All Forum Posts by: Stephen Kehoe

Anna you seem to be mixing up Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) with the voucher scheme. The PBRA is for large apartment buildings where the owner has entered multi-year rental assistance agreements with HUD. PBRA stays with the unit. The voucher stays with the tentant.

When you say you have a section 8 duplex that is most likely a duplex with two voucher holders in there. These can be turned back to a private rental whenever because the voucher belongs to that tenant not that unit. 

Be sure to heed Tim's point. There are a lot of "duplexes" in Baltimore.

@Michael Thorne

check out this BP video regarding scope of work. Andrew will send you the excel sheets he uses. 

For me once.someone applies it will take two months on average. Voucher holders shop for new rentals earlier than private renters and the inspection process takes a while. 

The pipeline is strong in Baltimore although there is a lot of competition for these renters currently due to the moratorium making private renters rent less reliable.

Turnovers are less but the length of time for the turnover is longer so they even each other out 

What was passed

Baltimore city council just passed a bill requiring owners of over 10 units to offer alternatives to security deposits. Alternatives include paying in installments and paying for insurance.

What now

Now whether or not you think this is an infringement of your property rights and common sense it's time to look at what has to be done. There are a lot of products out there that provide alternatives to security deposits and they have been in the multifamily space for years. My friend Peter Lohmann made this table which contrasts some of the options with a traditional security deposit.

So there are definitely some options out there. It is additional red tape and annoying for the landlord however there are some pros for the landlord:

1. The amount of rent and damage coverage is equal to the requested deposit. This means there is about to be a lot more landlords requesting two months security deposit instead of one.

2. You can avoid courts. Most of these companies just require before and after photos of the damage to payout the landlord. The tenants also normally waive their right to court proceedings before signing up.

3. Some of these options have revenue sharing with the landlord.

but let’s look at the cons for the tenant:

1, What you may notice in the last row is that the tenant is still responsible for damages and these companies can go after the tenant for expenses they pay out to the landlord. This is like paying for car insurance then getting in an accident where your insurer pays as normal and then after your insurer goes after you for payment.

2. No option refunds payment to the tenant like a security deposit. All of them cost the tenant more than a refunded security deposit.

An option not discussed here is paying the security deposit in installments. This option should be avoided like the plague if possible.

It's going to be closer to 40k than 8k if you outsource it.  Some tips for saving money:  

1. Buy your cabinets from a builders auction like peak. 

2. You can enlarge windows down without structural effects. 

3. Remove the third wall so you can use stock sized cabinets that don't have to fit in between 2 walls. 

4. If it's going to be a rental just make it functional not beautiful. Maybe you don't need to move the sink and oven? You may not need a permit then. 

You could try 

MONSHOWER, MILLER & MAGROGAN, LLP

I'm guessing if she's not lucid enough to care about losing her voucher she's not lucid enough to go for cash for keys? 

hey Lisa. This is not true. Maryland law says you have to have the place retested unless it's been declared lead free.

dealcheck on the app store. It pulls zillow, public and realtor.com info.

Hey Devon, thanks for reaching out. The tenant can apply here https://www.baltimorecountymd....

Currently everyone is just added to a wait list as there are no funds currently available. However the program does expect to receive money in the future. At that point the wait list will be dug through to see who is accepted. I doubt this will happen before a FTPR case would make it's way through the backlogged courts however.