All Forum Posts by: Wesley W.

What Drew said.

Plus, insist on signed estoppel agreements before closing!

This will save you tons of "nightmares" as well.

I use tenantbackgroundsearch.com, although many of the vendors provide automated reports that are nearly identical.  I take the report with a grain of salt.  Most of my screening comes from gumshoing social media, web court searches and following up on references.

My understanding is that vehicles being stored can only be coverd by an auto insurance policy.  Best to get a direct answer from your insurance carrier, however.

 As well you should!

Is your market under GCE legislation?  I would be stunned if it were.

First of all, these laws are a complete misnomer.  

They are not "good cause evictions" - they are all about TERMINATIONS.  In other words, you MUST renew the lease of the tenant, except for the rare few instances outlined in the law.   Expect to shoulder the burden of copious proof - and even then it may not be granted.  So, if they are paying rent, they essentially get to stay.  But the liberal legislators like to camouflage this constitutional taking by appealing to the emotions of the public by using the term "eviction." 

Personally, I've seen tenants granted a continued occupancy/renewal of their lease for the following:

(1) threatening other tenants/neighbors with physical harm

(2) dealing drugs out of the apartment with children residing in the same building

(3) discharging a firearm on the premises

(4) refusing entry to the landlord/his agent for necessary repairs

And I am sure there are many other examples of bad behavior that the property owner is powerless to react to.

I absolutely collected first, last and security for my class-C rentals until NYS prohibited that practice back in 2019.

Many tenants cannot manage their money properly, so this mitigates the issue of not being paid last month's rent when they need to move and the new landlord is receiving those funds they have allocated for their housing during the last month of their stay.

This was also helpful to me to pre-screen who has their financial house in order and had saved for their moving costs as part of their planning.

If I still could, I most definitely would - without exception.

I do supply the 1" light-filtering miniblinds from Lowes (Project Source) - and yes, they get broken pretty easily, but I charge for their replacement on turnover if they are damaged, as @Kenneth Soles does.

With the blinds installed, the units show better, create some opacity to thwart people trying to ascertain if the unit is vacant, and provide some privacy once the tenant moves in.

You clearly have never own rental properties in NYS, sir.

Every tenant gets a pro bono attorney for landlord/tenant matters, and there are TONS of these young law school grads working for United Tenants or other such orgs that are more than willing to make a case out of nothing, throwing it on the legal wall and see if any of it sticks.

But, I digress...

Here's an angle no one has yet taken on this one.  Are they on a term lease, or MTM?  (look up my detailed posts on the benefits of MTM here on BP)  How about getting a plumber to triage the leak, serve them a notice of termination (or not renew their term), and then you kill two birds with one proverbial stone?  You get rid of (what sound like inherited) tenants that are a hassle - and will continue to be - their behavior never improves, fyi.  And you have a vacant unit to do the "proper" plumbing repair.

If you offer them a rent concession, my money is on them going back to that well each time there is a problem, asking for yet another abatement.  Eventually becoming more emboldened to threaten legal action.

I know, I'm cynical.  But I've been renting class C in NY for ten years.  I'm a product of my environment. ;)

Not at all.  It's in the lease.  It's a prerequisite for tenancy.  I do not personally handle any rent payments.  No knocking on doors, no "the check is in the mail."  If the money is not there by the end of the grace period a rent demand notice gets posted on the 6th.