All Forum Posts by: Mikel Kaubfa

I think this is more of an opinion than a legal question.

I, like many other people, had a crazy awful pipe burst on an outer wall during that polar vortex back a bit ago. Bad design, but not my choice. Unit was not habitable while it was being fixed as there was no water to the unit. Tenant decides to go stay at a hotel and eat out at Bdubs.

Now he's asking for reimbursement for that, and it was due to the situation that he was displaced. <y insurance will not cover him, and told me that was a renter's insurance thing.

He informed me today that he did NOT have renter's insurance even though i am confident i recommended every tenant have renter's insurance in case of incidents like this

Tenant has been good otherwise.

Should i cover this? Maybe just the hotel portion? His meal was $50 freaking dollars! I just don't want to be out that much.

@Dan H. Thanks for that elaborate explanation. Is it the same for short term rental? Do you put in your lease that you require them to pay actual costs at any time?

I do not include utilities with my rentals as I find it easier to manage and less risk if prices go up or if there is excess usage. However, most rentals in my area include all utilities in their rent. Do they know something I don’t?

Does anyone know if you get a better Returns if you include all utilities in your rent?

I'm doing some self education on septic systems as we are likely to go under contract for a complex with multiple systems. I found this thread very helpful and educational. Thanks to all for the good replies.

Put pavers or decking across the whole thing to make it an outdoor living space. Super low maintenance.

I had two tenants move out and they cleaned everything besides the oven. So I cleaned that and deep cleaned the carpet. How much would you take from their security deposit for both of those? The carpet is only in two small rooms and a closet.

Also when part is kept by the landlord I have seen in Lease agreements it say that any money kept will be documented in a written accounting to the tenants. What would that document look like?

@James York 

Section 8 requires a lot of work—specifically, you have to deal with Section 8 applicants who never seem to understand the program, even after being on it for years. Also, housing counselors who are overworked and underpaid (and almost absurdly hard to get ahold of) must be constantly nudged to move their process forward. Then there’s annual property inspections and, oh yes, even more paperwork to get the rent payments coming in.

I guess this varies state to state, but can't someone stay beyond a non-renewal right now?

I think it's related to the increasing housing crisis that's going on in this country. When people face the reality that they may never own a house and have to put up with high rent, etc, they become resentful of those who are able to afford property.

I want to start by saying I purchased a 4 family during the pandemic.

The tenants were paying around $450 for two apartments I would normally rent for $800-900 and $650 for an apartment I would normally rent from $1100-1200 so I added a contingency in the purchase agreement that the tenants must agree to a rent increase to $600 and $800 respectively but as you can see this is still quite a bit under the market price.

I don’t want to seem insensitive or anything and they are all good tenants but I am losing money on this property all the while making a ton of improvements to it.

Thanks for the advice in advance!