All Forum Posts by: Jim Bentley

I'm in Oklahoma.  My mother-in-law fully owns around 30 properties which I and my wife have been leasing and managing for a couple of years after my FIL's death.  I was recently told that the laws say that ONLY the owner of the property may lease and property manage.  If she want's anybody else to do that work, they have to have a realtor license.  My MIL is unable to do any of this because of health, and she doesn't want to pay a property management company.  

Is what I was told true?

@Daniel Dietz

The majority of the retirement is in the SDIRA, few liquid assets, the spouse will stay in the home, and the equity in the home is about 80% of the value of the SDIRA.

@Rajeev Kotyan Thank you!

Does anybody know how a SD IRA which is invested in an LLC that owns several rental properties is handled in case of a divorce?

Asking for a friend...

There was a local news story yesterday about a gentleman who was put into a wheelchair by cancer, and his mean landlord wouldn't build him a wheelchair ramp.  Instead a group of volunteers did it for him.

One quote from one of the volunteers, was “The state has yet to adopt the Americans With Disabilities Act that was passed 25 years ago, so that landlords and people could get training and know what their responsibilities are for people with disabilities,” he said.  Of course, our award winning local news station didn't bother to dig into that comment. 

However, based on what I've read here, landlords do not have to conform to ADA.  We cannot refuse to rent to a disabled person, but we don't have to build wheelchair ramps, bathroom handholds, low light switches, etc.  Correct?

Link to the story

Does anybody local to Oklahoma City have an attorney you would recommend for a small landlord?  I would like to get one to review my lease and application, and to be able to call upon if (when?) I have to evict someone someday.

Thanks, Jon! That's a great analogy!  I don't know why he's so stubborn about this.   Other than that he's almost 80.

Thanks; that's what I figured.  I've done that with our 2 units (thanks in large part to what I've learned in these forums), but since he's never done it that way, he doesn't want to change.  I'll make sure the tenants get the pamphlet and sign the disclosures.

My wife and I are going to begin managing (i.e. finding tenants for and being the tenants' main contact) for several rental units that my FIL owns.  His health no longer lets him do this.  We currently own and manage two of our own units.  

While going over his contract, I suggested adding in a lead disclosure statement; he doesn't want to, because he's never done that in the 60 years he's been renting out units.  Most of his units were built before 1978.  

My question is, as the official property managers, would we be legally in the line of fire if a tenant decides to sue because they didn't receive the lead disclosure and their child now has asthma?

In Oklahoma, we can go to a website (www.oscn.net) that provides records of any court actions (traffic infractions, bankruptcies, sued by lender, domestic abuse, etc.) for all 77 counties.  Its records go back to the 1980's.

I know that doesn't help you in NY, but they may have something similar there.

We finished remodeling a house last spring, and I put LED fixtures in the closets (

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-Lighting-Versi...) and in the bedrooms and hallway (

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-Bru...)  Both of these use non-replaceable LEDs - no bulbs to steal.

I originally chose the closet lights because today's electrical code prohibits globe lights inside closets that have a shelf within so many inches.  These LED lights are low profile, don't get hot, and have no glass to break.  The inspector still insisted that they were a fire hazard ("with that much light, they're going to get too hot"), so I had to pull them out, put in a blank, pass the inspection, and then reinstall.

Anyway, they all give plenty of light, and I don't have to worry about tenants getting on ladders to change bulbs.   They're a lot more expensive than standard fixtures, but I kind of did it as an experiment to see if they really work.  So far, so good, but it's just been a few months.