All Forum Posts by: Nathan S.

I agree with most everyone on this post.  I don't care about their personal property and require a $100,000 minimum personal liability amount, though I encourage them to protect themselves with personal property coverage which costs, at most, an extra $2-$5/mo.  

Require that they make you the additional insured so you get notification of cancellation or non-renewal.  Your lease should have verbiage that states that non-compliance is a lease violation and may result in termination of the lease (eviction).

@Nerissa Marbury I am not sure about the "per occurrence versus maximum liability" but would be interested to hear from @Derek Lacy about his opinion.

I always ask the prospective tenant if they know someone local who can view the unit on their behalf.  Often times, people moving from out of state simply don't have the time or energy to see the unit first before renting it.  These are likely people who have already researched the area and if they haven't, they don't care are probably not as picky as those who insist on seeing the place first.

I suggest have good photography of every unit (or photos of every style of floorplan if you are renting multifamily) because the people who rent sight unseen rely only on pictures because they only need pictures to make this decision.  Despite what you may think, not every tenant needs to feel an emotional attachment to their new home.  They simply need a place to live.

I would say the 1099 is not sufficient since the information shows through Dec 31st of last year and with September already approaching, I would never only accept a 1099 this late in the year.  In addition to the 1099, Uber and Lyft drivers can print their recent payment history.  Decide on a decent period of time for them to go back, print and provide you with copies (or emails)- 60 days would probably suffice.  Make sure you are consistent in your requirements to avoid Fair Housing concerns. 

If they drive for both or multiple companies, get all of the 1099's you can.

If their income qualifies, you should not ask for a co-signer.  You are not in the position to judge whether or not Uber/Lyft will exist in 6 months because it is just as possible that a normal 9-5 employee can easily quit or get fired from their traditional W2 job.

Things get a little Fair Housing wishy washy when you start developing a weight system for income.  I wouldn't advise putting a weight on 1099 vs W2 earnings.  But again, if you do, define your system and stick with it.  If you modify your system, keep record of the date of any change.

If you decide to not allow 1099 earnings,  you may be closing the door on perfectly good tenants.

I'm not sure why there are people still advocating laminate and not vinyl.  The cost differential is minimal, but vinyl is much more durable and more water resistant.  The craziest thing to me is laminate in the kitchens and bathrooms.   Hey everyone, let's lay flooring that warps and bubbles at the slightest presence of water in two rooms where water will inevitably make contact on the floor, quite possibly daily!

But to contribute to the questions at hand, don't do the replacement until the tenant has moved out.  15 years old is pretty old for carpet, depending on its quality and wear of course.

I agree with @Deanna McCormick that if the notice of non-renewal is has plain and simple language that doesn't point to the reason for non-renewal, there would be very little legal ramifications, as long as you are not openly citing your reason for non-renewal as hoarding to the public.

As an alternative, you can check the language of the lease.  Hopefully it contains information about the tenant's responsibilities such as keeping their space habitable.  Conditions in the unit caused by hoarding can often violate city/state regulations or local fire codes (imagine fire or medial personnel not being able to reach an occupant in an emergency because of debris). 

That being said, you can only go one way or another.  A simple non-renewal is probably the best bet.  However, you may want to consult an landlord/tenant attorney just to cover your bases.  If anything, they can help you with a non-renewal letter's language if they advise you to go this route.

I recently filed for Unlawful Detainer (first step in the eviction process) on a resident.  She agreed to pay verbally on the phone, but was going to let the process go to court anyway where she appeared.  Before the court appearance, she called me and asked for me to explain what she owed.  I mentioned that one of the items was the filing fee with the county court system.

Her: "Why should I have to pay the filings fees?  You are the one who did the filing, not me."

Me: "Because you didn't pay your rent!  I didn't want to file on you, but you didn't contact us to work out a payment agreement and most importantly, you didn't pay your rent which is the reason we file on residents in the first place."

She went to court and myself along my lawyer made a payment agreement with her.  On the day her payment agreement was due, we received a call from the local police department.  She had an undercover officer arrest her for prostitution and asked that we'd evict her.  This was 2 hrs before her first payment was due.  I contacted our lawyer at 1 min past the hour when her payment was due (she had not paid, surprise?) and asked them to file the writ.  Soon the Sheriff will come knocking.

I have employed the strategy of providing two crucial pieces of information designed to discourage the tenant from continuing to ask for carpet replacement.  First, if you explain that they (and not you or the carpet installer) are responsible for moving their items, the tenant will often imagine how burdensome that would be and decide to keep the flooring they have currently.  

Second, I remind the tenant that if flooring is replaced and they happen to damage it, it will be costly and come out of the security deposit whereas if they damage already very old carpet, they will not be charged for replacement, no matter how badly they may have stained, torn, etc. the carpets upon move-out.  Ex. Consider between 5-7 years useful life on the carpet (you may employ different numbers- I use five years).  Let's say you replace the carpet for them and they move out 1 year later, but have permanently stained the living room carpet with red wine.  I would charge them 4/5 the cost of replacement in that room.  If the living room carpet costs $600 total for replacement, they would pay $480 whereas if they kept the flooring, they would owe nothing since the useful life of that carpet is long gone.

If they insist or if you decide to move forward with replacement, have them sign a new lease with whatever terms you wish to offer and raise the rent to market rate.  If you give the proper notice of the rental rate increase, you can time it as closely as possible to the actual replacement.  Good luck!

Are the associated costs for obtaining a CPM designation through IREM tax deductible?

I am saddened to see many contributors commenting about offering discounts for on-time payments.  However, if you raise the rent above market rent and the "on time" discount brings their effective rent to the normal market rent, then it's simply wordplay.  A clever marketing tool.

The state of MN has an 8% late fee cap.  Many operators switched to 8% as their cap AND their minimum fee charged vs. the "50 dollars on the 5th and $5 dollars every day until paid in full".  In the units I manage, the average is $99.20/late fee.  It's a major line item in my income budget.

@Mike D. Change your lease as soon as you can to add language about late fees if it is not already there.  Use the Nolo link below for IA state late fee maximums and opt for the maximum allowable by law.  If a late fee doesn't hurt, your tenant will pay late more often.

The wonderful thing about a month-to-month lease is that you can redefine the terms nearly every month if you desire.  I would avoid major changes on a regular basis to avoid confusion among your tenants.  I would suggest combing your lease thoroughly and try to make all applicable changes at once, allowing some time with each tenant to describe any major changes (you could compile a quick sheet with the info- you could even make them sign the quick sheet acknowledging the changes).

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/iowa-late-f...