All Forum Posts by: Lloyd Spencer

The ordinance, which is a scan of a 1996 document appears to be silent on the subject of what happens when a unit is or becomes vacant.  Does anyone have first hand experience of this?  In practical terms would the city compare a new tenant's rent to a prior tenants rent?  

Separately, the ordinance says there can be a 50% rent increase if $8k is spent. Does anyone have first hand experience with this?

Thanks!

Just wanted to post an update.  After a year and hiring attorneys to represent us with the building department we finally got permits. As with many things in the US, you really have to hire attorneys to get what you want...

We are rehabbing a 7 unit property in Union City, NJ. The city doesn't allow rent increases for rehabs or condo conversions so we're looking at AirBnB as a commercial strategy.  There is an ordinance prohibiting <30 day rentals. When I go on AirBnB I see literally >1000 short term rentals in Union City NJ.

Does anyone have any experience with interactions with Union City over AirBnB? Do they enforce their ban?  Are >30 day rentals legal?

Thanks in advance for any tips!

I've tried a couple of different property managers. My current one just got acquired and they specialize in SFR. Service has declined markedly and I'm paying above market for a 5-25 unit MF. Any advice?

Thanks in advance.

also, my sewer bills in Hudson County are quarterly vs monthly for water, not sure if that applies in your situation as well.

Hi, we're trying to rehab an abandoned multifamily building in Union City NJ. We're learning that the Mayor generally doesn't allow any permits to be approved for development.  Has anyone found a creative solution for this?  It seems hard to imagine that the city would want a boarded-up building on a main street on an ongoing basis but that's what it will be without permits.

Hi,

I'm having difficulty finding someone to submeter and bill on a smaller property.  The companies I have contacted all start at 10 or 100 units.

Has anyone had success with this in Northern NJ?  My properties are in Guttenberg, West New York and Union City.

Thanks.

I'm still researching this but wanted to post some updates based on what I learned so far:

1. although technically possible it is illegal in NJ for a landlord to submeter power to tenants with a 3rd party metering company

2. in new construction situations they have been getting around this by just charging 'extra rent' for the power and having it be the landlord's responsibility.  Although this isn't ideal, it allows for adding solar which is way more beneficial to cashflow

3. PSEG will resist attempts to convert a building from residential meters to a commercial meter. (Presumably, because the unit cost of electricity is way lower on a commercial meter.)  If you can make a justification for 3-phase electricity, like an elevator or other similar load then this is one way to get them to do it.

I'm working on a multifamily conversion to condos so I'm hoping this will allow (1) but I could have difficulty with (3).  More to come...

Yes, including it in the rent would be easier but all my units are in rent controlled parts of NJ, so I don't think I could raise the rent by the amount of their usage.  There are 3rd party companies that do submetering and billing so I could outsource it, but yes, I'm not sure if I could shut off for non-payment.

My main question is what is this called?  In California it appears to be called "net metering aggregation" but I can't find a similar terminology on the East Coast.

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone has successfully put solar on multifamily and then submetered the tenants?

So concept would be:

- replace tenant meters with one master meter for the whole property

- install solar on the roof

- install submeters for tenants, and charge them the same as the PSEG rate

You have receiveables exposure to tenants, but then you get to collect RECs for solar and potentially save on the PSEG rate with a larger meter.

It seems like the economics of this could be compelling since it would increase NOI significantly.

Has anyone heard of this before?  

Thanks!