I’m going to be a landlord for the first time very soon. I finally got the landlord license from the city on Wednesday, I put up an ad on craigslist Thursday night, and had my first showing on Friday afternoon. I have more scheduled Friday evening and Sunday morning. Right now rental vacancy rates in the local market are less than 3%, so as a landlord I can be picky.
I’m going to do credit checks and eviction checks on prospective tenants. At least for this first round I’ll pay the $20 for it. I’m only going to do this on people who want to rent it, and who I’d like to have as tenants, so hopefully I won’t have to check more than one person.
Does anybody have advice on things I should either do or not do?
I’m not really looking for legal advice, more practical advice from those who’ve been on either side of the renter/landlord relationship. I haven’t rented in 13 years, and only ever for 2 years from a private individual. The rest of the time it was large organizations who had staff and 24/7 on call emergency stuff, etc.
I wouldn’t pay for the credit check. Tell them you’ll take the cost of the $20 credit check from their first month’s rent IF they get approved.
Do yearly inspections of the property. Set the rent higher and offer a discount to pay early.
For instance, the rent is $525.00 a month and it’s DUE the 1st of every month. If you pay the rent BEFORE the 1st, it’s discounted by $25 to $500.
Someone did this to me and I paid before every single time.
Credit checks are OK but not the end all. I have had bad credit in the past, and probably will have in the future, but in my 30 years of renting, I’ve never been late or missed a rent payment. I know paying the rent is first priority. On the flip side, someone who pays his credit card and car note on time, may be constantly late with his/her rent check.
So only use it as a tool
Check your insurance VERY, VERY carefully to make sure you have enough. I can’t emphasize this enough.
As a longtime tenant – same apartment, three different landlords – I’d say the most important thing is to talk to your tenant about problems on either side. Give the tenant an appropriate number to call for issues, and respond if he or she calls. If you have an issue, talk to the tenant before sending a nasty letter. Many problems (noise, garbage, repair work, etc.) can be resolved through a discussion, and the sooner they’re resolved the better. Letting things fester will only make the problem grow. Also, if the tenant is afraid to contact you, or doesn’t think you’ll respond, he or she will be reluctant to tell you about problems that do exist until they get too big to handle.
Yeah, I probably should have made the applicants pay. It’s been so long since I actually applied to rent a place (I think 1993) that I didn’t realize it was pretty standard now. I like the idea of knocking it off the rent, too. If somebody knows they’re in good shape it won’t cost them anything, if they’re trying to hide something, then too bad.
That’s an interesting idea, too. I wrote in a $5/day late fee, because the city says that more than 5-10% penalty for being late is unlikely to be held up in court. If they’re broke, I won’t get the rent money early or late, but your suggestion sounds better for encouraging the lazy to stay on top of things.
The credit check also includes a check for previous evictions and late rent payments. Those reports are only as good as the landlords reporting to them, so I’m not sure if they’re going to tell me if somebody is good, but they’ll tell me if somebody is bad. As for credit, these are hard times for some people, and I’ll be pretty forgiving of somebody with a foreclosure or even bankruptcy if they’re doing well know. A foreclosure could just have been a way to get out of a $2500 mortgage, but rent less than half that may not be a problem.
I actually talked about that with one of the people viewing today. I said I’d like an easy going and responsible tenant, meaning her who can’t move in until July 1, than a troublesome tenant moving in two weeks earlier (for the purpose of selling, I’m flattering her that she’s the responsible type, I don’t know if it’s true, but I don’t want to reject her out of hand just because of the July 1 move in). Somebody who will contact me immediately for real problems, like leaking pipes, but not bug me about every little annoyance that is beyond my control, like early morning trash trucks.
I’d like to have a professional relationship with whoever I end up renting to. I don’t want them to by shy about contacting me. I have to balance that though with the fact that I don’t have any intention of going above and beyond. I’ll do what’s required of me to provide a habitable home for somebody, but this is a condo in the cheapest development in the city. They’re poorly made, with thin walls, and lots of real oddities. I know, I lived there for 12 years. In this case people are getting what they pay for. Lots of nicer places are available, they’re also much more expensive.
Once you have tenants in there, be respectful of them. It might be your property, but it’s their home. Give proper notice when you want to visit-- don’t just stop by. It’s rude for anyone just to ring the doorbell and expect to be let in. It may make your tenant uncomfortable and your relationship adversarial. Not because they have something shady to hide from you, but on any given day they may be sick or having a fight with their SO and are just not up for guests-- particularly guests with a professional relationship.
Monthly inspections sound over the top, although as a renter, I wouldn’t object to a single inspection one month after I moved in. But I’ve never had more frequent than quarterly inspections.
My advice, assume nothing. Put everything in writing, then you’ve got your arse covered.
over the top and probably illegal depending on state laws. When you accept the rental agreement as the landlord you are granting the tenant certain rights of domicile. It remains your property but becomes their ‘home’ and they have certain rights including adequate notice of inside access by the owner.
How common is this? I might become a landlord soon myself, but this is the first I’ve heard of an actual license to rent out. Regulations, yes, but licenses
As always, check your local laws and regulations. Where I am the city requires a license. To get a license the premises must pass an inspection by a certified inspector ($100) and then submit the inspection report to get the license ($70). The inspection itself is not a big deal, and took about 15 minutes. They’re looking for basic things like does the unit have a working bathroom, is there heat, are there smoke detectors. It requires renewal every 3 years or so, which is cheaper than the initial license.
I mostly don’t mind, as the inspection requirements are really about minimal for a safe and habitable apartment/house. I’d comply with the requirements anyway, but it keeps me from having to compete unfairly with the landlords who save $4/year by not replacing the batteries in the smoke detectors. My biggest annoyance was that at the $35/day it costs me to have the place sit empty for the three weeks while the license was processed, it cost me much more than $170.
I had a landlord who set up a wonderful rent-check drop box on the property-- it made it super easy for us to pay our rent (five college kids writing five checks for different amounts makes it a little complex). That way he could get our rent without bothering us, and it took us less than a minute to deliver our rent checks. It was a great system.
The point of what I was trying to say, was that picking up the check inside the apartment gives the landlord an excuse to see the inside of the apartment.:dubious:
(As part of the family business of having tenants) Put it in your leases that they must have renter’s insurance so they don’t come after you for damages.
-No pets, non smoking, no overnight guests more than 2 nights a week or 8 consecutive nights/month, $500 violation for any of them.
-Only accept a money order or cashier’s check for the deposit.
(As being a tenant) Do NOT, unless in a real emergency situation, enter the premises without reasonable notice (reasonable being "you asked me to fix this, can I come over in 3 hours) or (I need to show your place, can I do it in 24 hours).
-Never underestimate a smart tenant. I’m a smart tenant - I’ll tell you about any genuine problem immediately and even tattle on other residents without a moment’s hesitate (so and so in #12 is smoking, #14’s had his girlfriend there for 3 weeks). But the flip side of a smart tenant is that they’ll know the laws just as well or better than you. So when you try and go below the minimum or fail to act in good faith or do a shit job repairing something or ignore mold in the common areas…you will get burned.
I’m going to burn my landlord at the end of my lease. Pittsburgh tenant law stipulates that if your landlord doesn’t return your full deposit within 30 days (or doesn’t provide written evidence of why he’s witholding an amount) you’re entitled to double your deposit with a simple filing at small claim’s court. I know he’s slow about it so I can’t wait to make bank in repayment for all the times he’s been slow about repairs and mold.
As mentioned, anything you want to have rights to, put in writing. Even it it gets challenged later in court, you at least have the option of exercising your landlord rights under the contract. Inspections are important. If you want to do quarterly, put that in the contract, but insert language that says the property is subject to entry by you at any time, with minimal notice; locks may not be changed without you being notified and given a key. Also, make sure your right to terminate the lease for non-payment is very clear, with associated time frames, i.e., non payment by xxxdate means you’re out within two weeks.
I would think this suggestion over before deciding to institute it.
As a current renter who has worked nights or out of town for long periods in the past, I would refuse to even consider renting an apartment with this rule. For a night shifter, waking them up for what amounts to an inspection (and would be considered as much in some jurisdictions) once a month would be in imposition. For someone working out of town for long periods, it amounts to a near impossibility.
I’ve been on the other side of the equation (managing rentals) and basically didn’t rent to anyone that I didn’t feel that a semi-annual inspection (where I’m at now, it’s termed as a smoke detector check) wouldn’t suffice.
A suggestion with an eye toward keeping good tennants is to put in the lease a timetable for replacing/cleaning carpets, painting, etc by you and, for very long term tennants, giving them some choice in both (limit it to colors that aren’t garish or too weird).
That is actually part of the HOA rules. The HOA rules stipulate that they must be included in any lease.
The entire complex is no dogs. Cats are allowed, and for now I’m allowing them. When I lived there I had an old cat who left messes all over. It cleaned off the laminate floor easily, and I steam cleaned the carpet myself and that took care of it. Of course, if a tenant did that, any cleanup would be at their expense. As it is, even if I have to completely replace the carpet, that’s still less than the security deposit, because it’s only in the bedrooms. I would be more comfortable disallowing pets completely, but a pre-cut cat hole to put the liter box in a closet is one of the selling points.
I’m not sure about this one. If the check does bounce, I’m out the $25 fee from the bank, but these days it takes less than 24 hours for a personal check to clear. The bank might still put a hold on it for longer, but this isn’t the days of only being able to bank at your own branch, and batches of checks being shipped all over.
I’m agreeing with you. I just don’t really understand this. I have a hard time thinking of non-creepy reasons to be going into the place somebody else lives without notice at random times. I’ve certainly read about landlords doing this, but is it something some of them actually think is acceptable?
I also don’t quite get this, from the landlords side. At least where I am, and it seems where you are, too, the laws are very straightforward. And fair, in the sense that there are protections for both the tenants and landlords. Here I have 30 days to return the deposit, with an itemized list and receipts for any with holdings. Basically the deposit is a deposit against damage, not a profit center for the landlord. If I can’t inspect, clean, and repair a place in 30 days, I’m probably not serious about renting it. The flip side being that eviction might be a pain, but is also straightforward. Go to the judge, say here’s the lease, here’s how it’s been violated, here’s where I notified the tenant, and it’s been 30 days (or whatever), give me an order to evict.
Obviously this varies by where you are, but in a lot of places the process to evict is not instantaneous and you could be out a month or two’s rent just to get them out. I learned this in LA, where landlords did it as an extra safeguard: a money order or cashier’s check is “real” cash, whereas a check is a promise.
You sound quite reasonable and rational. But yes, there are scumbags out there. I’ve had…6 landlords now (some of them were super short term) in the 7 years since I’ve graduated from high school. Most of them were very nice people. Some of them - like my current one - is a dumbass.
I would highly suggest that once you get comfortable with tenants that you ask them to review you on Yelp or on Google. This can only stand to benefit you; future tenants will google you and see reviews.
Basically he hasn’t fixed mold problems (or it took him months and months), the washer takes 20 minutes to fill with water, the dryer simply doesn’t dry (needs a new heating element), the front door has issues, he refuses to reprimand or talk to the smoker (in a nonsmoking building) and he openly tries to enter the apt without notice. For all those reasons I’m going to go after him because I know he’s not returned the deposit within 30 days and if he does (with former tenants), it hasn’t been itemized. I’m going to do an inspection with him once we leave; I also sent him when the lease started a detailed list (notarized and signature on arrival) of any little issues (small amount of bleach on carpet, stains on walls, things like that). So I have good ground to stand on; lots of paper trail evidence.
He also loved showing my unit in particular for the whole building because it’s extremely neat and clean. He even said as much :smack:.
He’s in stark contrast to my last building management, who was so wonderful and I recommended them so much that they began a wait list just because of my recommendations of quality tenants.
ETA: You said “from the landlord’s side”: he’s already rented it for the day after my move-out date. Cleaning the carpets is my responsibility, so he’s not touching up any paint or anything.
My usual advice is to add enough to the rent and then include bi-weekly maid service. It makes an incredible difference in the upkeep, and the cleaners can let you know if anything is broken. But in your case it sounds like “cheap” is a primary selling point. Just be sure to make a quarterly phone call to ask your tenant whether any little thing needs attention.
Get yourself a good steam cleaner and a shop vac. Make sure your tenants know that you have them available for use any time, and will gladly bring them by. Be clear that you’d much rather come in the middle of the night with the shopvac than have a spill sit on your floor.
Be very responsive when they call with a problem. Let them know what arrangements you’ve made, and never leave a repairman alone in the space unless the tenant is there to supervise. If the tenant gets the impression that you don’t care about upkeep, they’ll stop caring too. Likewise, if you show respect for their belongings they are more likely to respect yours.
Be aware of the rules around itnerest to be paid on their deposit. In my area it’s 5.5% per year, regardless of what the market may be doing.
Liek any business, you’ll get out what you put into it. It sounds like you don’t have a “free money” attitude toward renting the property, so you’ll probably be fine.
Actually, these are the kinds of things I worry about the most. Some of it is pretty obvious, I mean, if the fridge dies, I’ll fix it or replace it as soon as possible. Others, particularly the dryer, might be sore points, depending on what the tenants expect. It’s a 120volt dryer; it takes two hours to dry a load of clothes; the auto dryness sensor turns it off after 45 minutes; it has an automatic cool down, so there’s no heat for the last 10 minutes, so it seems to not heat up, though it’s hot if you open the door in the middle of a cycle. Anyway, I lived with it for 12 years, I’m not replacing it (unless it truly dies), as it works “as intended” which is poorly.
I’m not ranting against you, it’s that I just got a brand new washer dryer, and damn those are better than the old mini-stacked unit I used for so long.
Other things that you mention also could be problems. It’s a no smoking building, but I can’t do much about tenants in a different unit smoking. I can report them to the HOA, who can contact the owners of that unit, but they might not want to do much. Also, it’s an apartment, sometimes the neighbors are rude and make inappropriate levels of noise, but other than tell the HOA or call the police, I can’t do anything about it. Those are all reasons (among others) that the wife and I bought a house.
That leaves me in the position of possibly being blamed for a situation I can’t control. Hopefully the tenants will understand I have no more power than they do over their neighbors, which might be an adjustment from places where one person (or company) owns the entire building.
Finally, this is one of the cheapest complexes to rent or buy into in this otherwise pricey town. Tenants need to know that a good portion of what they’re paying for is location. The same money will get them a nicer place in a suburb, and more money will get them a nicer place locally. If they’re coming in with expectation that my place is equivalent to something of similar size, only 5 years old, and costs twice as much, they’ll be very disappointed, and that will create lots of friction.
BTW, stick it to your landlord if he can’t even bother to follow the basic regulations. I always dreamed of the triple and double damages payday, but (un)fortunately my landlords were always responsible.
