All Forum Posts by: Les Jean-Pierre

Hi, A tenant is behind on rent and I suspect will be trying to disappear from my rental shortly. Is there a way to track her down when she has her mail forwarded? If not, how about a good skip tracing service? Thanks

Yes, the tenant is S8. I should note that when I first rented to her she was the only person interested in the apartment. Voila, the Brooklyn housing boom and now she is way under market. Now, I think this is more of NYC government being inefficient. If there were real consequences for her actions like being booted from the program, I bet she would have left by now. If it is a good buy, don't necessarily turn it down.

So, I am pitched in a huge battle with the tenant on this eviction. There was a repair issue and, via email, she refused access. Section 8 mandated that I get the repair done. I got it done. But, I went to Section 8 to complain about her refusal of access. They said it was my fault that I didn't send a certified letter to her. I found out about the repair Friday. I got it inspected Tuesday which was the first day possible. So, if you want to work with the government and their guaranteed money, take all the strings attached.

I would say from the current S8 Tenant to market, there would be a 60% increase in rent. It is costing me money to have her in there. She understands this. Just doesn't want to leave because she is getting a great deal. She also is acting irrationally because she is engaging in self defeating behavior. Like she is now on the tenant blacklist, an eviction kicks her out of the program, she will owe me legal fees. Also, she happens to own a BMW SUV. I gave her plenty of time to move and she didn't. She forced my hand.

Per HUD regs, the unit where the tenant lives in must be inspected annually. I think they are slightly backing off this in the sense that if you pass on the first try, you don't get inspected for two years. Tenant/adult has to be there. Landlord is discouraged from being there. Depends on who you get. One guy would be in there for a minute. Another was saying literally a screw was loose. I don't have to deal with that with regular tenants.

I am evicting a Section 8 tenant right now. She was actually a good tenant then started going crazy when I told her to leave because I could not raise the rent to market. In NYC you are only allowed to raise the rent equal to what the rent guidelines board dictates which has been 1% the last few years. So, here, it is not worth it because the rents have gone way up. Also, you have inspections. I maintain the unit well but one inspector has consistently brought up nonexistent things that even the tenant and subsequent inspectors said was crazy. 

Good post. Some of my tenants have been aggravating me. Needed a good fresh perspective on things. They are only temporary. 

It is a holdover so nothing really to it. She has a lawyer through her union so he is being difficult because it is inconsequential either way. And then the court lawyer was like give her 5 free months of rent. Despite the judge saying that the tenant should sit down and shut up when the tenant brought up that many free months. And then the courts don't come anywhere close to working a full day. I should note that this Section 8 has a nice BMW SUV.

I am evicting a tenant whose rent is way under market. She was a good tenant who paid on time but the Brooklyn market just exploded. Now, I gave her plenty of advanced notice that I needed to raise rents and she didn't look hard for a new place. I gave her names of brokers, etc. So, finally fed up, I started a holdover action. Now, of course, I am called  every name in the book. She lied to the court(I have plenty of proof to dispute anything she says). She also has had unrealistic expectations. At first she thought she could not be evicted because she was Section 8. Then she thought she would get a lot of free rent because of a repair that she did not tell me about. So, Tuesday was a court date and the court lawyer(the one who works with the judge) said a trial made no sense and to try and settle. So, my lawyer calls me up with a settlement that was not great but good enough. So, I decide to take it. Then, I go to court and the tenant reneges and goes back to this unrealistic stance. But, here is the thing. When I went into the court attorney's office with her counsel and mine, she did not want to be there. Also, when I perform repairs, I give her a heads up and she leaves hours before I get there.  She is not too bright and she doesn't seem to realize that the consequences are more adverse to her than me. So, my question is has anyone experienced this and is there any way I can use her apparent discomfort around me to my advantage to end this thing?

I installed Blink Cameras in our three family. They are battery operated and work with your wifi system. Very affordable. You can see the images from your phone or tablet. I don't know how big your property is but I like this system for small properties.