I feel like when narrowing down to specific neighborhoods after you choose a city/town some of the metrics stop meaning anything. (Example: a downtown is often most desirable and also has highest crime rate).

How do you scope out areas?

It’s so different! I was last a renter in 2015, it was LIHTC, then I lived in a home I owned until 2024.

I went to this property bc I’d lived there a really long time ago, maybe 2007 and it was a fair experience. Ownership has changed since.

After application, They surprise you with substantial “risk mitigation fee” and they won’t tell you why or start the lease paperwork until you bring a money order. In this case it was 650$ “it’s not our policy to tell you why”. I asked for copy of my application results “we don’t give those out”. When I handed the money order to her, first thing she did was write “none refundable” on it (yes she misspelled non).

There was no security deposit.

The listings are not what it actually costs. There’s required ongoing monthly fees that you don’t find out about until they prepare the lease document. In this case the fees was almost 150$.

Is this the new norm? I don’t remember it being like this. For one, The price on the ad was the price and deposits and fees was on the ad. No surprises.

Also, what is a risk mitigation fee and what do they do with it?

Then, my garbage disposal had stared leaking bc ut rusted out the bottom, “maintenance fee” and “repair fee”. They charged me for it. They charged for HVAC air filters, 5$ each. My unit had 2. I just bought them myself in bulk.

I signed with them, stayed 2 years and the move out process 2mos ago was awful. They clearly very upset I was not renewing. Numerous issues just to rip me off. They finally hit me with 5 grand in repairs for existing damage, like the subfloor from upstairs tub leaking into the downstairs kitchen during the prior renters tennancy. that obvious water damage that was just painted over was all documented on my move-in inventory. Leaving me in position to have to fight with them about it so it doesn’t hit my credit. I will prevail, just why be like that? It’s so bad I’m not mentally ready yet to apply to a new apt. Are they all like this?

I had a tenant evicted and the Sheriff locked out the tenant on June 29. I stored the tenant's property on the premises. Tenant is now insisting I still have responsibility to return the property. My reading of MN law is that the property is considered abandoned (under statute 504b.271) after 28 days. I see there is a responsibility of notifying the tenant of any sale of property. But I plan no sale, I'll either donate or trash everything. So, is the former tenant's property considered mine now? Or do I still have some responsibility to allow them to access to it even though its been well over two months since the lockout? Thanks.

I have a young, first office job type tenant in a multi unit urban condo.
A week or two ago there was evidence of a mouse so I sent Orkin in to do a treatment and patch job in the kitchen with the usual steel wool. My tenant has now gotten it into his head that this is a wholly temporary fix when I’ve read it’s usually fairly durable over a few months.
He’s now following up asking for further work to, though it doesn’t seem that there are actually any new pests because he’s “worried another mouse/rat will come though”. WWYD? Bite the bullet and order some sort of further action (dk what is actually possible here) as a goodwill gesture or hold firm and say that I won’t unless there’s evidence the initial treatment wasn’t working? TIA

On Friday I was approved at an apartment complex managed by a large property management company and was told I would recieve a lease agreement. On that day, upon checking my rentcafe portal I noticed the lease summary button/section became available as well as my move in date, but the “lease creation” section where I assume you actually sign and pay just loads a blank page, even on multiple devices. This is still the case as of today.I have not received one in my email inbox either. I am supposed to move in tomorrow , and I believe they are closed today for the holiday. I cannot afford this to cause a delay as I have a very urgent job offer. What would happen if I show up tomorrow without having signed the agreement? Have they not sent the agreement? Is there a technical rentcafe glitch? My calls and emails and attempt to contact for the past two days have been unsuccessful. I unfortunately can’t visit in person today as I am over 3 hours away, and they probably aren’t even open. What am I supposed to do?

This is regarding when people only hit the button “request a tour” on Zillow but don’t actually send a message nor respond back when I reply to them. If their phone number or email is listed on their “profile” or if they at least sent the “about me” in the thread, is it inappropriate for me to respond via their phone number instead of on the app? I’m sure they’re just clicking “request a tour” on many rentals but I’m thinking my response is getting lost in the many queries they’ve sent and wondering if I’d have a better response if I messaged them directly.

My husband and I are brand-new landlords. We used property management company at first but my husband fired them after we found out each month the payment would not arrive at our bank account until the end of the month and they wouldn’t fix anything even they charged us 20% of rent each month.

Long story short after this happened I emailed the tenant immediately on 8/19 about ACH transfer and my bank account information but no response at all.. then by 9/1 I didn’t see any money. After contacting the tenant they claimed they didn’t see the email or missed it. Anyway we had to try Zelle and the payment somehow got lost. Until today I still didn’t see a penny. My question is do you guys treat lease seriously? The lease agreement is $50 late fee after 3rd and eviction after7th.
Thanks.

Had tenants for a year. Upon their lease ending they asked for an extension to look for a house. I said no i could not because I’m in an area that the school year really impacts prospects. I needed to keep my terms changing over in the summer.

I did say they could renew for a year and if they found a house they could find an approved sublet but they would be responsible for finding them and for maintaining the house/lease until such time.

One month later they are under contract for a house and just saying we will be out Nov 1 and we will accommodate your showings.

I have made clear to them the terms of our agreement. The lease is clear with an end date of May 31.

I feel they are going to move out and just leave it to me to figure out. The guy is an immigration lawyer which I know isn’t a real estate but I’m not sure how to proceed and what my options are. Obv a little intimidated going up against a lawyer.

Have a tenant that was complaining about a damp spot on the carpet in the living room. The suggestion was it was coming from a leak in the patio door. Had the door caulked, still damp. Had masonry repairs made, still damp. Finally had someone spraying a hose for 20 minutes directly at the back of the apartment while I was inside checking in the wall, the doors and the floor and everything was dry.

I thought the dampness was a spot up against the patio doors. Instead it’s about 6 inches back where it starts and about 18 inches from the side wall. We even pulled up the carpet and pad and the cement is solid. (Tenant was suggesting it was somehow coming up from the foundation.)

We then realize that’s why there’s an awful smell in the apartment. One of the dogs is regularly peeing in that spot. Doing some searching, I found articles that say if a dog has regularly peed in the same spot, the salt and crystals from the urine will pull moisture out of the air and make the spot damp on humid days.

I told the tenant we would put down new flooring but they are being argumentative, saying I’m not listening to them and it must be a leak from somewhere. How would you handle this? We’ve spent extensive time and effort inspecting and testing and have found no leaks.

Edit - I asked if I could bring over a black light which would show if it’s urine and they refused.

Second edit - doing more reading up, if a dog has repeatedly urinated in the same spot, there can be a buildup of enzymes and crystals (salts) that will literally pull the moisture out of the air during heavy rains. So the tenant thinks it’s a leak but this seems to be what’s happening. I’ve shared more information and have provided a few ways we can prove this is what’s happening. Think we are getting closer to resolution. Also, there’s no certainty carpet was changed before they moved in and could be from a prior pet.

Anyone renting out to family under market? Are you deducting expenses? I have spoken to a CPA and Tax Attorney they both say regardless, it’s deemed an investment property and expenses can be deducted. They know the situation about renting out to family under market.

Everything I read on IRS says claim rent, but I can’t deduct the expenses.

It’s 2 units and one unit is market and the other isn’t probably $1000 under and soon to be $500 under.

I just don’t want any smoke with the IRS, but I only don’t want to miss out on deductions which would greatly impact our desire to keep this home.

Every year the IRS will see about $3000 a year profit once expenses are deducted.

I'm a new homeowner and the only tenant for many decades will be a family member. Of course, I still want to have a lease agreement that's legally binding. I've read a generic form from the Washington Landlord Association that's 15 pages long and has so much that doesn't apply to this situation. What's the bare bones that I need for a lease agreement? Should I use the RHAWA template or hire an attorney for a custom lease?

Unit Info: 800 sqft Condo in San Diego - 2bd/2ba (both master bedrooms with private bathroom albeit very small ones). Semi-desirable area within 10min drive of downtown and other major neighborhoods.

Room: One of the two master bedrooms - furnished with full-size bed frame, mattress, desk, and computer chair. The rest of the unit is fully furnished with my furniture - kitchen cabinet space is carved out for the renter. Street parking very close by and fairly easy to find most days.

Target Rent: $1500/month - All inclusive (water, electric, internet, trash)

I have a spare room in a condo I own and occupy as my primary residence (renter would be a lodger, not a tenant).

I'm looking to rent it out on an informal month-to-month agreement (I can evict if things go south without complex legal proceedings in a lodger arrangement).

The room was previously rented out in this arrangement to a friend I already knew and trusted - he is moving out of state and I'm opting to keep his bed frame, mattress, desk, and computer chair (he was going to dump all of it otherwise) as it can serve as a guest room until I find a renter.

Would renters want to move into a furnished room? When I was a renter, I never came across furnished units. I understand they might want their own mattress for hygiene and personal preference, but wouldn't a transient month-to-month renter prefer a more convenient situation?

Any insight or advice here would be appreciated.

UPDATE: Seems there's mixed opinions on furnished vs unfurnished and quite a few saying the price is too high. I charged my previous lodger $1250 for the last two years which I thought was well under market, but it sounds like it wasn't that great a deal after all. I'll likely keep the $1250 rent instead of raising it - however, it also sounds like law enforcement will just punt an eviction to the courts if I end up with a bad renter, which just isn't worth it to me to deal with. I'll likely leave the room as a guest room and only rent it out if someone I personally know comes along.

My mum recently put her spare room up for rent on Gumtree for $200 PW and rented it out to Renee (18f) who had a steady job at the time doing food delivery.

This was my mum's first time renting from the landlord side of things, so to help her out I found a boilerplate NSW rental agreement on a government website and told her to fill it out with Renee. I then discovered months later that my mum (claiming laziness) didn't do any of that. Meaning there's no formal rental agreement and legally we're screwed if we have to evict Renee, which is unfortunately looking more and more likely...

Things seemed okay with Renee at first, she made friends with my mum really quickly (it's in my mum's nature to befriend everyone), they'd share music and watch tv together and they got along pretty well.

Then I found out that Renee wasn't buying her own food, she was eating my mum's stuff and not paying her back. I convinced mum to put her foot down and eventually Renee started feeding herself. Around the same time my mum revealed that she hadn't paid any rent in 3 weeks but that she swore she'd pay her back. She never did.

Renee got a boyfriend for about 2 weeks (Tom), broke up and then openly admitted to everyone that she was \*stalking him\* in her spare time. That alarmed us but there wasn't really anything we could do about it other than try to discourage her. It was shortly after this that my mum reported Renee was drinking a lot and smoking weed. Again, none of our business, but we were still concerned for her.

Time passes and eventually mum admits to me that Renee owes her $3000 worth of unpaid rent and she wants to evict her. I help mum with what to say to Renee and get her prepared... only for Renee to come home in tears because her car has broken down and Tom (who she still stalks and works with) has been preventing her from getting shifts at work. My mum lost her nerve and lowered Renee's rent to $150 pw "until she gets on her feet".

Time passes some more and Renee \*still\* doesn't pay rent despite it being lowered and her managing to get on Centrelink. She now owes my mum more than $4000 in unpaid rent.

About 2 weeks ago Renee started showing some worrying symptoms. She stopped showering and started claiming bizarre things, like that her new boyfriend (Eric) was being paid by her workplace to spend time with her, or that her stepmother told her she's related to Tom. My mum tries to suggest some community mental health programs but Renee refuses. An ambulance then arrives at the house, called by Renee's stepmother after a series of concerning calls from her stepdaughter. The paramedics ask my mum if she thinks Renee needs to be scheduled and she says yes.

Renee is currently in the local hospitals psych ward and she's been calling my mum every night, crying and claiming she loves her.

It occurred to me and everyone else involved (brother, husband and family friend) that this would be the perfect opportunity to change the locks and put all of Renee's stuff on the curb and wash our hands of this girl. But the problem is my mum is still attached to Renee and I have no idea how to convince her that this relationship isn't a healthy one to have with a tenant. Not to mention the history of stalking, I can absolutely see Renee stalking my mum.

We're not concerned about getting the unpaid rent, we just want her out of our lives and out from under my mum's roof.

I have been dealing with an eviction this week. So far, I have spent 12 hours bagging up all the trash left behind and making one trip to the dump for the large furniture. I have over 30 full contractor size garbage bags full plus a few piles of stuff. There were 6 tires in the yard. I cut 2 to throw in the trash the legal way but it was too hard so I took 4 to a garage that does all my repairs and they waived the disposal fee.

I found a several months past due spectrum bill in the house for a premium internet and TV package and the spectrum internet modem, router, and wi-fi box was still hooked up in the living room. Then I found another set of spectrum equipment in a bedroom closet and a third set in the bottom of another closet.

What was going on was that the tenant would order spectrum and then not pay the bill until it was cut off. Then she would get the service turned on in the name of another person and use it until it was cut off. The old bills I found with the stuff had 3 different names.

I called spectrum and told them I was calling one time to see if they wanted their equipment back. The service rep checked the accounts and decided that they would like everything back. I got to give a cable company a full day pickup window. They can get their stuff off the front porch sometime Tuesday.

She did the same thing with the electric and gas. The last electric bill was overdue for about $700 and the gas has been off for nonpayment since May. No way to cook in the house except for a microwave. They have been eating mostly door dash food and some pickup from a bodega 2 blocks away. The fridge was full of very old delivery food containers.

Honestly, I am finding way less damage to the house than I thought there would be. Almost all the damage is just from the filthy conditions. The carpet is probably ruined. There are several thousand small size roaches running around. But only one hole in a wall. Only one place where a kid was given black paint to smear on a wall. Only one strangely damaged piece of floor in the kitchen. Destroyed bathroom sink. All the blinds are torn up and damaged from cigarettes. Two window screens are gone. The weather stripping was removed from the front door. One bedroom door knob is gone. All the smoke detectors are gone. Any light fixture that needed a bulb changed has the glass cover missing. They didn't like the AC drain hose going across the floor to the drain so they cut it and now the water pools. A puddle was better than a hose.

The oddest thing was that I had lost my good Marshalltown trowel. I looked everywhere for it. Turns out that I forgot it at this house while fixing a concrete porch step a year ago. I found it in a bedroom closet. So they found it left outside and kept it. They didn't tell me they found it but they didn't throw it away.

I can't imagine how they lived in the house this way. When I picked up the beds I found hundreds of roaches running out and up the walls. They slept with that. There were kids there too. The bedrooms were full of discarded food delivery containers and chicken bones picked clean by the roaches. There was a full 30 gallon garbage bag full of food garbage and diapers in the bedroom that had apparently been there for over a month based on dated mail on top of it. Going to fumigate the place and try to clean the carpets. If they don't come clean I have already priced replacement at $2200.

Will need a new island stovetop for a unit soon. Where are you buying your appliances these days? I’ll need it by mid-October. Best to buy now?

Hi everyone, new to this sub and also new to the landlord journey. I have been reading through multiple posts and have some questions on screening tenants + platform to use.
1. What are your golden rules for screening tenants? Being in CA, which is a pro-tenants state, I feel like a small mistake could result in a lawsuit easily.
2. What platform do you use to run background + credit check. I’m planning to use Zillow Management but I heard something about their background check is not accurate?
3. Aside from the background + credit check + income requirements, anything else I should so as due diligence?
4. For section 8 tenants, are they required to disclose that information during the application process?

Any advice is greatly appreciate.

New tenant signed in June. They were in a huge rush to move in by the 1st. Now as of September 4th they want all the details on early termination.

I know it is what it is. I'm worried that finding new tenants this time of year will be rough. We felt like people wanting to find a residence before the start of school in August helped us out in terms of price competition. What's everyone's experience with this type of situation if shy? Thanks in advance.

Due to the storm in Michigan, power is off and won’t be restored until Sunday. It was then discovered that the whole house generator we have is not working and needs to be replaced. It will cost around $20k and I’m absolutely not going to do this because this is not a habitable issue and the power out is like a once every 3 years problem. Tenant is pushing really hard. What shall I do?

I use Quickbooks Desktop for my restaurant, but it's extremely expensive for a struggling microbusiness and from what I gather, I would need to pay for a second subscription to start another business file with it (it is now pestering me for my Intuit login to associate with my business. I already have a second file I use for my personal taxes, which according to some folks in the Quickbooks subreddit, I will no longer be able to update once I log in and associate my account with my business).

Anyways, I'm just looking for something similar-ish I can ideally load QBO bank files or CSV into (connecting my bank feeds was way too glitchy, so I've been downloading QBO files and loading those into quickbooks). Something I can create profit-loss statements and hopefully balance sheets with. There aren't a lot of transactions with this rental and it's really straightforward, just rent coming in from 2 tenants who pay on time via an online portal, plus monthly trash bills, and occasional repairs. Nothing like the complexities of the restaurant's taxes, so QB honestly seems like overkill especially with the price. Thanks for any recommendations of what you use if you're a small landlord.

Edit to add: I don't really need to make and record invoices, I use cash basis accounting, this is just a duplex that nets under $1,000 per month, with a 2-person LLC solely for this rental at the moment. Maybe we'll add 1 more duplex some day but no plans beyond that. We do not have a mortgage on it, it was a cash purchase. It's all pretty straightforward but I'm looking for something a step above Excel.

One of my tenants who moved here last year in March, he is in basement, pays me rent but after 3-4 months. Ever since he has moved in, he asked me to basically fully renovate the house otherwise he says he will not give rent.

Things I have done for him so far in less than 1.5 years:
- Bought new Stove and hood even though old ones were working perfectly fine.
- Replaced heater pipes, even though old ones worked perfectly fine but he said they don't look good.
- Bought new very big refrigerator, even though old one was working perfectly fine.
- Moved thermostat from 1st floor to basement, so they can control the heating directly
- Got him a door bell, when he moved in there was none.
- Many other things as well.

He has completely stopped answering me last year, now another guy who lives there with him, his relative, now he talks with me, and gets me the rent through him.

Also once, it was last year, water leaked from the ceiling so he told me they were thousands of dollars shoes so he is going to sue me if I take him to court. Also in the lease which he signed when he moved in, does mention late fees but he has never paid late fees.

Now he is delaying the rent again even though there is nothing else left to do. He hasn't given rent of 4-5 months except few days ago where he gave 1.5 months rent. Now I have two options:

Option #1) Evict him but that will take 1-2 years in Brooklyn NYC. I have another tenant who is living rent free and I have started the eviction process but even the court date is like after 5 months and what I have found out it will take more months too after that so basically 1 - 1.5 years?

Option #2) Wait for the lease to end? It is going to end at the start of 2028. (If I do start the eviction it may take that time as well)

Is it in my favor to start the eviction process but then most likely he will stop paying the rent until he gets evicted which can take 1 year or more. Or hope he gives remaining rent too like he has done it in the past, even though I have to chase chase chase for the rent. But it is still better than no rent?

I am first time home buyer and I have to pay mortgage too. Please also keep in mind I have another tenant going through eviction who has been here almost 10 months, 9 months rent free.

Also I am not millionaire like I don't have 10 houses, this is my first house and I am in my 30s. I bought this house thinking it can generate income after paying huge down payment, while I was working. Currently I am unemployed.

Location: Brooklyn, NYC

My father is going through colon cancer and just had open heart surgery. I’ve had to drive almost 2 hours to go back home and help take care of him. As a result, I haven’t been at my apartment too much recently….

Week 1: They emailed me saying they scheduled a maintenance request to tour every apartment on a Friday at 11am….i would be at work. They didn’t ask me if that time worked for me. They just scheduled it. I told them I wouldn’t be there, and couldn’t call off work on such short notice. I told them they were more than welcome to enter my apartment.

Week 2: they emailed me again saying they scheduled a maintenance request for a water leak on Tuesday at 9am…my father had a cardiac episode the day before and had to be rushed into emergency surgery. I told my landlord that I wouldn’t be there, but they were MORE than welcome to enter my apartment if I wasn’t there. I told them I MOST likely wouldn’t be there the following week either….my father would either be in a medically induced coma, or make a full recovery and need help at home. I was updating them as the doctors were updating me.

Week 3 (this week): They called me saying they needed to change the locks on all the doors in the apartment on Tuesday morning. I reminded them that I had to pick up my father from the icu, take him home and stay with him for a few days. His heart surgeon told me he can’t be alone.

My landlord called me on the phone, and said, verbatim “You’re not going to be home again? This is the third week in a row”

I told him, that I said they could enter my apartment, but I wouldn’t be there, like they claimed I had to be. They told me after every request that I had to be there.

My landlord then said “We don’t have keys to the apartments.” I’ve lived here for a year and not once did he tell me he didn’t have a key. I

I can’t control whether or not I have to leave and drive 2 hours to my hometown. I didn’t do it for leisure. I didn’t do it for fun. And the first week, I was working…making money to pay my rent.

I get the feeling that they think I’m lying. I don’t know what else to say.

Also, why schedule maintenance requests, and NOT check in with me ahead of time to see if that time works? I mean most people are at work on a Friday at 11am.

What do I do? I also have to renew my lease for October… I hope this doesn’t jeopardize that. I do love my apartment

The sheriff deputes showed up right at 10am today. The tenants must have bugged out yesterday. They left the place full of literal trash. The pictures only show parts of it. There are lots of dirty diapers laying around the house. The bathroom sink is smashed off the wall. That is new damage. They stole the washer and dryer. The stove is pretty much destroyed too. There is an $8,000 judgement that they will never pay. There are fried chicken bones left on the bedroom floor. There are roaches everywhere. She did take the bounce house with her. While I was changing the locks, a car pulled up with another of my tenants as a passenger. The woman driving says 'When will the house be ready, I want to rent it." It is going to be awhile. I have another tenant who does cleanouts so he will probably clear it out.

I've rented my primary homes off and on for decades and we've also had investment rentals for 25+ years with very minimal problems--knock on wood--very thorough background checks, keeping them vacant if any nagging feelings about places, etc. But never rented out this place before.

I live in California but I own a rental in Florida. It's a single family home, fully paid off and owned under an LLC.

The property hasn't been insured for the past 10 years, and my property manager just leased the place to a senior on disability. I need some peace of mind. Can someone recommend a top insurer for landlords insurance in Florida? Ideally I would like to use one of the big names like All State or State Farm. Will it be an issue that the property is owned under an LLC? I'm primarily concerned about slip and fall claims and stuff of that nature.