All Forum Posts by: Tyler Brown

Under the text of the act, you (the LL) cannot do anything to prohibit or impair the installation, maintenance, or use of a dish.

Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, you cannot restrict a tenant from installing a satellite dish on the unit, as long as its under 1 meter in diameter and it is installed in an area where the tenant has exclusive use (patio or balcony, or a roof if a SFH). This was passed by Congress, and as such is a Federal law and supersedes any local or state ordinances, and the text of the act is quite clear that it also supersedes any HOA bylaws or any text you may have in your lease to the contrary.

Now you're free to tell the tenant anything you want, and cross your fingers that they go along with it, but if they spend a few minutes on Google and want to push the issue, you don't have any recourse.

There's two ways to look at it - one is that even after the $80 a month increase, they're still paying well below market rate, and should be happy.  Also, since they're still below the market rate, what are they going to do?  Move and wind up paying even more than you're asking?

The other way is that an $80 a month jump is over 10%.  That may be hard for some people to come up with.  If you had been increasing the rent by, say, $20 a year for the past 4 years, you'd arrive at the same number, but it'd be a much easier gradual increase for the tenants.

It's up to you, but if the tenants can't swallow $80 all at once, I'd go ahead and do at least $25 or $30 or so, and keep that up for the next several years.

This will depend on your specific location, but most of the times, yes.  Your charges must be reasonable and in line with what a handyman would charge.  Since there's a zillion jurisdictions in the country, and urban areas like Pittsburgh are fond of having a regulation for anything and everything, it's a good idea to run it by a lawyer quick first though, just to be sure.

I wouldn't include any specific dollar amounts unless I'm 100% positive that's what it'll actually cost.  You're basically committing yourself to charging a fixed rate, so you better be really sure that rate is accurate.  

If it's something simple like a ripped window screen that I know is $10 at Home Depot and I can do it myself, then yeah okay maybe.  But if it something more vague like the shower is draining slowly (does it just need a bottle of Draino, or does my plumbing need to be taken apart?) or a stain the carpet (will it come out with a little stain remover, or do I have to replace the carpet?) there's no way I'm going to agree to a fixed price on the spot.  I'll document a description of the damage or issue, then withhold whatever the amount is later once I actually know myself.

Those aren't even that bad, really.  

Go talk to a landlord of a rent controlled or stabilized apartment in New York City.  Tenants have been offered well over $100k just to get them to move out.  The past couple of years have been 0% rent increases as well.

Depends where you are, what your weather is like, and how much electricity costs.

I would never consider a unit with electric heat here in NYC.  Before my wife (then girlfriend) moved in with me, she had a small one bedroom with electric heat.  She only turned on the heat when it was absolutely necessary, and her electric bill was easily $200 in the winter.  Her neighbors (also just a one bedroom) ran the heat more frequently and kept their place warm, and their bill was around the $700 area.

Those are broad statements of course, but I'd say 1 & 2 are more or less accurate.  

#1 will depend on the specifics of what the issue is, and will ultimately come down to the bank to decide if it's a big deal or not.

#2 may depend on how a hard a time the sellers are having finding a buyer.  If they think there's plenty of other buyers out there, why bother spending the money?  If it has been on the market a while though, that may incentivize them pay for things they otherwise may not

#3 is useless as a fixed number.  Is the asking price of the home $35k?  Then yeah it's probably pointless to offer $20k less than that.  My own home cost well over $600k though, so our first offer was over $50k below the listed price, but still only represented like 7% off the asking price, which I think is reasonable.

You can offer them all sorts of things.  Simple cash is one of the most common ways to get a tenant in the middle of a lease to voluntarily leave.  Someone mentioned $1,000.  I think that's a good starting point, and be prepared to increase it if they don't bite.  You can offer to pay for their moving expenses as well.

At the end of the day, the tenant can simply say no to all the offers in the world and you'll have to honor their existing lease, meaning they'll be there for the next year, unless they break the lease in a manner worthy of eviction.

@Thomas S. how is he supposed to bill each tenant separately when the whole home only gets one bill?