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All Forum Posts by: Matty Wilkinson

Matty Wilkinson has started 2 posts and replied 3 times.

Quote from @Dan DiFilippo:

@Sarah Buchanan if they're fishermen or in some kind of related profession, then definitely want to go with net income. But if they're in a sanitation line of work, it's much better to evaluate according to their gross income.

 @Dan DiFilippo Underrated comment! I logged in just to upvote.

I've done some reading and seen things like

"Common council unanimously passes rental safety verification program"
https://www.abc57.com/news/com...

But I've also seen
"New Indiana law strips cities of power to regulate rental properties"
https://wsbt.com/news/local/ne...

What is exactly is the current situation? Is the city doing one area at a time and making sure everything is up to code proactively? If you were buying a property in South Bend, presumably it could be subject to this, so might this be a contingency in a purchase contract to make sure it was already going to pass (or some concession was made to offset the cost of remediation)?

How do you folks navigate this area?

I've been trying to understand the pitfalls of buying old buildings ("old" as in built in the 1930s). I know there is the whole "we never tested for lead so we can't say for sure and also we don't want to know" game. I also read that many, many buildings contained lead paint, and you can basically operate under the assumption that it's present. I think I saw that you must disclose to tenants that the building was built before 1978 and so lead paint is a possibility.

What I can't figure out is how to protect yourself from liability as a landlord in the event that a tenant becomes ill and decides to take legal action against you. Is this something you have to talk to an attorney about? Is there a clause in the lease agreement that would protect you? Does the disclosure protect you? If the lead paint is abated by a professional, is there a guarantee from them that protects you?

Does anything trigger on property sale in South Bend where you are obligated to do an inspection and/or remediate?