All Forum Posts by: Patti Robertson

Hi there. There are SO many posts about SEC 8 on BP. I've been working the program for 15+ years and currently manage 120ish SEC 8 leases.  To save my figers from typing, I wrote a blog on BP. Here is a link where you can check it out.  https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/9232/55313-intro-...

Are you trying to troubleshoot this and fix it yourself?  I agree with your tenant that the repair should be diagnosed by a licensed HVAC professional.

This question is best directed to a fair housing attorney.

You complete the RFTA and submit it to the case worker.  It generally takes them about 10 days to process the rent approval portion.  If they accept the rent, the case worker will send it to the inspection department for scheduling.  If they deny the rent, they will send you a letter asking if you will accept or deny the reduced amount.

We have an early termination request form on my website that you are welcome to copy. BP won't let me paste a link, but to to Resources, Tenant Resources, Forms and Documents.  We make them pre-pay two months rent plus the leasing commission.  Once that is paid we will market the property. The tenant is obligated to all lease terms until a new lease starts.

When you agreed to co-sign, you agreed to pay if your daughter does not pay.  Everything you said shows she owes the money, and so do you.  What is the point of co-signing if you are going to refuse to pay, just like she did. Teach your daughter a lesson.  Pay it if she cannot, and make her pay you back. This is time for adult lessons, which includes meeting your financial obligations.

Hi there.  Long-time Virginia landlord and property manager here.  I can shed some light.

LAW EXEMPTIONS - There are very few parts of the VRLTA that allow an exemption for people based on units owned, and late fees is not one of them. You are exempt from the "source of income" protection though, which means you are allowed to deny an application just because they have a housing choice voucher, which would not be the case if you owned more than 4 units.  The law now also requires landlords with more than 3 properties to give at least a 60 day notice of termination.  If you own 3 or less, which you do, you are exempt from this and can offer a 30 day notice of termination.  (Note - No tenants will be sucessful moving with only 30 days notice in this market.  I recommend you stick with 60 if you want to avoid issues.)

LATE FEES - The max late fee you can charge is the greater of 10% of one month rent or the balance owed.  Your lease cannot charge a higher fee.  If the tenant pays half of the rent on-time, you can only charge 10% on the remaining balance.  Your $25/day lease clause is not legal or enforcable.

GRACE PERIOD - You are reading the law wrong here.  It is a common mistake. The VRLTA does not require you have a grace period.  My rent is due on the first, late on the second.  What it does say is IN ABSENCE OF A WRITTEN LEASE, the late fee is 10% with a 5 day grace period.

Just add the Tenant's Rights and Responsiblities to the end of your lease and have them sign both at the same time. No need to do it before.  I am high volume - both landlord and PM and I use an attorney.  I still go to court because at a trial, someone needs to testify on the landlord side, and an attorney cannot do that.  I find attorney's win more often than landlords. Find a high volume landlord tenant attorney based on what you see in the court records.  They will have the best pricing.

On another note - You do not have to have your 5 day letter served. VA law just requires US mail. If you lease allows, you can also make it electronic. We e-mail and mail ours. No tracking is required.

This post gives me nightmares of an investment I had from 2005-2008 called Wextrust.  It was essentially what we call syndications today.  They paid an 8% dividend, which I had reinvested into their hard money lending fund.  They bought real buidings - shopping centers, hotels for condo conversion, etc.  I even knew one of the retail tenants.  My final confirmation to invest was that my own CPA firm was the firm who signed off on their proformas and confirmed they were performaing as predicted.  When the market started crashing they couldn't keep up and their illegal attempts to right the ship turned it into a ponzi.  We got notice in 2008 that it was being shut down by the SCC and a receiver was put into place.  After 11 years of receivership, investors got back only 10% of our collective $220M investment.  I hope that's not what is happening in this case, but even people who start out above board, too often come up with bad plans when trying to scramble to turn an investment around to cover up what went wrong.