landlord seeking help

[Senator]

I suppose because of the long-term training you've given these people, it would be fair to them to make it clear that your policy is changing.

Legally, this is exactly what you have to do if you have accepted late rent payments in the past without a penalty - assuming a late payment penalty clause is in your lease.

Evicting a tenant over a late payment, after you have accepted several in the past without penalty, would get thrown out of court.

 

[pb4uski]

Legally, this is exactly what you have to do if you have accepted late rent payments in the past without a penalty - assuming a late payment penalty clause is in your lease.

Evicting a tenant over a late payment, after you have accepted several in the past without penalty, would get thrown out of court.

If the tenant doesn't have enough money to pay the rent, how do they have the money to go to court?

 

[Paulz]

This is why I'd recommend that if you decide to keep these tenants, you should engage a property management firm to manage the property. Yes, it will cut into your profits,

In this case I would argue that is not true. Charge them the fair price (ie $300 more) which offsets the management company. They are now paying for the management oversight that they require.

 

[hotwired]

I cannot imagine that in an eviction case, past behavior would factor in at all, at least not in Maine. (i.e. Don't quote me, but I've got 11 years and more than 25 evictions successfully executed, most from the first 3 of 11 years, when I was really ... well .. not too bright!).

 

[hotwired]

I have given serious thought to a mgmt. company myself. We've got good systems and I manage 30 units in less than 5 hours per week and they give us a 6 figure income. That being said, I often wonder if a manager could manage BETTER than me, especially in terms of keeping maintenance under control. But for you, OP, it would certainly take you soft heart out of the equation. That may be good or bad. You might be a GREAT landlord who just needs to revise a policy or two. Only you know that for sure.

 

[Senator]

If the tenant doesn't have enough money to pay the rent, how do they have the money to go to court?

It depends on why they are paying late. I have evicted a tenant, went to Court and received a judgment, then received a garnishment against them. I was able to get 25% of their net pay sent to me, over the course of about three months. ~$1400 worth.

They were subsequently evicted from the apartment they were in. Most families cannot give up 25% of their net pay. I got paid, that is what matters.

An Eviction is different than a court judgment. An eviction to to get possession of the property. A Court judgment is to get your money.

When you know how to be a successful landlord, it's easy.

 

[meleana]

I hated being a landlord. Constant problems with collecting rent, evictions, etc. I sold our condo rental for half of what we paid for it and never looked back. To me, it was a nightmare and a losing proposition.

 

[BeachOrCity]

One of the reasons I am mostly out of landlording after 20 years doing it is the steady progression of various tenant rights laws.

It varies by jurisdiction but the fact is one needs to have a lot of legal and protection resources available to them to avoid huge problems.

Cleaver tenants can occupy your property rent free for 6 months or a year in many cases.

They can also claim mold get a semi bogus study of said mold and threaten legal action that no insurance company will cover.

They can force pets on you by claiming emotional support animal.

They can wreck your place while in it.

...and then when you are finally getting them out you will need to sign an agreement stating you drop all claims and won’t report or will change credit report on them being delinquent in the first place.

Then they move on to the next landlord victim. With their credit intact.

It doesn’t matter if you provide a decent place at a fair price. There are tenants out there who move from place to place and game the system in tenant friendly locales.

This scenario isn’t everywhere yet but it is spreading. It’s a real risk and the only people with the means to fight it are large corporate landlords or Reits.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I have been a landlord and in a few of the circumstances you mentioned we ate the loss despite not being rich. I have a conscience.

 

[Senator]

I have been a landlord and in a few of the circumstances you mentioned we ate the loss despite not being rich. I have a conscience.

That is good you are able to donate housing to others and still stay solvent. Many landlords do this inadvertently and suffer losses so great that they go out of business. I am sure that as a teacher, you have voted to increase your wages at the expense of those who cannot afford it, and do not even have kids, such as myself. You were insulated from the actual effect by the Government. As a Landlord, you are directly impacted by your decisions, positive and negative.

I purchased my rentals for one reason, to make money. I upgraded my tenants base and upgraded the rentals, and have been able to increase rents about 180 a month per 4-plex. And double my property values.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

 

[MarieIG]

If the tenant doesn't have enough money to pay the rent, how do they have the money to go to court?

It doesn't necessarily cost the tenant to go to court. They can go without a lawyer, and in my neck of the woods, free (pro bono) representation is available in landlord/tenant court for those who can't afford their own attorneys.

It doesn't mean you can stay in there forever without paying rent, but it certainly slows the eviction process.

 

[nancyfrank232]

I’m aligned with @Senator

However having said that, if a landlord wants to run a profitless payday loan business with their properties it’s their money, their choice

Personally I’ve never had an issue removing a tenant and my rents are always marked to market at the end of the lease, but I also invest in jurisdictions that favor landlords over tenants

 

[Senator]

I’m aligned with @Senator

However having said that, if a landlord wants to run a profitless payday loan business with their properties it’s their money, their choice

Personally I’ve never had an issue removing a tenant and my rents are always marked to market at the end of the lease, but I also invest in jurisdictions that favor landlords over tenants

I think when a LL falls for the sob stories, it is because they are a rookie and have not been burned hard enough. I used to fall for that myself a while ago, when I rented to low quality tenants. I was a Section 8 LL. Even with rent nearly 100% guaranteed, it was not worth the drama of a low-quality tenant.

There are reasons why tenants are low-quality, and it is their personal makeup, and their upbringing that is the cause. It is near impossible to change the attitudes.

I did sell (via a 1031 exchange) a rental I had in St Paul due to the political environment. Far too any politicians want to take away the profitability of landlording. They run a city into the ground, prohibit legitimate screening criteria, and then they blame the LL for bringing in crime. When the profit is gone, they blame the LL for not keeping up the property.

I am probably one of the the most profitable LLs around, for what I have invested. Increasing tenant quality is a game changer. With 24 tenants, I have not missed a rent payment since 2012, which is also my last eviction. I have had a very limited vacancy expense, last year I was vacant for two weeks.

 

[Another Reader]

I think when a LL falls for the sob stories, it is because they are a rookie and have not been burned hard enough. I used to fall for that myself a while ago, when I rented to low quality tenants. I was a Section 8 LL. Even with rent nearly 100% guaranteed, it was not worth the drama of a low-quality tenant.

There are reasons why tenants are low-quality, and it is their personal makeup, and their upbringing that is the cause. It is near impossible to change the attitudes.

I did sell (via a 1031 exchange) a rental I had in St Paul due to the political environment. Far too any politicians want to take away the profitability of landlording. They run a city into the ground, prohibit legitimate screening criteria, and then they blame the LL for bringing in crime. When the profit is gone, they blame the LL for not keeping up the property.

I am probably one of the the most profitable LLs around, for what I have invested. Increasing tenant quality is a game changer. With 24 tenants, I have not missed a rent payment since 2012, which is also my last eviction. I have had a very limited vacancy expense, last year I was vacant for two weeks.

People forget that a lot of low income people are decent people that appreciate a decent place to live, away from people that cause problems. You and I have choices about where to live because we have money. My guess is that Senator's tenants are grateful to live in a property that is well maintained and is free of criminals and deadbeats.

 

[bmcgonig]

It is what the law requires. Please look up Fair Housing Laws that have been in place since 1968.

Probably you may advocate treating different classes of people different, I have to obey the law.

It's not that. It's the pride you seem to take in evicting some people .

"I'm such a tough guy that I enjoy evicting someone with stage 4 cancer".

 

[Amethyst]

Bear in mind that landlords who go out of business, reduce the availability of rental stock. That hurts people who can't afford houses. For the business to survive, everyone on both sides needs to follow all the rules.

 

[workmyfingerstothebone]

Yes, I have set a precedence on accepting late payments.

After some legal discussion, the path forward will be to give the tenants proper notice that this is no longer acceptable.

Met with the tenants and produced an addendum to the original rental agreement.
The addendum clearly specifies the penalty, going forward, for not paying rent on time.
As well, a rent increase to bring the rent more inline with the market will be implemented.

To be honest, kicking tenants out during the holidays did not sit well with me.

Now the tenants have been notified.

The ball is now in their court ( pun intended).



Though, like the Grinch who Stole Christmas, my heart is getting smaller.
Thanks for everyone's advice and suggestions.

 

[workmyfingerstothebone]

Within a couple months of our purchase, their first issue came up with why they would be late. And since then, they are late about 40% - 50% of the time. .

40% to 50% of the time would have been fine with us.

 

[MarieIG]

Evicting someone and enjoying it are not the same. There are parts of my job that I do not enjoy.

At my last job; we lost several co-workers from cancer. When they could no longer work, the employer stopped paying them. It was sad, but when the business became less successful, they no longer paid salaries for (long-term) ill employees. We took up collections, but the collections did not replace the salaries. Assuming the rent was $1,200 a month; how many people would give a non-relative $1,200 a month? I am relatively soft-hearted, but I would only (deliberately) pay rent/housing costs for an ill close relative, i.e. parent, spouse, child.

And, being soft-hearted would probably impede my ability to be a successful landlord - unless all ran smoothly. I would probably let the person get behind on the rent, and then get totally stressed out when I was scraping around for money to pay the taxes/overhead. Not the optimal business situation. (In business, you do tend to get more hard-hearted after being burned a few times.)

 

[Teacher Terry]

Senator, I was not a teacher. I teach a online college class since retiring. We got out of the landlord business after 13 years. We only had 2 rentals and didn’t often get put into a situation where we needed to do what was morally right but at times lost money. We had someone do much damage that their security didn’t totally cover. We spent every spare minute fixing it and then sold it. I wouldn’t sue someone and cause them to lose their current home. I was a social worker so I certainly couldn’t find joy in evictions. Even my much tougher husband felt the same when people hit hard times.

 

[Amethyst]

I don't see how anyone can "enjoy" an eviction - a tedious process that costs the landlord time and money, and typically makes all the neighbors hate the mean landlord (in neighbors' eyes, either you let your tenants get away with murder, or you are mean to them).

In 28 years of landlording, we only approached eviction once; fortunately the tenants moved out before we had to go through with it. During their tenancy, we had been in the unit numerous times, and knew what we were in for. Just the thought of moving that particular family's hoard of belongings onto the curb, let alone watching over it, as required by law - was intimidating. The pile would have covered several more curbs than were available. And the neighbors and the HOA would have been having kittens and cows right and left.

 

[RobbieB]

I'mma stick with stocks and bonds, just not ruthless enough to be a successful landlord.

 

[Amethyst]

Truth to tell, we never felt any need to be ruthless, except perhaps during tenant selection. In that sense, it was less "ruthless" than "frankly, their B.S. insults our intelligence."

I'mma stick with stocks and bonds, just not ruthless enough to be a successful landlord.

 

[nancyfrank232]

I'mma stick with stocks and bonds, just not ruthless enough to be a successful landlord.

I’m not good at being ruthless either

That’s why I don’t manage my own properties

I don’t even know who my tenants are

 

[ncbill]

Currently I know one landlord whose tenant is living there free.

She was a long-term employee of his before he sold his business, but doesn't have the heart to evict her now that the relatives who lived with the tenant have died (tenant lost their SS checks)

I arrange for maintenance & repairs for the property...it's needed thousands of bucks worth of work (e.g. new HVAC system) just in the last year.