All Forum Posts by: Christopher Reynolds

Hello everyone.  I'm starting the Summary Process in Massachusetts for a tenant.  My first one! She is being evicted for nonpayment.  She receives an assistance check, and she said she is not receiving this check anymore, and therefore has no money to pay me, no way of getting a car to get a job.  I receive rent directly from her, this was not a housing subsidy.

I'm filling out the portion where it says how much rent is due, and I have a question about it.  My tenant's payments were as follows:

July: $875 (full amount)

August: $800 (lots of excuses, figured partial was better than nothing)

September: $0

14 Day Notice to Quit served on Sept 24.

My question is: Since I have terminated her tenancy with the NTQ, does she owe me rent for October?  I have to itemize the rent owed, and I obviously want to list the correct amount owed.  I don't expect to see any of this money owed, though.

I would hire an attorney, but I think it's important to educate myself on these matters.  If I hired someone for every step of the way, I wouldn't know as much.  And much thanks to Bigger Pockets!

Nothing I read here is considered legal advice, and so on.

@Account Closed

Right. I'm hoping it doesn't get to that, but as of now, it looks like it won't be an eviction if everything goes smoothly.

And if they decide not to leave, we do have the rent roll from the prior owner showing they failed to pay last month's entire balance. Thanks!

Non payment would be an issue, except we just took ownership of the property 2 hours ago, and they have never been delinquent with us because they have never had to pay us.

We asked our closing attorney today, and he said it's a simple 30 day notice, telling them their lease will not be renewed and they are expected to surrender the property. There's no "eviction" involved because it's not coming to that. They just aren't being renewed.

Thanks everyone!

I think I might not have made myself clear in my original post (or I did, and the answer is still the same anyway).

Their lease is up July 1, we don't want to renew. Is this an eviction? If a tenant comes to the end of the lease and owners don't want to renew, is this always a 30 day notice to quit? Thanks very much!

Hello everyone. We are buying our second property today! We received the rent roll of the property, and one of the tenants is behind on the rent. We also noticed that every time we visited the unit, we found that several people seemed to be living there, though there was only one person on the lease. Also, the place reeked like Cheech & Chong's apartment. We'd like them gone for several reasons.

We buy the house today, 5/29 at noon. His lease automatically renews July 1. Massachusetts requires a 30 day notice, which would be June 1.

My question is: what kind of notice do I give? Do I actually serve him with a proper 30 day Notice to Quit? Do I inform them with a letter that states his lease will not be renewed? I plan to have a constable serve him the notice, whatever it needs to be.

I'm asking this question because I understand the reasons for the 14 day (non payment) and 30 day notices to quit, but given that we're declining to renew instead of asking them to leave for another reason, I wasn't sure what the proper method was.

None of the replies will be considered legal advice. Thanks!

Framingham landlord/investor here. Do what Shaun said :)

Thanks Marc. I wasn't sure if offering a different lease option to this tenant would be a good or bad idea. When a tenant admits something to me like that, I wonder why. Pre-apologizing for bad behavior I guess?

Also forgot to say, none of you who reply are my attorney, and I'm not looking for legal advice. Kinda sad we all have to disclaim this very obvious fact.

Thanks everyone. I'm not sure of the size of the company, but from what their website looks like, it appears their business is "Travel Nurse Healthcare Staffing", and they have several offices across the USA and Canada. I'll probably have the nurse do a Smart Move check, and have an official agent for the company sign as a guarantor.

How would I find who would be qualified to be an official agent from the company? I'm sure this company deals with this daily, but I'd like to be as informed as possible. Is there a certain title I should be looking for?

Thanks again!

Hello BP. I have an apartment for rent, and here is a conversation between me and a lady viewing the apartment.

Her: "How do you feel about kids?"

Me: "I like them!"

(We have a laugh for a moment)

Her: "I ask because some landlords don't like that we have kids"

Me: "We'll it's illegal to discriminate like that. As far as us, we just want good people. Families, single people, couples, anyone who will be a good tenant is who we'd love to have here"

Conversation is going well, until she says:

Her: "Who lives in the first floor apartment?" (The unit is on the second floor)

Me: "A quiet, professional couple. Very good people, we hope they stay for many years"

Her: "Oh ok, I'm asking because I wouldn't want to live above you if you were downstairs, the kids get very noisy, I wouldn't want to annoy my landlords"

She admitted her kids are very noisy. So noisy that she's worried about disturbing her landlords if we lived below them. Even more important than our comfort is the comfort of our very good tenants. As a side note, our very good tenant's "reason for moving" entry on our application was because of noisy neighbors.

I'm aware of Fair Housing laws and protected classes, familial status being one of them. However, what are our rights as landlords if an applicant admits her kids would be so noisy that she EXPECTS the downstairs tenants to be disturbed?

For this apartment, we are seeking a 12 month lease from applicants. Would it be a bad idea to offer her a monthly agreement, and if the noise was too much, we could ask them to leave? I don't want to treat applicants differently from each other, but I feel we'd be taking a risk.

Also, the whole thing felt strange to me because she not only asked "how do you feel about kids", but later on in the viewing, she asked "so what are you looking for?" I repeated what I said before, that we were looking for quality and credit worthy tenants of any type who would take care of the apartment very well. I don't know if the Fair Housing offices conduct stings that attempt to catch unlawful landlords in discrimination offenses, but this felt like exactly that to me. That said, she seemed like a perfectly nice lady, but I just was very puzzled by what she said.

So BP, are NOISY families a protected class?

Hello BP! I have an apartment for rent, and I've been contacted by a company who wants to rent it for a nurse that will have a 3 month position at a local hospital. The apartment will be furnished, and the tenant would leave after a few months. I have a few questions. Who do I credit check? I'd be doing a background check on the tenant, but if her credit is poor, does it matter, if she's not paying rent? Who is on the lease? Both the company and tenant? I'm waiting for an email back from the company, as I'm not sure which entity will be paying rent. I'd also like to meet any tenants in person before moving in here, and I'm not sure if she's in the area yet. Have any of you encountered this situation? Of course you have, this is Bigger Pockets! Thanks for any help!