All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I don't see how cash for keys would necessarily give all of the power to the tenants if the terms for the cash for keys agreement are written down and signed by the tenant. After they have removed all of their belongings and handed over the keys, I would pay them and then I would be free to immediately change the locks and they would have no legal recourse to try to move back in since they signed the cash for keys agreement stating that they would move out. (They could try to illegally squat in the place though)

That being said, due to the Covid-19 "crisis" I am weary to use cash for keys right now since it could be seen by a tenant friendly court as some kind of a "shady loop hole" to get around the eviction memorandum. 

Today I did send the tenant a certified letter for breach of the lease terms, my plan is to continue to send them certified letters until the "crisis" is over and the courts open back up and I'll have a good amount of documentation to back up my case if it needs to go to court as a worst case scenario 

 Yes I agree, however the more I read about the eviction memorandum laws, I'm uncertain if even cash for keys is a viable option during the "crisis". Even though it is not technically an "eviction" it seems like kind of a legal grey area

Yes I doubt I'll be house hacking again after this. Today I'm going to be sending a letter via certified mail about their lease violations so that I can have a well documented paper trail if things ever do end up going to court. They did at least pay for April's rent, most of which I will probably end up returning to them in the form of "cash for keys" once the corona crisis is over. 

It seems like the law is stating that evictions cannot be filed specifically for non payment of rent for the duration of the governor of Michigan's executive order. 
https://michiganlegalhelp.org/self-help-tools/housing/covid-19-coronavirus-and-eviction-cases
"tenants will not be evicted if they aren’t able to pay all their rent during the emergency. The EO also tells courts to stay (put on hold) all current eviction cases until after the emergency has passed."

Even if I am able to initiate an eviction for the other lease violations, the courts have put all "current" eviction cases on hold until April 14th, but "may be extended depending on the circumstances between now and then".

https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hr748/BILLS-116hr748eas.pdf

Page 558:
"(d) RENTER PROTECTIONS DURING FORBEARANCE PERIOD.—A multifamily borrower that receives a forbearance under this section may not, for the duration of the forbearance— (1) evict or initiate the eviction of a tenant from a dwelling unit located in or on the applicable property solely for nonpayment of rent or other fees or charges; or (2) charge any late fees, penalties, or other charges to a tenant described in paragraph (1) for late payment of rent. (e) NOTICE.—A multifamily borrower that receives a forbearance under this section— (1) may not require a tenant to vacate a dwelling unit located in or on the applicable property before the date that is 30 days after the date on which the borrower provides the tenant with a notice to vacate; and (2) may not issue a notice to vacate under paragraph (1) until after the expiration of the forbearance" 

Yes, definitely my mistake in not following the screening/move-in process closely enough, I caused this problem and now I have to figure out the smartest course of action moving forward. I do have a "no indoor smoking" policy and a "quiet enjoyment" provision in the lease, which they have violated multiple times. I have been keeping track of the lease violations for my own records, but I have not thought to send them any letters about it. I personally confront them about it. But I can see the value in having an official certified paper trail of each of their lease violations to help with the eviction process. 

But keep in mind, this is a month-to-month tenancy so I believe I should not have to "prove" that the lease was violated as a reason for not renewing the lease, as long as I provide a 30 day notice? But this is still a good idea just to have extra documentation in my favor in case it ever does go to court.

I decided to try house hacking with my first Duplex, I'm living on the top unit and renting out the bottom unit. I rented the other unit out on a month-to-month basis in the beginning of March, right before the corona virus scare really started to ramp up here. I should have been more strict about the few red flags when screening this tenant (540 credit score, no landlord references) but I had gotten 30+ applicants all with similar disqualifiers in the month that I had been advertising the rental, and I thought I would have to lower my standards a bit if I was ever going to get the place rented out.

Everything was ok for the first few weeks, but then I started smelling smoke in my upper unit. The tenant claimed not to smoke, but on several occasions I am smelling smoke drifting up through their ceiling, through my floor into my bedroom and living room where I am forced to breath it in my own home. (I am not a smoker) This is especially bad since I am having to stay home more often due to the quarantine.
I confronted them several times about this but their behavior has not stopped. 

They often end up fighting and arguing with each other (non-physical fighting, from what I'm told. I did hear loud banging around because apparently when one of them is upset he likes to use the cabinets as a punching bag) 

One time their loud yelling argument spilled out onto the front yard and neighbors called the police on them.

It has now been almost a month since they moved in and they still have not put the gas + electric utilities in their name (these utilities are NOT included in the lease) The ONLY fortunate thing is that they have SS income that is sufficient to pay the rent at least...

This problem is obviously MY fault for not being through enough in my screening process and for allowing them to move in before getting the utilities in their name... I made the decision to let this into my life and now I need to figure out what to do about it. In normal times, the solution would be to not renew the lease at the end of the month since it's only a month-to-month lease, and give them a 30 day notice. However, the corona virus laws are prevent me from removing these tenants.

So right now, even if I did not renew the lease and give them a 30 day notice, I would not be able to actually get them removed. They would have no incentive to continue paying the rent with their SS income, and their behaviors would likely get even worse (intentional property damage or damage to my car which I park outside?) and I would be labeled by society as the "bad guy" for trying to remove tenants during a quarantine, even though they are degrading my own quality of life since I have to live right above them and am forced to breath their smoke and listen to their screaming contests.

So is my only option to simply continue to confront them about their lease violations, but not to actually cancel the lease until the state of emergency/disaster is over? I have heard reports of this lasting until June, and I do not want to keep living like this until then.

Should I preemptively cancel the lease now and and give them a 30 day notice, not accept May's rent, and hope that the courts open back up and begin to allow me to legally remove a tenant by the time the 30 day notice is finished?

Cash for keys?

At the very least, this has been a great learning experience on how NOT to house hack. Once I eventually get these tenants out, I'm considering not even renting the other unit out until I am able to buy a single family house for myself to live in, and then hiring a PM to rent out both duplex units, since I'm obviously not able to handle tenants directly myself...

Yeah the main reason it was so expensive is that there were 2 layers of asphalt shingles on top of the original 100 year old cedar shake shingles that needed to be ripped off. But you're absolutely right about paying it off early, I was planning on having the roof paid off in about 2 years if I don't end up selling the house it before then

Thank you, I was actually less concerned about the sale price not covering all mortgages, and more concerned with the roof lien actually preventing a sale from being able to happen in the first place. 

My initial plan for this house was to keep it as a long term buy and hold rental once I move out, which is still likely going to be what I do with it in the future. But I also wanted to look into the option of selling, just so that I know that exit strategy is a possibility despite the roof lien

Hello Rich, the loan was for $15,000 at 9.37% repaid over 120 months through a company called "Service Finance Company LLC"

Ok I see, thank you for that clarification. I was initially under the impression that a lien was only placed on the house if payments were missed, I didn't know that the lien is placed automatically as a condition of the roof financing in the first place, but that does make more sense.