That made the idea of a charge to the contractor for delay difficult to justify, and the contract is silent about factors outside of the contractor's control or issues like approvals, which are naturally the owner's responsibility.

We thought it would only need $28,000 of rehab but we quickly discovered raccoons had invested the attic and pest control charges per raccoon.

I would like to add that this venture is not going to be profitable for the first couple of tries.

Thanks you The Divorce court controls and oversees the house.It will be divided up as the court says or as the two parties agree.If you try to pull "A fast One" it might earn your friend some jail time. 

On a practical basis it isn't right for tenants to pay for something that is out of their control. 

Unfortunately in most cases the loan is sold and there is no way to control it.

That price is way too high which is why I like to keep things controlled and in house.

You haven't given the most critical piece of info; without knowing what rent control laws are in the location of the property, no one can give good advice.

This is why people are now buying at 3% cap rates...they are seeing the out of control rent growth and they know that the revenue stream is growing--rapidly.Remember--cap rate has nothing to do with investment performance. 

While I can understand some of the desire for rent control there are other more practical and productive ways to assist families in need of housing (IE fix the broken section 8 programs around the country)  I would prefer however that all of you out of state investors get out of "our town" so that the prices can go back to normal for us locals, which should in turn help keep rents down a bit locally .....