All Forum Posts by: Marcia Maynard

We work with tenants on Section 8. We also adhere to minimum rental criteria of income or income equivalents of 3x the rent, or 2.5x with additional security deposit. The value of the Section 8 voucher counts towards our income requirements, so does the value of food stamps and other non-monetary benefits that aid in covering the cost of food, shelter, clothing, transportation, medical care.

About the tenant who was struggling with paying the $25 or just paying it late... I would have talked with her case manager at the housing authority. Each housing authority is different, but in our locale the case managers will make sure the tenants are adhering to the rental agreement if they are apprised of the situation. If the Section 8 recipient is not doing so, they jeopardize losing their benefit... a huge motivator. I suspect the tenant was not making "pay rent on time" a priority. The housing authority would not have let her enter into the rental agreement with you if she could not afford her portion of the rent and all of the associated costs (copay, utilities, etc.) required for renting the unit.

@Michael G.

Yes. I would still ask the tenant to stop her daycare activity on our property, even if I could charge more rent. Think about zoning and the character of the neighborhood. Think about what kind of business you want to be in. We choose to be in the business of providing housing, not business space. The only business activity we allow in our rental units are home based businesses that only use a home office/studio and have no client activity in the home. Our marketing statement defines our focus: "We strive to provide safe, clean, affordable, comfortable and quiet housing for responsible renters in the neighborhoods of west Vancouver." Our contract clarifies use: "Tenant agrees the premises will be used for dwelling purposes only and not for business. Tenant will not use said premises or any part thereof for any illegal purpose."

I became certified for lead based paint testing and removal. We test all our pre-1978 properties for lead based paint. Years of new paint will enclose most lead based paint, but the places most commonly re-exposed are wear points such as window sashes and door jambs, especially check the hinge side of the interior door jambs where they meet the floor. Infants and toddlers will have access to floor level places and are most at risk for lead poisoning. Pre-schoolers can reach window sills and chew on them. If you are cutting a circle of drywall out to install a light fixture or outlet or light switch, test the piece you are pulling out, as you have a good edge where all paint levels are exposed. We found some lead based paint in our 1925 house and 1940 house. We found asbestos in our 1950 house. All our our duplexes built in the early 1970s came out clean.

We headed one off at the pass. The tenant requested that we fence the yard with a 6 foot high fence. Why? Because she wanted to license her daycare. We didn't know she had a daycare. It started out by her watching someone else's child and started to snowball. We immediately pointed to the rental agreement which has a "residential use only" clause and told her she would need to stop her daycare activity. She complied.

3-day notices do motivate tenants. This month a tenant was late on paying rent and we served the 3-day notice. She scrambled to gather money, even tapping family and friends, and paid partial rent. We accepted it since it was more than half of the rent, then served her another 3-day notice for the remainder. Seeing I was firm about getting the rest of the rent, plus late fee, she became creative. She had some nicely framed art on her walls and offered to sell some to me. I told her it was nice art and probably she could get some money for it at a pawn shop. I even gave her the name and address of a pretty good pawn shop on this side of town. She said she didn't know pawn shops would take things like art. I told her I've shopped at pawn shops. They take a lot of things you wouldn't imagine they would. She's going there on Monday to pawn some things to pay the rent. We also talked about a move-out plan, since a change in her circumstances led to her inability to afford the apartment. She knows she can stay through February if February rent is paid in full, but she'll be looking for another place.

Oops. Posted before I had added my reply.

About the unpaid utility bills, it is rare for a tenant to change the utilities into their name and then not pay them from day one. We do receive copies of the bills from utilities that can become a lien on our property, water and garbage. Both are billed in two month cycles, so by the time the tenant showed his true colors and we received our copies of the bills, we were already three months into it. He moved out in month four. Tenant did not have a history of skipping on utilities - we checked that in screening. So it's not worth my time calling the utility companies until I suspect a problem.

Thanks for the compliment. I am a good person and aim to attract good tenants. I am also polite, firm and fair. But I can be a tough cookie when I need to be, that's why my husband leaves the contracting and enforcement to me. Our mistake was in accepting the tenant in the first place. Our success was getting him to move on his own without destroying our property. We also mitigated our loss by enforcing the terms of the contract.

Some of our units are gas, some are electric. Never a problem with either. It seems people are less likely to leave a gas range unattended while cooking, so it may be safer. Most gas ranges have their dials in the front, in reach of small children, so some parents of young kids prefer electric. However, gas prices are good, gas cooking is good, and many good tenants prefer gas ranges. So I vote for gas. If you have it, keep it. Last year we bought a house that has a gas furnace and electric range. We paid a professional to have gas lines added to change the range to gas. Glad we did. Happy tenant, happy landlord.