All Forum Posts by: Margharita Silva

 Hi, this is a high rise condo and the building is responsible for the ventilation system which is not working, not only in my unit (bathroom & kitchen) but in the entire building. (Everyone complains that they can smell each other's food and smoke and  in each other's apartments ) The building is in Northern Jersey where I believe the building is responsible to provide ventilation by law.  So that's that. They were the ones who painted the ceiling before so whatever paint they used only they know (they = super (building maintenance) and if it was painted with the "wrong" paint then I suppose it's also their fault and they should be responsible for painting with the "right" paint. They already scraped and painted it but management tried to charge $250 for doing so, which i argued stating the cause of the damage was the lack of ventilation. I have a great attorney but he never asks for money for small questions and I feel bad so trying to see if i can figure this out on my own first. 

Thank you for your feedback & regarding the lease sounds good ! 

Hi everyone. 

I have two questions: 

1) I asked on this platform before about disputing a condo building lease fee which was $500 per lease. I was hoping to get other owners to join me in protest but no one seems interested. 

I originally understood it to be per year but it is per lease. I signed a year lease with the tenant already and the management suggested that i extend the lease to a two year. I am a bit uncomfortable with it (the tenant is good so far will be his 3rd yr this year but you never know) but thought it can work if I can offer to release him in a year if he chooses.

How do I amend the lease? How does asking him a year early would work if he or i wanted? 

2) The unit which is a studio has a small bathroom which has a small ventilation from the building. (high rise condo) The vent does not work and as a result humidity damaged the ceiling. The super came and said it is because of the wrong paint used not the vent. They asked $250 to paint the ceiling with the good paint. I contacted the management and asked when the ventilation will be fixed. They did not answer this nor owned up to it and insisted its the paint but suggested they can pay the $250 now and if in a year the ceiling is damaged again i can pay them back? I think they need to eat this and also fix the ventilation system. Am i wrong ? 

Thank you !!

 

They can take that animal to work maybe? I had the same situation her ESA letter was bogus but i still accepted it. I had a no pet policy so she was trying to get around that. The tenant left on her own but i was disturbed with how much the dog was barking just on a random inspection alone... I was glad when she left and i think she has to follow the rules. Just tell her that she cannot interfere with other's "peaceful enjoyment" 

I want to add by asking did anyone hear of such a fee before? 

 yes i know it is to discourage rentals but i think there is a difference between someone who owns say 5 units in the building and rents them out vs 1 unit ... I have a sick parent abroad and i am not there half the time, they kept raising the maintenance since i got there and i don't want to pay that when i am not there so my solution was to rent it out ... so while i agree its better for the building to have a lower percentage of rentals it hits people like me... 

the building requires a lease from what i know but i will ask them 

yes there is a board aka "Nazis" I may sell down the line !thank you! 

Hi everyone, 

My building (condo high rise) started implementing a fee called "lease fee" two years ago. Its $500 per year. 

They passed the resolution. Can this challenged or negotiated in some way? 

I own one apartment (vs some "investors" who own multiple units in the bldg ) and have the same (great) tenant since before this resolution. They want to charge this fee every time the lease renews not every time I have a new tenant. I feel it's a bit unfair and frankly I am not going to charge the tenant anymore than what the place is worth market rate because of its location and he is a great tenant (pays on time, keeps the place clean, communicative etc) I feel like i should even give him a break because he said he couldn't even be home since there was construction all summer due to building maintenance repairs. 

Thanks. 

you know i have seen "rich" people squat as well almost using their wealth as a shield. I have seen it all! but i don't think this is the case here .. i think they are just new here ... they tried to negotiate the otherwise very cheap rent (by comparison to other comparables) in the area which i did not like but they did not came across as people who would use legal loopholes to squat and take advantage... 

The tenant is making 2 K on an internship and the parent (guarantor) is not established in the US well enough with his credit/employment/rental history. He has only been in the US since 2021. He has 170K income (stated on a job offer letter which i called and verified) but on the current job only for 6 months. Lived where he lived for 6 months. 

I ran a TransUnion smart move report. The report says "Accept" with a 754 score but states:

Insufficient payment activity over the last year
Too many inquiries
Length of time revolving accounts have been established is too short
Not enough balance decreases on active non-mortgage accounts

also on the main page of the report it says:

SSN may be invalid.
We suggest that you verify the applicant's identity.

Would you take this tenant?