All Forum Posts by: Patti Robertson

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.

Hi there.  Fellow Hampton Roads landlord & property manager here.  Are you military?  I am asking because I have seen so many military members room rent, then leave the market leaving their roommates behind.  It almost never ends well.  Once the homeowner is gone, the room renters usually leave the house a mess and leave things behind once they leave.  Unless you plan to room rent long-term, you should make sure your room leases expire at the same time.  I had one owner who was stuck with only $700 of income for 4 months because it was the last remaining room lease before we could rent the house to a single lease holder.  

@Nathan Gesner - I don't only do SEC, but I do manage 120 SEC 8 leases.  I prefer them in low income neighborhoods, because in a low income neighborhood, I am going to get a low income tenant no matter who I choose.  IMO, it is the lack of education (not schooling, but how to clean, teach your kids to respect their living space, etc) that causes the issues, and you have that whether it's a single adult household paying with a voucher, or a two adult household, who both have low pay jobs.  I almost never have a SEC 8 tenant leave owing money.  I have one right now who wants to leave to find something bigger. She is really hard on the house, but we have always been able to help her figure out a way to pay for what she damages.  We fix what fails and bill her for damage she caused.  Just this week I sent an e-mail to her caseworker to notify the HA of our pending lawsuit to obtain a judgment for what she owns, and the caseworker confirmed that she will place the voucher on hold until the outcome of the court case, which prohibits the tenant from leaving until I confirm she is in compliance with her lease.  Some people don't want to go through that effort, which I understand.  I don't have the option to deny an application just because they have a voucher, but even if I wasn't required, I am happy to have a voucher holder in a C neighborhood, and with a little effort, I almost always get paid what I am owed.  If I let them leave with a balance I will never get paid.  The process has to happen while they are in the property.

This question comes up SO much on SEC 8.  To save my fingers typing time, I wrote a blog on BP.  I have extensive experience with SEC 8. We currently manage 120 SEC 8 leases.  Here is a link to my BP blog.  https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/9232/55313-intro-...