All Forum Posts by: Ross Miller

Someone I know is having problems with her landlord. The landlord is part of a family-owned real estate business, with him taking care of leases, his father handling repairs/maintenance, and I'm not sure who else. 

The tenant has told me that the landlords father has entered her apartment on several occasions without notice. From what I've read, PA doesn't have a law requiring advance notice, but this man is using his key and entering the apartment without knocking. The most recent time, she was cooking in the kitchen and he walked right in the door. When questioned what he was doing, his response was "I'm going away for a few days and wanted to make sure everything was okay".

She has complained to the landlord about his father. The landlord said he would change the locks so his father wouldn't have a key. He hasn't done this even after several requests. 

She is leaving for a trip and is legitimately concerned about the old man entering her apartment while she's gone. I also learned that she doesn't even have a current lease. She was on a 1 year lease expiring in May, but she moved from one apartment to a different one owned by the same people. They never had her sign a new lease. 

She is at the point where she just wants to move out. She told the landlord she could just leave because he never gave her a lease. He said if she leaves, all her stuff will be there and he will lock her out so she can't get it. He also has her security deposit, and it seems unlikely he would be willing to return it voluntarily. 

I know that everything the landlord is doing is morally wrong, but does anyone have advice on action she can take or the legal ramifications of the landlord's (and his father's) actions?

Update: 

I filed an eviction on May 1st. The tenant was served the notice of the court date. I was at the property yesterday and my tenant was moving out. She was asking about the eviction and how it works if she moves out before the court date. She also offered to make payments to me for the April rent.

I told her I would have to look into it, as I really don't know. I have a call into a local attorney but haven't received a call back yet. Do I still go to the court date to try to recoup some money? Do I need to notify the court that she is gone before the actual hearing? Do I just collect the keys, change the locks, and count any payments she makes to me as a bonus? Basically just be happy she's gone?

I'm not sure on the legality of that. If I can do that, I'm sure it would have to be laid out pretty clearly in the lease. It's certainly something I'm going to have to look into. Unfortunately, that is no help for me in the current predicament.

Tracy, thanks for the response. I suspect I will be stuck with most, if not all, of the costs as well. I feel like the bad exterminator should at least be responsible for a LITTLE bit of it, or at least the cost of treating the rear unit since he treated the unit improperly. I'm guessing that won't happen either though.

Here's the situation:

I have a very old 5 unit building consisting of 3 floors in the front and 2 floors in a back section that was added on at some point. My issues are concerning the 2nd floor units in both front and back. The rear 2nd floor unit was treated for bed bugs last year at this time using the heat method from a reputable local company. That tenant had no complaints afterwards.

The front 2nd floor tenant has been a problem essentially since she moved in. Over the winter, she notified me that she had bed bugs. I directed her to the lease stating that she is responsible for bed bugs. She had no money and somehow got help either from the school or some other way to hire a local guy I'm not familiar with. He inspected the unit and performed a liquid treatment 3 times - he would treat it, then come back a few weeks later to treat again, and then again.

Around the same time that started, I placed a new tenant in the rear 2nd floor unit. Shortly after, the rear tenants complained that they found a couple dead bed bugs. The reputable company came to inspect the unit and didn't find evidence of an infestation. Even though we replaced the flooring, I thought maybe a couple dead ones got kicked up from last time.

Fast forward to now, the rear tenants found a live bed bug. I called the reputable company to do an inspection of BOTH the 2nd floor units. He said the signs of infestation in the front unit were too bad to use a liquid treatment and the other pest control guy probably pushed the bed bugs through the walls into the rear unit. In addition, there are still live bed bugs in the front unit. He also said that if she moves out before it gets treated, live bed bugs could drop out of the furniture and infest the common area.

He is recommending the heat method in the front unit and a liquid treatment in the rear unit since that's just starting.

To complicate things further, when I thought this issue was resolved back in February, I gave the front tenant notice that she had to move out by the end of April (month to month lease). She didn't pay rent for April, because she "didn't think she had to", and she claimed she needed that money to get another place. I made a sort of half-*** cash for keys deal where I would take her security deposit as the last month's rent as long as she moves out. We were planning on rehabbing this unit anyway so minor damage isn't an issue.

So now I'm lost. I have rear tenants at the beginning of an infestation that wasn't their fault. A front tenant who is a major pain in the ***, has no money, probably isn't even going to move out when she's supposed to, and has bed bugs.

Should I be going after the bad pest control guy? Can I even do that since he was hired by the tenant? Do I need to tell the tenant to go after him? Do I go after the tenant and let her figure it out? She has no money. If I go after her is it even likely I will be able to collect anything? Do I need to eat the costs then start an eviction hoping that I can at least get the missing rent from the front tenant?

Thanks for the advice. That is pretty much what I expected to hear. I'l just eat the cost and move on.

A tenant just notified me that she has bed bugs. I checked the lease and realized that I made a major mistake. I check marked the wrong box stating that the landlord pays for bed bug removal. 

While meeting a pest control expert there, the tenants adult daughter said they threw away their mattresses about a month ago. The tenant claims it wasn't that long ago, but actually 2 weeks ago. The pest control guy said the infestation is very bad and looks like it's been going on for a while. 

So at the very least, she knew she had bed bugs and didn't notify me for 2 weeks. I realize I screwed up the lease and likely made myself responsible for paying for the treatment. However, if I had been notified sooner, the pest control guy said I could have used a cheaper conventional removal at a cost of $630. Now though, he said he would highly recommend the more thorough heat treatment method at a cost of  $1250. 

Would it be unreasonable or illegal to charge my tenant the difference between the two treatments since she didn't notify me?

Also, this tenant has been problematic for a while now. She is on a month to month lease. If I don't want to renew her lease, can I legally blame it on her not notifying me of a major problem? Do I even need to give a reason?

Thanks for any help.

I'm planning a bachelor party for a very good friend of mine, and it's going to revolve around the AMA Supercross race held at the Gilette stadium. 

In addition to racing dirtbikes, my friend also enjoys smoking cigars. We have a place near us called Cigars International, where you can buy your cigar and smoke it right there in the building while sitting on comfy chairs. They also have a few small bars where they carry good whiskey, bourbon, etc. I thought this place was a big franchise but apparently there's only a few of them.

Is there any place like this within a reasonable drive of Foxborough/the stadium? If not, I would settle for a decent cigar shop that carries the good stuff, and we can just smoke them outside the hotel. Thanks for your help!

I have a small multifamily building with a common area entry door. Each tenant has a key and they have been keeping it locked. One tenant has recently complained about having trouble receiving deliveries, and at least one package is missing, possibly stolen. He is requesting that we keep the entry door unlocked during the day for this purpose.

The main entry door is right on the sidewalk of a fairly busy street. What do you folks do about deliveries? Keep door unlocked? Leave it as-is and keep having packages left on the sidewalk? Something else?

@Mike R. @William Warner

I made a Meetup group, but I can't seem to make an event here on BP. Here's the link to the meetup group. I didn't get a chance to put up any fancy pictures or anything, but it's now official. Schuylkill County Real Estate Investors Group