RPA Tenant Rights Blog » Landlord Tips

Renter

Tom — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 17:12:54 +0000

I am aware of the Philadelphia Lead Paint Regulation

[named Lead Disclosure and Certification act] states that a Landlord can NOT evict a tenant, if they are not in compliance with the regulation [IE Providing the Tenant with children 6 and under, with a "Lead Safe" or "Lead Free" certificate.

LANDLORD CAN NOT CHARGE RENT OR EVICT IF HE DID NOT FOLLOW THE LEAD PAINT REGULATION !!!

Fellow tenants, Wake Up. This is our chance at getting the safety rights for ourselves.

The cheap landlords who do follow and provide us with the official Lead Safe Certificate, certify the safety THEMSELVES !

How can we trust them to ensure Lead Paint Safety ?

can the Fox watch the henhouse ?

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overlaying old flooring on deck and in kitchen.

Eric Anderson — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 22:34:47 +0000

My wife, kid and I recently moved into our new appartment and first few days were perfect, but also very cool days. The heat and sun came out and started to warm the deck and bring up a very horrific smell of animal urine. The Smell would consume our apparment in the mornings and afternoons and die back down as the heat and direct sun exposure would go. on top the urine smell coming from the deck my wife also noticed there was a very faint smell of it coming from under our sink in the kitchen area.

We reported the smells as well as our microwave Humming very loudly then shutting off on us and our kitchen flooring just being laid over the old kitchen flooring. It took us almost a week to get a maintenience guy to come and "replace" the deck carpeting. I put replace in quotation for the reason of when I returned from work I could still smell the urine faintly. I saw the new carpet on the deck and figured maybe the urine had leaked under the storage door. I opened the door and smelled the carpet and it had been that heavy contaminated. Looking closer at the new carpet I noticed staples in the carpet poorly put through and peeking from under the new carpet on the deck is the old carpet. The guy who came and "Replaced the carpet" had just overlayed the old contaminated carpet.

The microwave we were told was brand new and still under warrenty he said would get GE to send someone out to "repair it" we have already been almost a week with out our microwave. Things under warrenty I have never heared of a compant sending someone in to repair the appliance. the other complaints we were told they would come and take care of the next day over and we are still pending and waiting on these repairs.

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Qualities of a good tenant?

J_Dumas — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:25:21 +0000

1st time landlord here. what are the qualities i should be looking for? please share! gracias!

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Can I ligally live in the basement?

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:20:06 +0000

Hi:

I am single and currently live in a 2 bedroom apt on 1st floor which has 2 large bedrooms, a large kitchen, a large dining room, a large living room, and decent office space, in addition to a large basement. Two seperate entances lead to the basement which is partially done and which can easilly converted into a comfortable 1 or 2 bredrooms with living room, small kitchen, bathroom, and my existing private laundry area. My first step would consist of boxing the boilers and water heaters (which are now in the open) with revolving or sliding doors. I have also absestos removed from the basement in June.

Questions:

[1] Moving to the basement would help be save about (1200.00) for my mortgage and other bills from renting the first floor appartment I am currently using. Financially, it would be a big relief. Can I legally live in the basement. My 2 kids, respectively 24 and 14 rarely come over.

[2] The electical and gaz bills to the basement run from the same meters as those for the 1st floor. Is it realistic to request a landlord meter from both the electric and the gaz companies.

Please advise.

Thanks:

Ken

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Loud construction noise

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 10:53:51 +0000

Brittany:
I have been living in the same apartment for 1 and a half years. The building across from me burnt down and there was very loud construction for about 3 months. It was so loud that I couldn’t do my homework or study I had to leave and do it somewhere else; i would get woke up early every single morning. Basically it was a huge inconveinience but i let it slide. Now eight months later there has been another fire only this time inside of my building; the noise is outrageous. It sounds like they are actually in my apartment banging on walls and today they moved my balcony furniture and threw shingles, a tarp, nails etc all over it; i cannot go out. I work midnights it is effecting my sleep I asked to be moved to another unit and my landlord wont move me I said at the least can my rent be lowered and that was refused also. This does not seem fair.. Do I have a valid complaint?

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options when tenant causes signficant damage to property (over and above amount of security(

KevinS — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 17:06:01 +0000

I’ve recently had a troublesome tenant give verbal notice of intent to vacate the property, but has not completed the formal written notice. They are on a well detailed contract through Feb12, obligating them without option of negation through vacating.

They recently (since such exchange) have caused tens of thousands of dollars of water damage to the property, and have stated they have no intention of claiming responsibility. This will be well in excess of any security deposity rendered.

Property is in San Diego County, California. The property is being run through a contracted property management agency, who is not offering much help or advice in the way of options.
What sort of options – civil, criminal, or both – do I have?

I’m new to running tenant properties, and appreciate any help.

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Tips on Screening Tenants!

admin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:43:05 +0000

I thought I would post some tips on how to screen tenants. Over the years I have found many landlords that skip some very important steps when screening tenants, so I’m posting some tips that have helped me.

TIP ONE:
Without fail it seems that every-time I have a vacancy I will always find someone that offers me up front cash and is anxious to rent the unit quickly. Yes, I’ve fallen for this trick a couple of times… You know how it is, sometimes when it’s slow you just want to fill the vacancy quickly so you take the bait.

Speaking from experience, never ever place yourself in this type of a situation. Ask yourself the following questions:
          1. Why is the tenant so anxious to move?
               Most likely this is a sign of a tenant that is being evicted or forced to move.
               You will have to be careful with judgement on this, even if the tenant gives you
                a valid reason for need to move in so quickly it may be a trick to play on your
                emotions. Can you verify their story?
          2. Did the tenant have any questions about the unit or features?
               Everyone should have some questions about the rental before renting. If the
               seems like they are completely happy with the rental, especially without a good
               walk-through; it probably means that they don’t plan on staying for very long.
               Are they planning on getting evicted within a couple of months?
          3. Does it sound too good to be true?
               Most people don’t rush into renting a place unless their is a hidden reason such as
               eviction history, drug problems, etc. Is the renter acting way off character, do
               their actions match up with the obligations required?

TIP TWO
Gut feelings and first impressions are usually the worst form of screening. Some of my most costly mistakes have been based off of renting to someone that I “felt” good about. I know the importance of saving money, and because of that I have found myself skipping over the background check in order to save a little money. I learned the hard way that this is one of the poorest decisions to be made as a landlord. Now I ask myself the following before renting to someone:
         1. How much will it cost me to replace flooring, fixtures, appliances?
              Bad tenants can cause costly repairs. Once after remodelling a unit I renting to
              someone based on a gut feeling… 3 months later the unit was completely trashed
              costing more than $5,000 in repairs. Although the renter seemed like the
              perfect renter, they actually had a history of drug problems. Had I spent the $20
              on a background check I would’ve found their history and would’ve never rented
              to them.
         2. How much will it cost me if I have to evict the tenant?
              If I have to evict the tenant, how much money will I lose in the court process and
              with lost rent?
         3. How long will it take me to fill the vacancy again?
              This question is two-fold, how long will it take to get the rental ready to rent, and
              how long will it take me to find a renter? The quickest I’ve ever seen a rental
              turn from vacancy to rented was one week, and that’s very rare.  Even if you can
              rent out your unit in one week you will still be losing 7 days of rent, which could
              be several hundred dollars.
          4. How much time and headache can this cause me?
              I already have enough stress in my life, so I don’t need to cause any more
              headaches. And I’m sure all of us can use all the time we have on other things.
In short, you should never ever consider not screening a tenant before renting to them. Their is way too much to risk. By far the smartest decision you can make as a landlord is to spend money on the screening process. The old saying of stepping over a dollar to pick up a nickle holds so true to the screening process. Don’t risk saving a few dollars when you have thousands at risk.

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Create your own post…

admin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:40:31 +0000

It’s easy to create your own post. Simply click on the “Create New Post” button and write. Select any categories you feel your post fits in.

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