All Forum Posts by: Tim Miller

Quote from @Dave Peterson:

Tim, can the $1,700 be added to the amount owed?

It sure can! Attorney fees and court cost can be added, it'll just depend on what the judge will allow. For the most part you'll get everything as long as you can prove it.

Josh, first thing is, you are owner occupied and that gives you more freedom to do things. A few things you'll need to look at:

1. Are the windows big enough for a bedroom in the basement? If not, you have to put bigger ones in.

2. There is no law saying you can't have 2 kitchens in your home.

We have this in our home in PG county, we don't call it and ADU or a 1 bedroom apt. We just say we rent out a bedroom in the basement with a private bath and they have use of the kitchen & Rec area (livingroom). By doing this, you don't have to worry about the rental laws as they do not apply to you now.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Jason, we're going through a similar issue. For back rent, an eviction isn't enough for some collection agency to go after the tenant. You need a Judgement for rent owed.

We're at $23k + and we decided to hire a lawyer to handle this. He just filed the paperwork on the 2nd and his cost for us is $1,700. Not to bad considering he'll handle everything. Good Luck!

Quote from @Tina Kapur:

I hadnt checked myrental.com
Question on that
- This site just needs name and email of tenant/applicant. No SSN etc? to do the check?
- instead needs landlords SSN? I am concerned about where all this data is stored

The tenant puts their information in MyRental.com after they setup their account. You can always ask for a copy of the SS Card along with ID and Pay stub.

Yeah, they have to verify you because you are requesting other peoples information. MyRental is a part of CoreLogic, so far I haven't heard of CoreLogic having a breach.

As for being worried about them having your data, most likely to late. CoreLogic is used by a lot of companies so they may already have it.

Any company that does all in one is not going to be the best at everything. With that said, a friend in Pittsburgh uses Zillow all the time and doesn't seem to have any issues.

We use Myrental.com to do all our background checks and collect ID and pay stubs from there.

You need to run through a few of these sites and see which one works best for you. But it doesn't manner which site you use if you do not have solid policy, processes and procedures in place from the start. Good Luck!

You need to start by saving yourself some real headaches! Hand delivering the notice is nice but not legal. You go to court and one or both could tell the judge, We never received any notice and it's your word against theirs. Most likely the judge will side with the tenant.

Send them each a notice stating you are not renewing the m2m lease by certified mail. Do this now if you're still want them out by Aug 15th. You have to give at lease 30 days notice.

This whole thing could go south real fast, send another certified letter giving 3 days to pay July's rent. If they don't, then file for failure to pay rent. Now you have 2 options under your belt to get them evicted.

I'm not sure about PA security deposit law, check with an attorney. I would offer the tenant this. If you and your guest are out of the unit by Aug 15th I'll return $750.00 of your security deposit. But I'm keeping $1,250.00 for July's rent. Good luck!

I'm just totally baffled that you would co-sign a lease for your daughter and because she didn't give notice and packed up and left. Now you are not paying what you both agreed to.

To top it off, you are broadcasting to the world that you are completely dishonest and are asking others how to get out of paying.

You are really setting a great example for your kids.

Rent prices are dropping here in Hagerstown, MD and Pittsburgh, PA.

A 2/1 in Hagerstown was getting almost $2,000 (Newly Remodeled) now we're down to $1,600 plus.

Out friends in Pitt are seeing prices drop by upwards of $250+ from their highs. 

PG County just past rent control 3% + CPI capped at 6% or whichever is less. Investing in PG has slowed down a lot.

You can try Innago, they charge $2 for ACH & 3% for credit cards. You have the option of paying this yourself or have the tenant pay it. We pay the $2 for ACH but if the tenant wants to use their credit card they have to pay.