All Forum Posts by: Wesley W.

I would offer that agreement to her ASAP.  That way, if she declines you have more time to market the unit in anticpation of the upcoming vacancy.

 Yes, exactly right.  It must be said that since I've had this policy, no one has called for a lockout. 

 This should not be your problem as the owner.  You are paying the PM for this service so you do not have to worry about such things!  And they should be providing that service, regardless of employees' time off.  Are they still collecting their monthly fee while on vacation?  (We all know the answer to that.)

I'm bearish on using technology for this kind of stuff - especially for a rooming house, which sounds like workforce housing.

Here's what I have in my lease as a self manager in Upstate NY:

17. LOCKS: If you find it necessary to have us unlock the Rental Unit you will be charged a fee of $75.00, payable as Additional Rent, within 7 days from the lockout service. If we are unavailable to assist with a lockout, a licensed and bonded locksmith should be called at your expense. A lost key can be replaced at a cost of $12.00. You may not change or add to the locks of the Rental Unit at any time. Lock changes shall be made only by us. You may make copies of your key at your discretion. You may request that your unit be re-keyed by us via appointment for a fee of $50.00, payable as Additional Rent.

If I am nearby, I will swing by and charge for the lockout.  If I am not, they will have to call a locksmith.  I should probably update the prices a bit to align with the inflationary environment in recent years.

Regarding the lease, give them proper legal notice and present them with a lease.  If they do not sign, issue proper notice to terminate.  Have an attorney ready, as these kind of tenants will dig in, and evicting for anything other than non-payment is not for the faint of heart in the Socialist Republic of New York.

I always respond to what a tenant DOES, not what they say they will do.

I would offer her your deal of 1.5mo for 3mo in writing, and inform her that this offer will expire in 7 days.  This will give her plenty of time to finish deliberating about it. If she does not sign (and pay in full, as her items will remain in the unit leaving her will legal possession) within that alloted time, you will abide by the original agreement and she must be out by the last day of your current contract.

This way, she has to cut bait or fish, and you are not left wondering if you need to seek bookings for those three months of vacancy.

Alternately, you could tell her that she is welcome to take more time to decide while you return the unit to public offering, in the hopes of getting a full three months of revenue for that time, ans she is welcome to enter into your agreement so long as the unit has not been supsequently rented at market price.  I would keep it simple, however, and give her a week to consider your very generous 50% discount.

If she is as desirable as you suggest, she will understand you are running a business and not string you along and will put some skin in the game with her payment.  If she is not fully vacating the unit, I would not take a partial payment.  

If she pushes back, send her on her way, and return your unit to market.  If your place is as superior in your market as you claim, you'll have no problem booking it with someone less capricious.

 Common cold water and two handle hardware at the fixture. When unit 2 runs cold water, the pressure drops on the cold water side of the fixture, but the hot water stays at pressure, which increases the proportion of hot water coming out of the shower head in unit 1. Flush your toilet and your neighbor gets scalded.

You need to engage an attorney ASAP and follow their advice on every step from this point forward. You already gotten over your skis in the beginning of this situation, and if you overstep or mess up anything procedurally they will take you to task. It's money well spent. I recommend calling someone today.

Lots of good advice above. 

One suggestion I have is consider only offering MTM leases. This gives you much more flexibility in situations like you're encountering.  In tenant friendly areas, term leases tend to obligate the landlord and not so much the tenant.  I've written about the benefits of MTM extensively on BP.

Another thing I do, when I send written notice of the annual rent increase, is I share data from rentometer that shows the value they are receiving in terms if local comps and the average rent of similar assets within x miles of their address.

Happy to provide an example if needed.

You didn't specify whether this prospect was an illegal immigrant, or just an immigrant.  The former comes with additional risks I will not discuss below.

Regarding the language, I would first check with your jurisdiction, because here in NY all notices and documents have to be issued in the tenant's native language. 

If you are not fluent, and your municipality requires this, this will slow down any official communication you need to issue, which may causes challenges for you to meet statutory timelines. 

Needless to say,  this is also an additional business expense you will bear.

If the above is acceptable to you and you've done your legal research to see what else is required, run your business how you'd like with eyes wide open.

Hey folks.

This is my first time vetting a retiree for a long term rental. Is there any way to vet their SSA benefits statement?

Is there anything else I should look into regarding that source of income?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.