All Forum Posts by: Rebecca Shine

Hello!

I was hoping for some advice. I have a multi-family property in which each unit has their own set of washers and dryers, but both sets are located in the basement - a common area.  The tenant from one of my units has been messaging me that the family in the other unit has been using his dryer, even though they have their own.  He says he feels bad taking their stuff out of the dryer and putting it on the floor, and he also doesn't like to touch belongings that aren't his for fear of being accused of stealing. 

The family upstairs has been a pain since day one - they pay, sometimes late but they pay a late fee so I've put up with it.  They leave their belongings everywhere.  I've had to send them several notices about keeping the common spaces orderly, that you can't store items in the foyer, and that the basement can be used for storage but needs to be orderly.

It does say in the lease that the landlord provides a washer and dryer, but it doesn't specify in the lease which ones are which, although the washers and dryers are labeled with 'first floor unit' and 'second floor unit'.  My first reaction to this issue is that it's not really a landlord problem.  I pay their electric and water so there's no question of utility payments.  How should I best respond to this issue?  Although it seems somewhat of a menial intra-tenant problem, each unit should have their own washers and dryers available to them as they are included in the lease.  There really isn't space or hookups in the units to move the washers and dryers out of the basement, and that would be costly so I'm trying to avoid doing that.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks!

Becca

Hello!

I only have three units so far so I'm still relatively new into being a landlord, so I'd be interested in what advice other landlords may have for this situation.

My duplex is currently fully rented. One apartment is rented by one tenant, who's been in the apartment for years and is a good tenant, the other apartment is currently rented to a family. I'm about seven months into the lease, and it isn't ending until next March. These folks have been a constant pain since they moved in. It took them five months to figure out how to properly mail rent to me on time (they've encountered many late fees) and even to this day they pay on the last day humanly possible, but also they leave belongings outside in common space, they leave trash bags outside the trash cans and rodents get into it and tear it apart, they leave a bunch of random belongings and bikes in the foyer (on carpet) and they have filled the basement with what seems like trash.

So far they seem to be receptive when I send a notice to clean something up, but everytime I check on the place, there's something outside that looks awful.

Does anyone have advice on how to change the habit? They seem to listen when I tell them to clean something up, only to turn around and do it again. I have clauses in my lease that things need to be safe and clean, but nothing that specifically says they can't put belongings outside. On top of that, I know they are the ones leaving the trash bags outside the cans but I don't know how to prove that in order to charge them a fee for it.

The good tenant's lease is almost up and I know he's just as irritated being their neighbor. I'm afraid they're going to chase him away and I'll have a heck of a time trying to rerent with trash everywhere.

Any advice anyone could give would be most helpful.

Thanks!

Becca

Hello!

My tenant called a couple weeks ago and said she's starting to see bugs, namely roaches, inside the condominium that I rent to her and her roommate (keep in mind that her apartment is on the third floor of the complex, and it's January, so I thought it was a little bit odd to have a bug problem this time of year).  I'm still fairly new to being a landlord, so I was hoping to get any advice from those that may have been through this situation before or might have knowledge on the topic. 

My lease states that after 15 days after the start date, any pest control is the tenant's responsibility, and she didn't seem to have a problem with that. She tried using an indoor spray which helped the problem for a few days, but she started to see them again.  Her friend's family owns an extermination business, so he came to spray for her, however after a few days she saw them again, and believes they are coming from one of the neighboring apartments, which I do not own.  The tenants that I have in the condo are great tenants, I've been in the condo multiple times since they've moved in and everything always looks clean and orderly. I don't want something like this to chase them away when it comes time for renewal.  Not sure if this isn't a good practice but I almost feel like paying for a professional to come in and spray to ensure the problem gets taken care of, and if that doesn't do it, then we have just cause to take other action. 

I called the management company for the complex, and they simply stated that any pest control was the responsibility of the owners and tried to leave it at that.  I said we didn't think it was coming from our apartment, and asked what we were supposed to do.  She told me to go knock on their doors and ask them to spray.  She said they don't have access to the apartments, and I said 'neither do I'.  She said if they didn't fix the problem then I was going to have to take it up with the magistrate. 

I haven't asked around yet, but I'm assuming it will be a bit insulting to ask all three neighbors if they have bugs, so I'm trying to figure out the best course of action. I asked my tenant if her friend was truly a professional to see if we could get some kind of write-up that states that the bugs are not coming from this apartment. It doesn't seem that the management company wants any involvement at all (which is surprising), but I read the rules and regulations under the HOA and it says that it's the individual owner's responsibility, as the management company stated to me. It also says that the negligent owner that causes the problem should pay for the reparations, and that health issues should be reported to the Allegheny County Health Department.

I have a couple actions that I think I could take, but I wanted to see if anyone has dealt with this experience before and possibly learn from the experience.   

What I've been thinking of so far is:

1. If my tenant's friend is not a true professional, get a professional in the unit to spray and give me a write up that they think it's coming from another unit.
2. Asking my lawyer to look at the rules and regulations to advise on the best course of action (if the condo management company truly has no part in this, if I should call the health department, etc.).  This is one of my more expensive options.
3. Writing a professional note to the neighbors to see if they have been noticing bugs (not sure how to put that in a nice way so that it doesn't make them assume that the bugs originated in my condo unit)
4. Call the Health Department - I've never done this before so I'm not sure how that would go.
5. Get the magistrate involved - I'm not sure how we'd be able to do this without being able to pinpoint the source.  Also if possible, I'd like to not make enemies out of all of my neighbors...just need to take care of the problem.

Any thoughts you may have would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Becca

Congrats on all your success @Anton Ivanov! It's really inspiring to me as I am just getting off the ground (3 doors so far).  If you have the time (and don't mind sharing), I'd be interested to know what some of your criteria is for property managers. I've been working full time in the corporate world by day and self managing at night. I've been too nervous to try property managers because I usually only hear horror stories and that it would eat into my profit. I'm also living in the same city as the rentals, so it's not as big of a deal for me right now as it would be if I was a remote landlord, but eventually as it grows I will run out of time. Appreciate your story and all the great advice!

Becca 

Thank you Katie Stewart! I appreciate it. I did as much as I could to make it work but unfortunately her income for school was only for the months she was actually in school (so 9 months instead of 12) so it actually became an issue of an income requirement and it has not worked out. That also falls in line with what happened to me with the other international students. They had sent me a document showing that they had a monthly stipend but it didn’t state how long the stipend would be supplied. When this prospective tenant sent me the F-1 form, I was able to see it only lasted for 9 months. So I’ll ask for that for verification from now on. I might have accepted the no credit/no rental history with additional deposit funds, but the income just kind of wiped out the option, and in PA we can’t ask for more than 2x’s rent so it’s still a little risky. Thank you for the advice!!

Hi Katie! Thanks I really appreciate the feedback! I’m curious, did you send them some sort of letter to let them know they aren’t approved, and what was the reasoning? I was thinking perhaps that they did not give landlord references for rental history because I have that as my requirement.

Hello!

I have a question regarding international tenant screening. I have a condo for rent, and the majority of tenants that inquire about it are students, which I have no problem with. I have a rental qualifications that involve a minimum credit score, rental history references, background check, income requirements, and a photo ID. 

Last year I had just bought the place and ended up renting to international students. They met all the requirements except because they were international they didn’t have rental history or a credit score. I ended up renting to them anyhow, which in hindsight I think that was a mistake but I felt a little pressured at the time to just get it rented. They ended up being excellent tenants while they were in the unit, they didn’t put anything on the walls or do any damage, and they were very respectful. 

The lease was 12 months starting in August, but when the beginning of May rolled around I got a message from them that they were at the airport leaving the country for good and that they had to leave for financial reasons. They also left all of their furniture in the apartment. I still have suspicions that since the school year ended they didn’t want to pay for the summer, but I wasn’t about to try to track them down internationally. I got a lawyer involved to make sure I was handling everything legally with removal of the furniture and didn’t have any problems there. 

However it’s been hard to find a tenant over the summer months since mostly students live in the area. I’m now getting contacted by a decent amount of potential renters, and some are international again. I really want to handle it better this go around and screen properly. If someone isn’t able to give landlord history and credit history, should they be rejected, or perhaps I should require a double deposit? Any advice is welcomed, I just don’t want tenants that leave with 4 months left, and next time I may not be so lucky with no damage in the unit.

Thank you! Becca

I have a couple questions around bookkeeping and taxes for rental properties.  I recently had some work done in the basement of one of my multi family properties that amounted to $4300.  It was really needed because whenever it pours outside, water would flow through the wall and run to the drain in the basement, so I had a french drain installed and the walls sealed.  It's very tempting to just write that off as an operating expense on my taxes for next year, however I'm also still having conversations with banks about future deals, and they also look at income vs. expenses and from an accounting standpoint, I'm thinking that writing off a portion of the taxes using straight line depreciation over a certain number of years would financially look like a more stable and profitable business rather than writing it all off in the year that it happened.  

Can this classify as a capital expenditure rather than an operating expense?

How do I estimate how long the useful life is of the 'asset'?

Am I thinking about this correctly - what have others done in this situation?

Any advice is much appreciated!! Thank you!

Hello Everyone,

I currently have two students that want to apply for one of my apartments.  They are international students, so I can only assume they are here on a visa.  Is it alright to ask for a copy of their visa?  I know asking if they are here legally may cross some lines, and I'm trying to stay on the right side of it while confirming as much as possible with the available information.

Thanks!

Becca

Hi Everyone,

I am going through the screening process for a condo I recently purchased, and it's the first time I've been through this process.  I want to choose a good credit reporting agency for the credit/background check.  I noticed that Experian.com offers a service to landlords where they can attain a 'tenant check' using just the tenant's name and email.  The tenant is notified when you request a report and is able to give you private access to their report for up to 30 days.  The tenant is also directly billed through Experian, so there's no need to collect a fee.  The report is supposed to give the landlord:

• Credit rating/credit score with up to 5 factors
• Best name (AKA's), addresses, and employers (current/previous) on file
• Credit accounts with payment histories
• Potentially negative public record filings (evictions, foreclosures, etc)
• Credit report inquiries in the past 24 months

Do you believe this is a comprehensive report?  Has anyone used this report for screening before, and was it useful to you?  It seems advantageous to have the potential tenant directly billed and to not have to receive sensitive information such as SSNs.  Feel free to share your thoughts!

Thanks,

Becca