All Forum Posts by: Lisa Hoyt

@Thomas S.  It may well be a scam, but I suspect the laws are different in Canada.  In the US, and MA in particular, tenant's rights are huge.  It might not be worth the legal battle to deny them.  It wouldn't be for me.  Thanks for weighing in.

@Marcia Maynard @Penny Clark  @Mike Cumbie I have advised my sister to consult an attorney and I drafted this letter to send to tenants based on the comments gleaned from this thread.

Since it is her property and her ultimate decision, I am not sure yet how she will proceed, but I am so grateful for the time that you all have taken to help me sort this out.  Bigger Pockets rocks!

"They will add your sister as a resident in an addendum to the lease. She cannot legally sign it since she is a minor, but she will be subject to all of the rules and expectations of any resident, a violation of the rules that violate the lease would be subject to termination of the lease. This would not be a real concern, I'm guessing, because she feels safe and comfortable with you and (partner's name).

In order to add her, I will need her name, date of birth, and proof that she has a legal right to live with you. (This can be custody or guardianship papers, or a witnessed letter by whoever has custody of her that she is in an approved living situation - this is for her protection as well as (landlord's) that you are not "harboring" a runaway or interfering with a custody order, at least in the eyes of the law.) The addendum will also state that you agree to update (landlord) if (sister) moves out permanently.

I am strongly suggesting that you and (possibly landlord) sit down with (sister) and review the terms of the lease, especially things that might not be so obvious but she needs to be aware of (ie noise levels, basement access, smoking, etc.)

They will not increase the rent with this addendum, but as with all lease renewals, it would be potentially subject to increase at next signing."

@Penny Clark  Thank you for your comment. Well articulated and most appreciated.

@David Soest  Her concern about the teen using water was more of a general concern about having 3 instead of 2 people living there and how that might impact the cost of her water bill - not a reflection of this actual girl using too much water...

@Curtis Bidwell  As I understand it in MA, the owner occupant CAN exclude families from children, at the time of initial rental, BUT agents are not allowed to screen out those families, they must present all qualified applicants to the landlord who then has the right to exclude them, AND (another big) BUT, once those tenants are in place, the landlord has no ability to control their family size (ie pregnancy, adoption, custody changes, etc). I totally agree with asking the attorney.

@Dawn Anastasi  I know, good point, thanks for your opinion.

@Tzvi Balsam Thanks for your input. I think the girl is lucky to have a sister who cares.

@Shaun Reilly   @Marcia Maynard @Russell Brazil I greatly appreciate these responses! The apartment is 2 bedroom, I understand about the HUD occupancy and Fair Housing, I think she was emotionally attached to a fairly quiet house which was rented to people with no kids. Her concern about 3 people was increase in water use which she pays for as property owner, as well as possible teen antics - friends, parties, drama, etc. I think we were caught off guard that this is a minor, she looks older, and it would be a legitimate "no" to modifying the lease if she were 18+.

There is a clause about unauthorized occupants, but as I understand the law, it would not apply to minors of whom tenants gain custody, thus increasing family size, which is protected by law?

I love the comment about rebooting the relationship.  Well said.  

So...I help "guide" my sister with issues pertaining to her rental property in MA.  Which means I am the middle man so she doesn't have to deliver unfavorable messages since she is an owner occupant.  She can "blame" things on "the property manager".  It works very well - usually.  Now, however, they have discovered that the 15 year old sister of one of the two adults named in the lease, has been staying there.  When I asked about her (we thought she was over 18), because male tenant said "we are thinking of having her stay with us for the summer" (violation of lease which says visitors can stay 7 days), the female tenant replied "he misled you, sister visits for help with homework, she spends the night sometimes".  Eight hours later, female tenant emailed again saying: "Sorry, I was at work earlier, here is the whole story.  Their mom died 7 years ago, sister was being raised by an aunt who recently remarried and no longer wants the girl.  She is a good girl in a bad situation.  Partner and I would like to have her live with us, could we change the lease, pay more money?"

They re-signed a year lease on May 31.  This conversation started the VERY next day, June 1.  My take: nice couple, helping teen sister, respectful of property, have been late with rent a few times, but not recently and not more than 2-3 days.  My SISTER's take:  they lied! They are manipulating me into having a teenager under my roof.  THEY LIED! etc.

I am not a lawyer, just trying to apply common sense with what I find out about MA/Federal housing laws via google, and as I understand it, if they get custody of the girl she becomes a part of their "family" and families are a protected class, therefore she has no recourse, but to let her stay there.  Am I wrong?

I have also suggested she: 

• consult an attorney who deals with MA real estate, 
• move and stop being a landlord (which they were considering for health reasons- selling this house would allow a cash purchase of a new home), 
• move and continue being a landlord, renting both units hoping that the financial gain will help her better deal with tenants who are less than truthful

I would be most grateful for thoughts/input/ideas, particularly from people familiar with the MA laws which are very owner unfriendly, or so it seems...Thanks!!

I have been managing a relative's property from a good distance using a virtual phone number and a gmail address which is the property address @gmail.com. I set up a property website through Wix, then posted on CL, Postlets, (which sends out to Zillow, Trulia, and Hot Pads) and Zumper.  All posts pointed to the website for more detailed information.  

I was very open and upfront about rental qualifications, including no prior evictions, credit score of 600+ and verifiable income needed to be 3 times monthly rent.  

ALL contact was done by email (I am going to update the post I did on this a month ago so not going into too much detail here) but I was really surprised when I looked at the ad results. By FAR the most leads generated came from Zillow, and the only qualified leads came from Zillow, the actual new tenants came from Zillow.  The breakdown:  CL- 9, Zillow - 36 Trulia - 5, Hot Pads -6, Zumper - 3.  The winner:  Zillow.

The market is just outside of Boston, rent = $1500. Most, but not all, of the CL inquiries came from people using some sort of voucher or a request from their caseworker to use a voucher. Most of the way I structured the listings and screening info I gleaned from BP in the last few months.

The way we handled the screening was that I did all of the references, 100% of the contact and set up appointments where my relative actually did the showing.  We had 4 actual showings before offering a lease to a qualified couple.  (The three couples before them self eliminated for one reason or another - this couple made it to the final round, income, references, credit scores, all lined up.) This process took just over 3 weeks.

The thing I like about email contact is that absolutely everything is documented.  I am not tied up on the phone, I can "work" wherever I am, even at a noisy volleyball game.

Good luck with your rentals, and the best thing I can suggest is to do a search on BP for every subject/title you can think of relative to screening tenants, that will help even more than where to advertise - my opinion.