All Forum Posts by: Sam Leon

Have you watched Fatal Attraction?

I advertise before a unit is vacant with a date for occupancy and a date for showings.

i don't show a property until it's vacant for a variety of reasons.  Messiness during the move, not knowing who you are showing to could also result in you showing the refrigerator to one person and the other person may pocket an iPad in the bedroom, or your current tenant being there during the visit like "yeah that garbage disposal jams all the time"!  The only time I would make an exception is if it's a personal referral from an existing or ex tenant, then I would show with a "pardon the mess" warning.

i don't ask for an application until i have pre-qualified them during the showing.

I have a time line that triggers actions explicitly stated in my leases.

Rent due on the 1st.

Rent not credited to my account or check not received by 5pm EST on the 4th will trigger a late fee.  I don't care if the mail man lost the mail or it's the weekend or holiday or the bank didn't process the deposit on time or whatever, by the 4th day 5pm a late fee is charged.

By 5pm of the 9th day is rent is not paid in full, and paid in full means settlement of all previously invoiced charges, fines, late fees, damages PLUS the full rent, I file eviction.

They would ask for a grace period for the late fee.  I do have a grace period, that's why rent is due on the 1st but late fee doesn't kick in till COB of the 4th, the fact that they decided to think of rent being due on the 4th with no grace period, is not my problem.

They would also ask for a grace period for eviction.  I have that too.  That's why there is ten days of time between due day and eviction filing.

On occasion, I have made exceptions for longer term good tenants, who communicated that they can't make rent BEFORE they are late, AND it's no question they have experienced a sudden unforseen event beyond their control.  That's rare though.  It sounds like your tenant is habitually late, always having an excuse, and when something hit them unexpectedly, they have already lost their credibility.

A follow up question to my last post, in terms of how HUD has grouped service animals and ESA together and just put both under the umbrella of "assistance animals". Does that mean as far as HUD's fair housing is concerned, there is no distinction in their policies and guidelines on how SA and ESA owners are to be treated/screened/verified by landlords?

I find that many applicants - most likely because they are not legit SA/ESA, use many terms interchangeably.

"I have a support animal".

"I have a service dog providing emotional support".

"I have 2 dogs and 2 cats, all providing support and services".

In these cases where you are not even sure what type it is, how far can a landlord inquire about the animal and what it does to the applicant without crossing any lines.

I have often heard that for a service animal, the only questions one can ask are limited to (a) whether it's needed due to a disability and (b) what task is the animal been trained to perform.  That's it, and those two questions can only be asked when the disability or need is not obvious.  The rules are explicit, you "cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task".  This is directly from the ADA web site.  But this is ADA, which covers public facilities like hotels, restaurants, libraries, stadiums etc...it doesn't govern rental properties.

Yet HUD grouped SA and ESA into one class and does not seem to address the fact that SA and ESA are very different - a seeing eye dog is a true need and is trained to provide such service, an ESA is untrained and 99% of the time is a stun to get into pet free housing. Do we as landlords need to treat the two groups of animals differently because HUD doesn't?

Specifically. do you adhere to the ADA's service animal guidelines because HUD doesn't have one - as far as what you can and cannot ask just to be on the safe side?

I see many landlords ask for ESA documentation such as a verifiable actively licensed MHCP's prescription for the ESA, myself included. I kept wondering if this is allowed by HUD for all assistance animals, does it mean we are allowed to ask for medical documentation if an applicant claim to have a service dog and it's not obvious to us why, and would like to see documentation?

I have a tenant who was once sitting on top of the washer when I visited the property.  He said he had to sit on top during the wash or the washer would walk or bounce around.  I opened the lid and the washer was filled with clothes to the point the lid wouldn't close all the way.  He packed the washer like he packed a suitcase.

i mentioned to him that the clothes should not be more than half way full in the washer and needs to be loose, or it would bounce around because it's overloaded and go off balance, furthermore it would not give him clean clothes.

He didn't believe me, said he has always done this.

He came with his mom during the showing.

He was 39 years old.

If you are separating out the washer and dryer to a different circuit under a house meter, make sure you also check the water heater.  In my experience if the washer and dryer circuits are tied to a particular unit, it's very likely the hot water supply to the washer is also coming from the water heater of that unit, so even you are paying for water, the unit tenant is paying for the electric or gas to heat the water if someone does a hot or warm wash.

I don't know whether you can charge extra because that nephew is not "immediate family".  That does sound like potentially a familiar status issue.

Put it this way, if the four adults are all brothers and sisters you wouldn't have a problem with this 4+5 arrangement?  On the flip side, if it's 3 adults and six kids where one of the three is a nephew you have no issue with that either?

I would approach the problem based on too many occupants or too many vehicles and not bring one of them being a nephew into the picture.

i know my attorney has advised me in the past that for a two bedroom house I could not prefer to rent to one couple (husband + wife) over two unrelated roommates.

In LA a few years back a landlord was ruled that he violated fair housing because he refused to rent to someone who didn't speak any English.  But the judge said language and ethnic origin are connected so he lost.  I don't think you want to be test cases.

There are many reasons to not allow pets, and some depends on your properties and furnishings.

(1) Property Destruction -  Pets do cause damages, and sometimes major ones.  Especially a pet in a new environment like just moving to a new home, is most prone to cause damages.  I have had dogs pulled off kitchen cabinet doors, bite off corners of solid wood doors, dug big craters in the ground outside, broke sprinkler risers, broke sprinkler control wires, chewed off fence pickets at the bottom of wood gates to get outside, cats tend to completely crawl off weather seals around doors, and destroy window blinds, and carpets.  If you have a furnished property then anything with fabric is a problem.

(2) Litter management - this is not the fault of the pets, but the pet owners.  Tenants that let their dogs do their #2 in the yard, creating land mines they do not pick up.  Have you ever had your own lawn maintenance call you and say that there are so many mines in the yard when they mow it's literally slinging poop all over.  Embarrassing to have your neighbors call you and tell you your tenant just left a big pile on their front yard.  Or have tenant goes on vacation for a week, leaving a seven day worth of a giant pile of wet food on a bowl set on the floor, attract ants and roaches, which resulted in an infestation?  I have even heard of tenants flushing cat litter down the toilets, not knowing that they swell up like crazy to seal the drain shut.  You end up with many additional headaches that result in your tenants not being good responsible pet owners.

(3) Insurance Paperwork - many property insurance companies now do unannounced outside inspection.  They look around for trampolines, above ground pools that's not fenced in, fire pits, tiki torches and any other liability concerns.  I have received letters from the insurance companies, on a property I bought and have inherited tenants with dogs.  The inspector cited dog presence, and the insurance company wanted wellness documents, breed and size, and bite history etc etc etc...or they would not renew my policy.

(4) Maintenance Around Pets - Ever having to enter a property to repair something and having to deal with dogs snarling, barking, baring their teeth blocking your way?  It's more work when making repairs with pets around.  I once had an internet provider enter a property and his knee pads were crawled by a dog then he refused to enter.  Not only you have to worry about access, you have to be extra careful to not let a dog or cat out while you carry tools and parts into a property.  If you are doing the work alone, try to think how you replace a 40 gallon water heater with a dog trying to sneak out every time you open the door.  Yes you can ask the tenant to keep the dog away, or keep them in a room with door closed, but that's not always practical if they have to work that day.  Or half way through your repair, you need to go get an extra part, what do you do with the pile of screws on the countertop, or the drill, or a razor blade on the floor?  You can't leave them like that if there are pets around, you need to put that all away, while you are getting the parts and reverse after you come back, because what if a cat some swallow a few screws?  Or squeezed him/herself into the wall cavity you just opened?  Once you are done, say patching some epoxy on the window sill, or painting a wall, or baseboards...how do you prevent the chemicals from being licked or scratched?  You need to move something in front of it, or work on a perimeter jig while the work cures or set.  It's is extra work.

(5) Wear and Tear - This is not damages, but pets cause a higher level of maintenance.  Ever looked at how dirty your AC filters are with pets and compared them to the same without pets?  The pet occupied property filters are always black, and the no pet property filter light gray.  All the hairs gets onto the filters and beyond.  They go to your air handler coils, and duct work.  I have a fourplex which I replaced all the AC units at the same time, and I was able to compare the units with pets and without pets.  With no exception, the pet occupied units get much dirtier filters (which I personally change once every 30 days), and the coils needing acid washing much more frequently.  Your air conditioning units will have a shorter life span because of furry pets.

It's much more than just property destruction.

Is there a maximum number of occupants or maximum number of vehicles parked in your lease?

I don't think I would suggest adding rent because the nephew is "unrelated".

How about requiring the tenant to write their name or apartment number on the item being disposed?  Then separately confirm by text or email a picture of the items to you so no one can throw something out and write down their neighbors names.  Un-named items will have the cost shared by all tenants so they will watch each other?