All Forum Posts by: Kevin Huang

Just hit 15 units a few months ago and have realized I've officially crossed the threshold of what I can reasonably manage on my own while maintaining my day job.  Does anyone have experience with property managers that they would be willing to recommend?

Thanks!

Just received a text from one of my tenants yesterday stating that they intended to terminate their lease early at the end of the month. These tenants have been a royal pain in my rear end lately, and honestly I would be more than happy to have them leave.  We have agreed on a fee of 1 months rent in exchange for letting them out early - is there any paperwork or documentation that I need to draft up?  Do I need the signatures from all the tenants and include all terms of the agreement?

Just want to make sure I have my ducks in a row so that I can get the unit listed ASAP.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Just received a text from one of my tenants yesterday stating that they intended to terminate their lease early at the end of the month.  These tenants have been a royal pain in my rear end lately, and honestly I would be more than happy to have them leave.

The lease they signed (expiring on 8/31/21) didn't include a buyout clause and doesn't appear to have any language surrounding early terminations, so I wanted to pick your brains on what my best course of action is going forward.  As much as I want them out of the property so that I can get better tenants in by Summer, I would still like to charge them some amount to cover for the missed income until then.  As this is my first time going through something like this, I'm not totally sure what my rights are and what would be a reasonable amount to ask for.

Some additional background:

I live in Chicago in an owner occupied 3-flat, and the tenants live in one of the bottom units.  Form the research I've done, I believe that this exempts me from the Chicago RLTO, although I don't really know a whole lot beyond that.
The unit they are living in has recently experienced some issues - a faulty appliance that I replaced in a timely manner, and some water leakage caused by ice damming due to the record snowstorm this past winter (which I am still in-process of fixing).  They stated in their text notifying me of their intentions to terminate early that they took issue with me not providing 2 days advance notice of needing to enter their unit, however I don't believe this is a valid excuse (I've never once entered into their unit without asking their permission first, and every time it has been to address repairs that they have requested).

Thank you in advance for your help!

Tenants living in the bottom unit (below ground) mentioned that there appears to be some leakage going on.  I went to take a look and it looks like there's water coming through the ceiling.  I'm not totally sure where this water would be coming from as the area showing the water damage is directly beneath the floor of the upper unit, but I have a hunch that whatever it is, it has something to do with all the snow/ice/etc.

Asking folks with more experience than myself and have lived through Chicago winters if they have any guesses as to what the issue might be?

Some facts that might be helpful:

-I have a flat roof

-The damaged area located right against the back wall of the building, very close to the vertical gutter

-The unit directly above has experienced water leaking through the top of their door and window frames as well

Thanks for the responses guys - per IL law, I believe they are required to provide me written notice 14 days in advance via certified or registered mail, which has not been done.  They're students and I definitely do not expect them to stay beyond this year, especially at this point.

My question is really this - does a finicky stove where the burner may take a few tries to ignite successfully qualify as a 'broken appliance'?  I feel like they are being a bit unreasonable with their demands, but I do want to know if I'm just seeing this from a misplaced perspective.

I have some tenants who are complaining to me about a 'broken' stove where 1 out of the 4 range tops wouldn't ignite. I had someone come out and take a look at it today, and before leaving he called me down and I was able to light all 4 of the range tops prior to him leaving.

I just received a text from the tenants stating that they still can't get the top to light, to which I responded that it might just be finicky and that they might need to try it a few times. I also let them know that I was able to get it to light myself. Their response was that the stove was not 'fully fixed' and then threatened to buy a new stove to replace it and deduct the costs out of their next months rent if it is not up to their standards within the next 14 days, which a lawyer told them they would be able to do.

I was pretty baffled by the unreasonableness and ingratitude of their response, but it seems too late to try and change any of that, and at this point what I want to do is just wait out the 14 days and see what happens. I've done some research online as to what I'm able to do and as far as I can tell, I don't believe I'm obligated to do anything more. That said, I'm no expert and I have basically no experience with things like this, so wanted to pick your brains over here for your general thoughts on the situation as well as any advice that you have to offer.

Thanks in advance - any help is sincerely appreciated!

I have some tenants who are complaining to me about a 'broken' stove where 1 out of the 4 range tops wouldn't ignite. I had someone come out and take a look at it today, and before leaving he called me down and I was able to light all 4 of the range tops prior to him leaving.

I just received a text from the tenants stating that they still can't get the top to light, to which I responded that it might just be finicky and that they might need to try it a few times. I also let them know that I was able to get it to light myself. Their response was that the stove was not 'fully fixed' and then threatened to buy a new stove to replace it and deduct the costs out of their next months rent if it is not up to their standards within the next 14 days, which a lawyer told them they would be able to do.

I was pretty baffled by the unreasonableness and ingratitude of their response, but it seems too late to try and change any of that, and at this point what I want to do is just wait out the 14 days and see what happens. I've done some research online as to what I'm able to do and as far as I can tell, I don't believe I'm obligated to do anything more. That said, I'm no expert and I have basically no experience with things like this, so wanted to pick your brains over here for your general thoughts on the situation as well as any advice that you have to offer.

Thanks in advance - any help is sincerely appreciated!

 I did not, sorry!

Echoing the same questions as above, how much of a hassle has this been as compared to a traditional rental?

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