them accountable.

Your home did not cause this problem; your tenant did.

Thanks for advice, yeah it is definitely in the lease for them to change the air filters but believe it or not sometime they are incapable, can't even put it in the right away wrong air flow directions so I may hire someone to replace the air filters every 90 days esp when they have cats the air filters get clogged real fast, thanks!

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Tenants love to ask for compensation. You need to educate yourself and stand your ground.

Your home did not cause this problem; your tenant did.

Makes perfect sense thanks for the advice!

1 Vote

Washington, DC

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Kee Lee:

Wow thanks for words of advice, I will definitely talk to my attorney in the morning and try to be more on the offensive, thanks for the heads up!

Typical low life tenant thinking they'll get a payday. Highly doubt it goes any further than it has if you shut them down and then evict them. Attorney's aren't working for the poor's on a retainer and it's doubtful he has the ability or desire to pay for one.

I agree but first time owning a 4 unit building, my attorney suggested giving them 2 months free rent to avoid any exposure but they're definitely trying to shake me down. I've been so generous with them so in the end hire a property manager and be very firm with them, lessons learned.

1 Vote

Washington, DC

Wow thanks for words of advice, I will definitely talk to my attorney in the morning and try to be more on the offensive, thanks for the heads up!

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Sam Yin:

@Kee Lee

I have had something similar twice. On the first occasion, I leveraged it as an opportunity to move the tenants along, complete some rehab, rerent at market... About 80%+ higher. This raised the valuation of the asset tremendously.

On the second occasion, about 2 months ago, a tenant complained a few weeks after the fire department soaked the unit to put out a fire. After hearing her plight and the fact that she never opens any windows, I reminded her that this is business and I would not take it personal if she felt the need to break the lease and move out. I would even credit that current month. But if she stayed, I would be greatful for her loyalty. I told her that the property manager will enter her unit during the day to open all windows to air it out or the next 2 weeks. We will paid for professional carpet cleaning. That's it. Although I was hoping it would cause her to move out, she stayed and later told me that it finally aired out. Her rent will be going up soon.

Try your best to see the glass half full and find an opportunity to make your asset better performing. This can mean some improvements, new and more resilient tenants, or just some attitude adjustments.

Thanks for sharing your experience, I know legally the tenant is at fault because they never changed the air filters but still now there is bad mold and I am remediating it but I still want to compensate them a little maybe 2 months of free rent for dealing with the mold...

0 Votes

Washington, DC

Quote from @Matthew Paul:

Lawyer up right away . You are getting shook down

Thanks, i've done that just my lawyer has been busy, will call him tomorrow, thanks for the advice.

0 Votes

Washington, DC

All Forum Posts by: Kee Lee

Kee Lee has started 1 posts and replied 36 times.

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold

Post: Tenant claims sickness due to Mold