All Forum Posts by: Spencer Hoogveld

Hello BP Community, I have a question regarding one of my tenants: 

To give you some quick background info: 

- I inherited this tenant in my tri-plex that I bought about 6 months ago. 

- This tenant has kept the unit clean and she is on section 8 so the rent is always on time. 

- She's lived at the property for 5-years before I bought the property. 

- The lease ends in December of this year.  

Here is the challenge i'm facing:

This tenant allows A LOT of traffic at the property. All throughout the day, random cars pull up to hangout. I'm not sure if she even knows most of these people, but she's set a precedent that her house is a spot to drop by whenever. This tenant does not have a working car, but claims that the broken car in her spot was given to her (which has been sitting there for 4-5 months). When these people pull in, they take up the other tenants parking spaces. I've confronted some of these people and asked them to move their cars on several occasions, but there are too many to keep up. Also I don't want to put my other tenants in a position to ask for people to move their cars since it's a burden and could lead to an altercation. 

Do I have any rights to have these cars towed if this continues?  Based on the info that I've outlined, would you renew the lease?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions! 

Have you met with these people yet? Perhaps you should check if they meet your rental standards. If so, I'd tell them that they need to sign a lease and obey by your terms.

However if you wish to have them gone, you shouldn't need to go through a legal eviction. You don't have any type of agreement with these people and aren't obligated to provide them housing. Technically they are trespassing and have no right to be there.

Does your original lease have any language with your tenant about air bnb sub-leasing? If so perhaps you can hold them accountable for removing the tenants.

Hello BP Community -

I'm working on finding solutions for my tenants to pay rent without me collecting in person. 

My first thought is to use a property management software for online payments - any suggestions for secure sites to use? I really prefer a site that only collects the full amount. I don't want to accept partial payments and delay the eviction process if necessary.

I also want to allow an option for my cash paying tenants. I was thinking of working with my bank and letting my tenants deposit rent into different business accounts. The only real challenge I see here is managing who has and hasn't paid. I'm thinking of having my tenants pay a specific amount so I can identify them on my statements. For example: In one of my apartment complexes, tenant #1 will deposit $500.01, tenant #2 will deposit $500.02, tenant #3 will deposit $500.03 and so on... Is this a good strategy? 

Thank you in advance for your advice! 

These tenants are nitpicking, bottom line. You've responded to all of their request, however they keep finding more issues to complain about. These type of tenants are ones you want to stay away from because they'll never be satisfied, despite your efforts. The wood chips posed a threat to their kids, really? No they're just being dramatic and enjoy either making you miserable or finding excuses to withhold rent.

If this lease is almost up, I'd recommend not renewing when the time comes around.

@John Teachout

We both agreed that a month-to-month addendum would be a good solution.

Hello BP Community, I have a question regarding one of my new tenants.

I had a tenant sign a lease with me at the end of May. On paper she passed with flying colors - 3X income, good credit, positive landlord references, high credit score, and clean background.

Ever since she’s move in, she’s done nothing but text/call me with complaints and making demands such as:

- Requesting a new stove because she felt the existing one was old. It was still perfectly functional, however I replaced it.

- Demanded that security cameras be installed on the exterior of the building.

- Complained about small amounts of dust she found in the apartment.

- She wanted to upgrade the window ac units so that she can have WiFi capabilities to control the temp when she’s not home.

- Demanded that her shower was broken and wanted a licensed plumber sent immediately. After I went and investigated further, it turns out she wasn’t pulling the faucet correctly.

Now she’s making all kinds of accusations that I’m over charging her for rent and that I trapped her into signing with me. She’s gone as far as to insult my ethical values and threatened that she’d report me to the government.

I’ve been very responsive throughout her time with me and tried to make sure she’s taken care of, however it seems that whatever I do isn’t enough. As hard as I try, I don’t think she’ll ever be satisfied with my efforts and the apartment. I’m at a breaking point and decided to put together an addendum changing the lease term from 1-year to month-to-month. If she hates my unit so much, she’s welcome to leave now at anytime.

Did I do the right thing? How should I have handled this?

I’ve been a real estate investor for the last 5 years. I currently own/manage 4 multi-family properties under commercial loans.

My goal is to eventually live off of my passive income. Are there any strategies I should specifically be working on to make this happen? What experiences do you have from when you transitioned into real estate full time?