All Forum Posts by: Douglas Snook

As a business, you are not responsible for the tenant. As a human being I get where you are coming from. I would certainly encourage her to apply to section 8 and any and all rental assistance programs. You didn't buy the condo to give her some place to live and like you said you will be in the red if you go lower.

She needs to start looking for a place she can afford. Do you have a written lease with her that will expire or is she month to month? If she has a written lease with an end date, I would start now and tell her the lease is not going to be renewed.

If she is month to month I would plan on giving her notice, even if it is a few months. Get her through to the new year, especially with the crazy evictions stuff in place in MA at this time. Plan on getting her out in the spring when this have settled down.

In any event under no circumstances would I lower the rent and put myself in a bind.

Good luck and let us know what happens

Are you planning on working on the project or just put up the money? If it is just the money you would want a mortgage on the property. If you are buying it together you may want to form an LLC to own it but still have a mortgage with your name as a lien

You didn't say where the property is or what class the building/area is. What are the other tenants paying? I would at least bring it in line with the other tenants - maybe even raise all their rents. Then these tenants shouldn't feel they are being picked on.

You could do $300 or $250; see what their response is. If they balk then you have to decide if you want to back down to keep them or not.

You can terminate the tenancy and offer a new one at a higher rent without requiring that they sign a year lease or provide deposits. So to start you might just want to raise the rent $100 and see how it goes (do they pay on time, do they complain etc) and then in six months you can go up $100 again. Nothing says you have to wait a year.

Speaking of the other tenants, do you have leases with them? Do you want to have leases with them? Maybe you prefer month to month. Even month to month I would probably consider having a written lease signed, then you know exactly who is at he apartment and get it in writing things like no smoking, no pets etc.

If you really want to and need to renovate the apartment to get market rent, it might be best in the end to just terminate the tenancy, no option for renewal even at a higher rate.  If they don't leave, go to court. With the COVID back log it may take you several months to get a hearing and get them out but you should be able to do it. The renovate and start fresh

@Linda Roberts Sorry to be late to respond. As for access I don't think you need permission depending on what the repair is. You tell them on such a date at this time the plumber will be there to fix the sink. It is nice to give 24 or 48 hour notice. The tenant does not have to be there. Hopefully you have a key and let the plumber in. If you do not have a key you can  tell them on such and such a date you are having all the locks changed and will provide them with a new key.

If it is an emergency type repair, say the sink is leaking into the apartment below you can go to the court for the TRO to force access, even with COVID, which hopefully will be over this weekend.

It is not up to tenant to decide what to pay for rent, you do. So if they COVID restrictions are lifted this weekend on Monday you serve the tenant with a notice that the tenancy is being terminated at the end of November. If they do not move out by the end of November, go to court to evict them.

If you want to keep them but raise the rent and/or have them complete an application get a security deposit or last months rent from them, then when you tell them the tenancy is over, you can offer them a new one provided they complete the application and are approved and this is what the new rent will be. If they don't like it then the tenancy is over and they have to leave. If they don't leave you evict.

If you keep them and have them do an application be sure to state everyone who lives there and that they are all responsible for rent (boyfriend)

There some attorneys out there that concentrate in evictions and you may want to hire one so it can be done right.

As was said above, you need to take control of your property/investment.

Good Luck

@Nhan N. Sorry to be responding late. At this point it does not appear you would be able to get the tenants out prior to purchase. You need several things from the Seller to protect yourself.

A copy of any and all leases or any written rental agreements. You can have a lease that goes for a year or month to month but you need copies, even if they have expired. This will give you ...

The names of each and every tenant. You need to know exactly who is living there. If thing are slipshod people will move in their sister/brother aunt etc that are not listed on the lease or agreement. That will also tell you ...

What the rent for each unit is supposed to be. The Seller could tell you rent is X and the tenant Y so you need like an estoppel letter signed by the Seller AND tenant confirming what the rent is, if there is a lease in place or month to month. Also...

The estoppel letter (and/or the written rental agreement) will also state if the seller is holding any last months rent (which should be turned over to you) and/or if there are any security deposits (which should also be turned over to you or returned to the tenants with written proof) You can be sure as sh-- that if you go to evict the tenant will claim they gave a security deposit. If you can't prove otherwise YOU will be responsible for it and potentially triple damage by law, no excuse.

Also if you close in the middle of the month there has to be an accounting for the rent that was paid on the first and that should appear on the closing disclosure

So lets say you get all this information, how do you evict? Let's say they are month to month; the day you take over serve each tenant a notice stating you have taken over and this is where they are to send the rent payment to and who to call about maintenance. You can also serve them with the notice to quit/non-renewal of the tenancy. Then if they do not move you can evict them through the court process. If they are there under a lease you need to wait for the end of the lease but nothing stops you from telling them immediately that the lease will not be renewed. Again if they do not leave when the lease is up, its off to court.

Congratulations and good luck!

sorry for the delay in answering. How would they know you are offering cash for keys unless you told them you would want them to leave. And if they said no thanks you are left with evicting. Hopefully it will be over this weekend and then you can serve them either the 14 day notice or the 30 day notice.

@David Jones

I am an attorney in MA that does evictions if you need help. Can review P&S if you are buying with or without tenants, make sure you are following security deposit laws etc Also do real estate closing and review titles etc (Mass does not generally use escrow companies, an attorney is required)

If you have some kind of proof of the drug use/dealing you should be able to get them out with an emergency eviction. Call the housing court that would handle the matter. Are the police there every other day? The clerks should be able to give you a better idea of what you would need to present to the court to have them accept the eviction case.

At this late time I would not try cash for keys until after the ban is lifted. There is a $5000 fine for attempting an eviction in MA (so you can not send a 14 day notice if the rent is late nor can you send a 30 day notice that you are going to terminate the tenancy)

Is there any other reason you want to evict them? Is the rent being paid on time? If it is just the word of the other tenant and you have not proof you will have to wait until October 17 for the ban on evictions to expire (if it doesn't get extended again)

I would say thanks but no thanks.

First off they are not sure when they may move out (are they there month to month or on a lease) It almost sounds like they want to break a lease but have their replacement ready.

I would not necessarily let a potential new tenant talk to one that is moving out.

Depending on the condition of the unit and your plans, you may want 30 days between tenants to renovate and/or update. Also it may depend on how quickly you have been able to find a new tenant in the past for the unit. It may be in a popular area and therefore may be a lot of interest as soon as you advertise.

Just my two cents

It is sad because it is holding up evictions that started before this pandemic that had nothing to do with COVID 19!. I have a tenant for a client that has not paid since December 2019. In Court in February and worked out and agreement to pay which he did not do so had a court date in march that never happened because the court were shut down.

He is still there and has not paid a dime. He is working the whole time. And laughing about it too.