Becoming a landlord: unsolicited advice, um...solicited

In My Humble Opinion
21

Depending on where you are, local laws may make month-to-month arrangements less risky for the landlord. I just left an arrangement where I had been renting month-to-month at the same place for nearly 20 years. It was a congenial split. The same landlord has had to evict people on month-to-month and, being aware of local laws, gets it done in 90 days or less.

I’m not a landlord but I’ve worked for them, and I’ve been a renter my entire adult life. A couple points:

If you allow pets make it mandatory that they get written into the lease - type and number. The tenant is responsible for paying for damages by said pet(s). Get it in writing, that protects both parties.

Background check your tenants. Likely, applicants won’t be perfect but it helps weed out the worst ones.

If someone doesn’t have great finances check with prior landlords - you want someone who will prioritize paying the rent over getting a new Xbox.

Come around the property at least once a month, even if you have a management company - preferably a couple times, and make it random if you can. You want to nip problems in the bud regardless of whether it’s tenants or a worker at the place.

Leave some means for tenants to deal with emergencies in off hours - either call you, call a management service, or something. A 2 am plumbing emergency that can be dealt with immediately is a lot cheaper than water damage caused by hours and hours of running water no one can/knows how to shut off. For a number of years my spouse and I were the on-site people who got the 2 am calls for this sort of thing - just knowing where the shut-off for the utilities is located and being able to get to them makes a difference.

22

Do not accept ANY reason for the tenant not paying the rent on time, and not paying at all. That just opens the floodgates for a different reason every month.

23

Some good advice here! To which I’ll add my own…

I’ve been a renter for 24 years. I’ve lived in apartments, townhouses, and single-family homes, in two different states. Using a property manager has pros and cons, but if you decide to use one I cannot recommend this forcefully enough: VET. THEM.

I’ve had way too many PMs who didn’t give a shit about the property, but said all of the right things to both the property owner and me as the prospective tenant (e.g., “we do quarterly inspections,” but I don’t see them again for 3 years). Now that I think of it I have no idea how a property owner would actually vet a PM, so maybe I’m just saying be careful.

(Don’t get me wrong: I’m an awesome tenant. My rent is never late, I take care of the property, I do basic maintenance and simple repairs myself, and I’ll even spend money on improvements if I’m planning to stay for a while. I hardly ever need to contact my PM. But when there is a problem, having one who actually cares makes a huge difference. It’s something I try to look for as a renter. Luckily, I’ve been in the same place now for just over 4 years and my PM is pretty good; I recently signed a third 2-year lease, and am not planning to leave any time soon [knocks on wood].)

24

Still reading. I appreciate the input so far.

Since it seems to matter, I live in the same neighborhood as the rental property–like maybe a quarter mile away. And it is a ca.1973 detached bilevel with a decent sized yard. The kids and pets were hard on some of the finishes so as we went along we sort of “neglect proofed” the place. The floor is cheap but indestructible laminate, lights are fixture LEDs (no bulbs), fence is 1-3 years old 6 foot cedar (boards in so the dogs can’t escape), and the back yard is big enough that two big pooches can play without turning it into a mudhole. The place really is set up to house a fair number of people & pets who have little time for maintenance. Which sounds to me like an ideal rental. In this area, the only way to really squeeze max sale value out of the property would be to gut the place and refinish it with above-average grade stuff. Perfect–I’ll do that in my retirement after the renters have used the place up. The bones are still good and I’m not afraid of taking on a deep rehab DIY–or making the boys do it, 'cause I’ll be old by then.

25

Would you like an easy solution to all the problems that can come up?

Sell it.

26

Related to that: Include a clause listing who all is expected to live there, and that long-term guests (different from subletters) are not permitted. For example if person A rents, solo, he can’t move in his girlfriend / parents / wife’s deadbeat nephew who just got out of jail.

Re being sued: look into additional insurance to cover you, in case the tenant does anything to create a nuisance, or the tenant has something happen and tries to sue you.

Spell out who maintains the lawn, shovels the sidewalk, clears the leaves etc. Make sure there’s something in the lease that lets you get in where needed (with appropriate notice) for maintenance purposes, even if they’re not home.

Pets: if you’re planning to gut the place anyway, you might not care as much about a little pee - but you want to limit the number, size and types of pets. You don’t (I presume) want someone moving in with 6 mastiffs and a handful of very loud birds.

If you get a good tenant, keep their rent as stable as you can - you want them to STAY :slight_smile:

27

I disagree as people with pets are often nicer, more considerate people. They also stay longer.

Screen your tenants carefully. Call their last landlord, not just email.

One bad tenant can be a disaster.

Read up on minor maintenance tricks, how to unplug a toilet, etc.

Get some of the enzyme drain cleaner and run it through before you rent and between each tenant.

28

We’ve rented for years so I have some advice:

  1. Property managers are good if you don’t want to deal with the hassle of collecting rents, fixing things, etc. but they’ll take about 6-8%.

  2. Do not include utilities the rent. Make the tenants arrange & pay for this themselves (we made the mistake of including water once & the tenants used more water than I thought possible).

  3. No pets-- they do a ton of damage (same for kids, but legally you can’t discriminate against them)

  4. Your biggest expense will be vacancies. Make sure to get a decent renter who will commit to a 1 year lease.

  5. Know the laws in your state about rentals (we had tenant die in our unit once & had a lot of trouble getting it rented because in our state, you have to disclose that)

  6. Keep a file with good records for tax purposes–all income & all expenses.

Good luck!

29

Can you give some background of your experience with home ownership and home repairs? Being a landlord will be more challenging the less experience you have with owning and maintaining your own home. Even if you hire out for the work, you run the risk of getting taken advantage of if you can’t intrinsically know if the price is good and the work is up to standards.

30

I have a dog and that *did make my last rental search a little challenging, but frankly if I were a property owner I wouldn’t allow pets. There is no way to know in advance who will be a responsible pet owner, unless the animal is older and the prospective tenant has good references from their previous abode. The problems animals can cause are…scary. It’s way easier to just say “no pets.”

*My current place was listed as “no pets.” When I was looking, if I saw a place I liked that didn’t allow pets I would always call and ask how firm that prohibition was. My current PM was on the fence about a dog, and what eventually won him over was a statement from my last PM that there were zero pet-related issues during my tenancy (and that was during my girl’s puppyhood!).

31

Heh.

I’d say if you have someone who has been reliable for years and years and they come to you and say “I have a death in the family” or something along those lines it might be OK (Yes, I have done that) but ask very specifically when the rent will be made up. (When I needed to do this I gave a specific date and held to it.) You don’t want to lose a good, stable tenant because they have a problem one month out of 5 or 10 years. On the flip side - this is only acceptable if the tenant comes to you, informs you, makes arrangements to pay, etc. A landlord should not have to chase a tenant to get the rent.

I agree, though, there is no good reason not to pay at all.

If they’re late two months in a row it’s time to talk about whether or not to renew a lease or if they’ll need to move simply because they are no longer able to pay rent. Of course, then you risk them skipping town, but frankly, there’s only so much you can do as a landlord. Or as a tenant. Once in a great while Stuff Happens, but late payment should NEVER be a pattern.

32

Yeah - people forget that leases are negotiable contracts, at least potentially.

I did on one occasion get the pet prohibition overturned by putting it in writing that I would pay for damages and putting down some additional security deposit. When the landlord walked by one day he noticed me putting up a new windowblind. He asked why I was doing that. I said one of my parrots had destroyed the old one, and I had promised to remedy any damaged caused, so… I had purchased a new blind and was putting it up. After that, renewing the lease with an added paragraph for my pets was not a problem.

Some people are responsible pet owners. Some are not. Rather like some people are responsible tenants and some are not.

Definitely, ask prior landlords/property managers about a person and their pets.

Or don’t allow pets.

Really, I’m the type of tenant landlords love - good credit rating, pays reliably (usually a day or two early - I hate leaving things to the last minute), no criminal problems, generally quiet, can cope with minor issues, patient about repairs (except for genuine emergencies), gentle with appliances/walls/floors/plumbing, tends to stay for many years at one location… about my only downside is that I do, indeed, have pets. And I’m even responsible about those.

Good tenants want other good tenants for neighbors. We do NOT want the nightmare tenants any more than the landlords do.

33

The very first month on this place I was a day late with the rent, because the *&~# bank didn’t actually set up the payment like they said they had, and I didn’t discover it until too late in the day for the payment to go through. It’s been autopay on time since and that’s the only time I’ve ever paid rent late anywhere.

Regarding pets, after watching a former housemate (who held the tenancy, I was subletting) collect untrained dogs and turn a nice house into a vile piss-drenched pit while the landlord was overseas, I’d be extremely wary about allowing pets without very strict restrictions. If you want to allow pets, put a max number on at the least and keep an eye on the situation.

Oh, and don’t write a contract like mine; instead of no pets, someone tried to be clever, it goes through the animal groups, like ‘no mammals, no birds, no reptiles, no amphibians, no fish, no insects…’ Unfortunately, they weren’t clever enough; according to the list I’m OK keeping as many scorpions and squid as I want :wink:

34

Electric from the panel inward, plumbing, drywall/paint/trim, windows, light framing, doors/doorways, laminate flooring, intermediate-complexity deck construction, moderate landscaping–totally comfortable with. I’d do roofing as well (did it as a kid) but it’s hard work and messy, and you end up using all the other skills when you get it wrong, so the checkbook comes out for the roof. And gas–I don’t mess with gas.

I rented houses for a 10 year stretch. Only called the landlord for help once when the furnace shit the bed in January. I was able to address anything else that came up.

35

Document EVERYTHING. Leave nothing to memory. Take move-in pictures with your own camera, print them out, and have the tenant sign the pictures of the condition. You’d be amazed at the number of folks who will decry to the heavens that the carpet had that 3-foot bloodstain when they moved in.

Document all the phone calls, all the conversations, everything.

Expect that every family gathering, from Easter to Christmas, will be disturbed because the tenant put artichoke leaves down the garbage disposal, and the whole kitchen is now flooding.

Don’t trust any tenant, ever. Three days late with the rent? Enforce the late penalty. No matter what sob story they give you. When you give them an inch, they take a mile. Three days turns into two weeks very easily.

Sometimes, despite being a hardass, bribing a tenant to leave will save you months of issues. Let them know that you understand their financial issues, and you’ll forgive last months’ rent and return their security deposit if they can be out by the first. That loss of one months’ rent can cost a lot less than riding out an eviction process.

No pets. They ruin everything. The urine can get into the floor underlayment, and can seep into the concrete, with a smell you’ll never get rid of, and it costs a fortune to fix properly.

Nobody will care as much for your property as you do. No matter what the tenant says, they’ll not take care of it as well as you would. Visit your investment.

36

Good idea with any business. And if you’re a landlord you have a business.

^ True.

Speaking as a renter myself: written documents keep honest people honest and you never have to forgo a late fee. Honest people will pay the damn fee because that’s what signing a legal document means.

Again, as a renter I have to say this is true - because as a renter I can bail much easier than you if something goes seriously wrong. As a renter I don’t have as much invested in the property as you do.

That said - there ARE good tenants out there who won’t wreck the property (they will impose some wear and tear on it, but so would you living there). If you get one try to keep them.

37

All of these things are reasons why I use a property manager. I expect them to check all of the references, pull the credit, and interview prospective tenants.

The condition of the property is thoroughly documented at move in. Everything I do before move in is also documented, which allows me to prove (if needed) that a maid service had been through, the carpets were cleaned, the windows were washed, and so on when the tenant(s) took possession. It all is deducted out of their deposit when they leave, unless they can document the same level of repairs/cleanliness.

The property manager handles all of the middle of the night/movie/kid’s play/life interruptions. They have a list of contractors that they know and trust. If there is another window replacement, or handyman that I prefer, I let him know and the property manager will work with my preferred vendor.

Regarding pets, I did have one other thought. I have had better luck when I collect an application for each pet. Their veterinary status is checked (do they have one, what is their status of the vaccinations, what does the vet office think of the animals and the owner from the perspective of responsible ownership). I also ask for references that can address the pet ownership; ideally, a previous landlord who can address how the owner takes care of the house.

Don’t trust any tenant, ever. Three days late with the rent? Enforce the late penalty. No matter what sob story they give you. When you give them an inch, they take a mile. Three days turns into two weeks very easily.

Sometimes, despite being a hardass, bribing a tenant to leave will save you months of issues. Let them know that you understand their financial issues, and you’ll forgive last months’ rent and return their security deposit if they can be out by the first. That loss of one months’ rent can cost a lot less than riding out an eviction process.

No pets. They ruin everything. The urine can get into the floor underlayment, and can seep into the concrete, with a smell you’ll never get rid of, and it costs a fortune to fix properly.

Nobody will care as much for your property as you do. No matter what the tenant says, they’ll not take care of it as well as you would. Visit your investment.
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38

One thing I heard is if you have a soft heart, dont go into this. Because sooner or later your renter will have some real issue like losing their job or something and you might be forced to kick them out. Your not doing this to make friends.

Also, find out when they are paid and be at their doorstep that day. That way you will be paid before they have a chance to spend it on something else.

Now, if you arent doing this to make money, maybe you are just doing it for “fun” or just to be charitable, then thats a different situation. Maybe you can provide a cheap place for those in need. I’ve known people who have done this and they were happy with what little rent they could get and found it just as rewarding.

I was listening to a radio program where a landlord was describing just such a situation and was broken about evicting a family. The advice was “sell it, you arent the type of person for this”.

39

Along with “No Pets” may I also suggest “No Smoking”. That smell is also hard to get rid of plus it stains walls and windows and is a fire hazard.

40

No smoking is a better one than No Pets. Having run a 12 apt building for 20 years, in general people with pets are nicer.