All Forum Posts by: L. Pritchard

Section 8 will always have an inspection before every contract is signed, even a lease renewal. I suppose you could choose not to do something they wanted and try to find another applicant but realize they will just have another inspection done and you will be back at step 1. 

If you think something on the inspection was unreasonable you can call the tenants case manager and explain why. I've had them do an inspection and request that I replace all the flooring in a unit. After I went to inspect I realized it was damage caused by the tenants unauthorized pet. I worked an agreement to recover the damage cost from the tenant and ended up only replacing the front entry area with vinyl and never touched the carpet. 

Most of the time I failed inspections from Section 8, all they wanted was for me to replace a bathroom vent fan that didn't work or something else cheap, easy, and reasonable. 

Sell the debt to a collection agency or if it is a really high balance you can consider trying to seek wage garnishments if your state allows it. 

This is a lawyer question and you should get your guidance and verbiage from them. 

In my experience, and from the description you gave I suggest you

Document all the behavior you are witnessing and if tenants bring things to your attention ask they put it in writing. (Don’t go solicit for it though). 
Give the tenant a non renewal when their lease is set to expire. Probably even better to provide them an early notice or be prepared to allow a later move out date if they need it. 
Be prepared to explain the lease violations or behavior you and others have experienced and how the decision to non-renew was based on those business and contractual reasons. Reason cannot obviously be that they needed a reasonable accommodation or “asked for too many”. 
Notify the ownership, or your supervisor of the sensitive issue before you send out any notices to this individual.  

Really it’s no different than non renewing consistent late paying tenants or any other tenant that gets a lot of complaints from neighbors. 

Unfortunately, if the tenant is not in sound mind or not accepting that maybe they need some assistance then you may have to go this route. 

We have tenants that have care givers and nurses that visit daily with no issues or complaints from neighbors. It’s also nice because the care giver may get permission to place service requests with us to ensure they are getting things repaired when needed. Some make sure that they pay their rent and sign renewals. But I’ve also had to deal with situations similar to yours and that’s how it was handled. 

Again, attorney question. But In my experience, it doesn’t matter if your apartment building “isn’t set up to accommodate” and things are not “designed to be ADA complaint”. If a tenant in a wheel chair needed a ramp installed to access an office to pay rent, you’d install a ramp.

Im not sure how the SRO is but I imagine it’s much worse than individual apartments. Removing this individual seems to be the only solution.

Whatever the best remedy may be for you, sorry you are having to deal with such a tough and delicate situation Hopefully the end result helps better your tenant’s quality of life.

@Joy James I see. Ok. If they haven’t provided you the signed CDC form then I would send out your payment demand notice now. 
For us here it is a 5day notice but it actually allows them 30 days to move if they can’t pay. So, we cant actually file for eviction until after 30 days. We also expect that there are a large amount of cases that will be filled at the start of the year and this will further delay getting a court case and a lock out. Sending the notice doesn’t mean you actually have to go that route either. But it will put some fire under the tenants to pay you. Also, if you haven’t already looked up you local rental assistance agencies I would suggest doing that and letting your tenants know they might be able to get help. 
Best of luck to you either way  🙂

@Michael Furst That’s very exciting. If the deal goes through I’d be interested to know the details if you feel comfortable sharing at that time. 
I’ve been in property management here for 13 years and am finally looking to own some rentals myself but haven’t taken the leap yet. 

The CDC Moratorium isn’t state specific and you are correct that as of now it will end 12/31/2020. Tenants must sign off on it and return it to their landlords for it to apply. 

Joy you are going to have a very tough road ahead of you if you can’t evict a tenant. I can sympathize with your feelings and values but you are a landlord and expenses are real. You will need to be firm and do the tough things like evicting tenants with kids and sad stories. 
I hope that doesn’t sound too harsh but it is a reality of the business. 
I’ve probably had to do over 100 evictions in my career and while it does get easier there are still sometimes that it breaks your heart. 

Belinda,

If you had it inspected and there are no faults with wiring or a bad breaker then you need to do some math and see what the issue really is. 
Watts

The microwave and toaster both are high loads. Microwaves can pull 1300 watts and toaster could be anything from 400-600 watts. 

What is the amperage of the breaker they are on? Here’s an example.

A 15 amp breaker can supply a max of 1800 watts. 120volts x 15 amps. 

If the toaster uses 600 and the microwave 1300 then they are overloading the circuit (1900 watts) and the breaker is doing it’s job. 

So you could spend that $5-6k and end up with them still having the same issue. You could upgrade that circuit to a 20amp breaker but your wiring probably isn’t thick enough to carry the extra power without fire risk. 

So....

No. I’d tell them they are overloading a circuit and need to use the appliances separately or move the toaster to a different circuit. 

Hi Mike,

I just saw a 6-Unit building listed about 6 weeks ago for $50k a door. It was similar to what you are looking at. All 1 bedrooms and from memory something similar to that 500sqft size with swamp coolers. I ran numbers on it at that time but I cannot find the listing anymore.

I first thought $50K a door was a steal until I drove the area and then started to really consider the small unit size.

I agree with @Bobby Hosmer on the $1 sq.ft rent range for C properties depending on the location.

That could be more like $1.25 - $1.30 for a desirable area and related amenities. Do you mind posting just the zip code that this property is located in? 85705, 85719, 85716 and 85712 are all areas where the average household income is at or below the national poverty line and expectations for high rent increases there should be had with caution. 

Of course and good luck. On another note, maybe look up some local rental assistance agencies or local city/state resources for tenants. I always like to send my notices along with some information on where they can possibly go get rental assistance from. 

You are a landlord, not a medical professional and therefore get no say in how many service animals are reasonable for that tenant. If a tenant has submitted a reasonable accommodation form with the recommendation from a medical professional for each animal based upon a qualifying disability then it is not excessive. I have a tenant with a miniature horse as their service animal.

If they haven't submitted a reasonable accommodation request with verification of their qualifying disability from a medical professional then they are not service animals.

I commonly get submitted a service animal ID or registration form. This is not acceptable proof of a qualifying disability but is only proof the tenant has the internet and credit card. Medical professional could be their doctor, pharmacist, therapist, etc.