All Forum Posts by: PJ M.

"including a provision in which the tenant agrees to have inspected the unit for mold and holds them liable for any mold damage that occurs during their tenancy" It's obvious that this is peaking about visible mold.  At most I would add the word visible to the clause as clarification but leave it in.

To me the general question would be, if you were careful, would this have happened?

If the answer is no, it wouldn't have, then neglect (neglecting to operate in a safe and careful manner) caused the issue.

If the answer is yes, then it is expected and normal.

For example, I have rentals where if you push the front door open it will ding the wall and put a small dent in it.  Do it enough times and it will put a hole in the wall.  Tenants have done it.  However, if you open the door carefully (and not give it a hard push open), the door operates fine and never bangs the wall.  That's the difference between a careful and safe operation and a carefree negligent one.

@Chris Lopez is on the money with his advice.  Another way to find out if there are limits on unrelated people cohabiting would be to check on what defines a lodging, rooming, or boarding house in your area.  Where I am 5 or more non-related individuals in the same house on individual leases would be a lodging house.  However, if the owner of the house provided a meal to the residents then it is classified as a boarding house.  Neither of those are permitted in a residential area without a zoning variance.  You may find that there are different requirements and fire codes based on the classification of the property for its use. 

I'm not sure of the free and clear as far as any other other lien holders go as far as another mortgage.  I can tell you that if taxes are owed on the property, or there are outstanding HAO dues, they are on top of the winning bid.  

So if it is a mortgage foreclosure and you win with a bid of $25k, but there are $10k in taxes owed, you will need to pay $35k to the sheriff for them to provide the title.  

Also, in PA, if there are outstanding Condo/HOA dues, you will owe 6 months of them for the HOA to clear the books. They may try to get more, but PA law is that with a foreclosure the new owner only owes the previous 6 months. The HOA can get you for a capital contribution or any other "new owner" fees they charge that comes with a normal sale/title transfer. This will not be handled by the Sheriff. You will be provided title and find out about it when the HOA learns of the sale. HOA dues are automatic liens in PA.

My preferred method is via ACH transfer.  After that I take checks, money orders, or if there has been an issue certified checks or cash.

One thing I avoid is any system that allows a tenant to use a credit card to pay.  Any 3rd party processor that doesn't allow you to prevent credit cards from being used is too much of a risk.

There was a post here not long ago about an issue with Cozy.co and the tenant doing 3 months of chargebacks on the rent.  There's a big potential for abuse from an ill-willed tenant with any 3rd party processor that allows credit cards to be used as a payment method.   Credit card companies allow chargebacks for both fraud and dis-satisfaction.  It then falls back to the vendor (Cozy as a proxy for the landlord) to prove that what the tenant is saying is not correct.  

ACH transactions only allow for chargebacks for fraud so they are much safer.  Many banks now allow you to set up ACH transfers to other accounts at different financial institutions.  My credit union permits bill payment to/from any other account if you know the routing and account numbers (same information that is on a paper check).  When I get a payment in it lists the tenants name as "Payment transfer from XXX XXXX".  I have an alert set up to let me know when there is more than $49.99 in the account so I get a text the day a payment goes in.  I then transfer it out of that account immediately.  Easy peasy to track when payments are received and from who.  

@Jeff T. I'd be eating the cost for this as well and giving my PM an earful.  In my opinion (and we all know what opinions are like - because everyone has one) the tenant didn't do anything wrong.  They are a layperson and thought the tub needed resurfacing.  Sure the argument can be made they should have cleaned better, and it is a valid argument....,BUT...and this is a big but....the PM, who is a professional, went in and investigated and agreed with the tenant.  To me that's where the problem lies.  The PM should be able to tell the difference between a tub needing professional resurfacing and needing a cleaning.  This should never have made it to you.  The PM should have said "this needs to be cleaned, I can get someone out to do it and charge it back to you or you can do it....how do you want to proceed" to the tenant.  

@Kalanie Tran you should find out what else is required for that business license.  TO build off what @Nathan Gesner talks about, where I am you must have a rental license for each unit.  To get the rental license you need a business license.  If you ever need to sue a tenant for anything, you need to include the rental license as part of the paperwork when filing.  Thus, in my case, if I didn't have a business license I could never take a tenant to court.  You don't want to find yourself in the situation that Nathan describes, only to find out that without the proper license you can't get to court to fix the issue.  Then, on top of that, they may look to penalize you for having an unregistered business for the entire time you had a tenant in there.  Might be time to just "bite the bullet" and get your house in order to save a potential heap of issues later.

@Account Closed  Just curious why you think checks are riskier than Cozy payments?  If a tenant pays by credit card (which is an option with Cozy) they have up to 90 days to dispute the payment with their bank.  An unscrupulous tenant can dispute for any reason, including "the service was not what was expected".  It then falls to the vendor (Cozy - then passed to you) to prove that the service was as expected.  If you can't prove the tenant is incorrect (or lying) the payment will get reversed.  

If the tenant uses ACH as the payment with Cozy they would have to file a dispute for a fraudulent transaction with their bank within 30 days of the ACH transaction appearing on the tenant's bank statement.  The bank would investigate the fraud claim and make a determination based on that investigation.

With a check, the same thing happens as an ACH transaction.  The dispute must happen within 30 days of the cashed check appearing on the bank statement and the only reason for dispute is fraud (not I wasn't happy).  The bank then investigates the claim of fraud to determine it's validity.

So at its face, Cozy has more risk since you can't choose to "opt out" of the tenant's payment methods to only allow ACH.  If the tenant is paying you by credit card, they could time it to get 90 days of payments reversed pretty easily with a simple claim of the services being sub par (something along the lines of "I have been complaining for 3 months that the pipe is leaking but the landlord did nothing so I want my money back").  Remember, the credit card company is the advocate for their customer and are looking to protect them, the tenant.  The onus to prove the tenant wrong falls squarely on the landlord (with the 3rd party processor as the middleman).  

When you return the tenant's security deposit will you do it by check?  If so, you have just given them your account number and bank routing number.  It's part of the check.  right there on the bottom.  If you would give it to a tenant that is leaving your unit, why not give it to a tenant who is currently renting to make paying you easier?

A lot of banks now allow ACH transactions if you have the account and routing numbers for another bank account.  My tenant's all have my account information.  That account has a $50 balance it in.  All other payments into the account are moved out the end of that day.  The bank I use has instant transfers into other accounts I have at that bank.  So the end of each day the money moves out of the checking "Payments" account into my "Operations" account at the same bank (well, technically credit union).  Easy peasy.