Credit score is not the greatest. Not really defaults just not a lot of credit in general. What I have I pay off on time (CCs and loans) had 1 loan I had to settle recently as it was a dumb loan to take on (one of those 400% one’s). I paid about 4000 into unMaxing my cards and paying them down. Credit currently sits at 500 (with paying on this I was told would get me close to 600, at minimum 580.

I make solid money for here in Michigan. 1600-1800/week gross. (And a side job that brings in another 2k/month)

Looking at rentals lots have 600 score or better if I’m on bubble is it worth trying? Lived in same rental for last 11 years should I have old landlord write up a benefit letter of some type to possibly help? 11 years never late, always took care of the home I was a good tenant just have bad credit

I had my first tenant move in 3 weeks ago. And since then he has been kinda awful. There is a terrible smell in the basement he is renting and the mattress he moved in was the grossest mattress I've seen in my life by far. His hygiene has been terrible and I have yet to see evidence he has taken a single shower. I also have a VOC monitor and the VOCs in my bedroom went from around 350-1,000 before he moved in to 6,000-10,000. No idea what he is doing or has in the basement that would be causing that, but I know it is him/his stuff.

Well a week after he moved in I noticed he was drinking a lot. And then it got worse. And then he called in sick to work and drank 5 days in a row. He then had to take medical leave from work and is allegedly now trying to quit drinking after I urged him to do so (psychiatrist and all that).

Tonight he asked if he should go to the ER as he thinks he is having withdrawal symptoms. I told him yes as that can cause seizures or worse. He asked if I wouldn't mind driving and he could Uber back. I told him I did not feel comfortable doing that and I believe he just now left to go to the hospital (or get more alcohol...).

Unfortunately none of this had been obvious (even his hygiene!) when I first met him before I decided on allowing him to sign a lease. That and being new to this made me miss what might have been some warning signs.

I don't know what to do as this guy is a trainwreck and I don't really want him in my house. I may end up asking him to leave prior to the end of the six-month lease and hope he accepts that (with sufficient time for him to find a new place).

I currently rent my property out through section 8 and it’s cash flow positive by about 12k a year. I’m on my second tenant and each time it’s the same - the place is trash! I’m not sure if they plan to renew but if they don’t I will probably have to spend about 10k in cosmetic work. The appliances are less than 4 years old and everything else has been replaced with exception of roof. The place pays for itself. Rents are high and mortgage is low. It’s small so nothing is ever crazy to repair but it’s also a headache. I’m so torn on if I should sell or keep riding this out. How do you decide when to sell?

First time landlord and I’m located in Long Island. I’m about to rent out the 2nd floor of my private house and was wondering if any one has a recent lease agreement template I can use before I reach out to a lawyer to have them draft me one. Much appreciated

I’ve got a single family home in NJ, next to train station in Bergen county. Great schools, ideal suburban upper middle class town. 3BR/1.5BA

Been on the market over a month and exactly 0 showings. I lowered the price to 3995. Seems like nobody is even looking. Starting to get worried, but it’s also been the holidays, new president, and shitty weather, etc.

Anyway, can float the mortgage a while but not indefinitely. It’s priced right based on comps, but not a ton of comps out there. Starting to feel like it’s going to not go until the spring rental season.

Never had this problem before- all My other rentals (lower price points, less exclusive neighborhood) have always gone quicker or at least had showings.

Any advice?

(Posted on /tenat but would also like a LL/owner or PM's perspective)

Moved into a rental about a month ago and have noticed random people like to stop at our stoop and sit on the steps or use the stoop to sort their crap.

If they're just passing by, no big deal. But the problem is people who stop and lean or sit and conversate at the stoop all hours of the night. My bedroom window is right there and besides being annoying I just don't like it.

I put up a window camera (with the recording light on) and small "recording" sign but not everyone gets the hint. I have confronted people before, politely and not so politely. I'm not interested in getting shot and don't feel like confronting people all the time. I have a feeling as the weather gets warmer here, this will become more annoying.

I'm not a fan of calling the police just to get knuckleheads off the stoop, but the stoop is not public property and I have a right to quiet enjoyment. What more can I do (don't say move)? Should I hang a "no trespassing" on the rail (or ask the landlord to)?

I own 2 rentals and looking to move off State Farm ...thanks in advance.

How do you structure your late fees? I've always done a flat 10% on the 4th day after the due date. What I'm realizing is the once people are late, there's no incentive to pay on day 5 or day 50... their late fee is the same for them either way. I've thought about possibly switching to a progressive late fee, like $5 per day or similar.

Tenant moved out recently. I sent them an itemized list (over $500) of the damage they caused. They did not dispute it but now they are asking for repair receipts. I have a proposal from a contractor to repair the damage but it is not something I plan to take care of prior to the new tenants moving in. The damage (to the floors) does not affect the livability of place. I can send them the proposal I received. Just wondering if I am under any obligation to actually have the repairs done now rather than waiting a year or two. Note that the floors were completely redone just prior to them moving in.

I’ve seeen a lot of posts in this sub asking how landlords decide between multiple good tenants that have applied for an apartment, but a lot of the answers involve speaking to the applicants and getting a “vibe check”.

I just applied for an apartment in NY, I anticipate that it’s highly competitive, but I only communicated with the broker over email, who seemed very professional. I have not interacted with the owner. The person that showed me the apartment worked for the broker and seemed really disinterested in who was looking at the place.

I submitted all my financial information but there is no personal info in the app (aside from how many people will live in the apartment and what my job title is) so how will they choose a tenant? Will it be based purely on financial competency? I assume multiple people will be qualified. Would they likely ask to speak with the top tenants? Really curious if anyone has insight, this is my first time going through this process.

I’ve had a tenant for about 1.5 years. About 6 months into the lease they stopped paying rent to which I started the eviction process. We went to court and I lost the case because I did not have a lawyer and the Notice to quit letters I sent to the tenant were non-compliant according to the tenants legal aid lawyer. The past due balance has since been paid. Fast forward, it has been 3 months of unpaid rent and I restarted the eviction process. I acquired a lawyer and everything has been good, but I do have some trauma(lol) associated with getting in front of a judge and losing to this nightmare tenant again. This go around isn’t only about unpaid rent, but also multiple lease violations. How likely am I to win this case based on previous experience with the DE court system? I think my case is strong, but based on the legal aid lawyers they might pick out and find the smallest thing to get the case thrown out.

Posted in r/Tenant but was recommended to post here as well

[US-WI] My (30F) and husband (33M) are at the point where we have to decide if we will sue our landlord in small claims court. We already had a lawyer sending letters to the landlord on our behalf to settle the matter civilly and when that didn't work we filed a complaint with our state's department of consumer protection. Our next step is to sue in small claims court. We would be suing for the max amount (10k) hopefully double plus legal fees if we win. We are suing for fraud/negligence/breaking of the lease and our lawyer thinks we have a very good case. We have evidence of all of these things.

But after having done some research (thanks reddit!), my husband and I are very worried about having trouble getting future landlords to rent to us. Even though it is legally not allowed to discriminate just for this reason, if a landlord gets a bunch of applications, why would they rent to a tenant who has previously sued??

My mom says context matters and the shady and outright illegal behaviour of our landlord, which has scammed us out of a proper place to live and thousands of dollars, would be evident and future landlords would understand this. But my research on if landlords would rent to someone who had sued says it is a resounding no.

We already wont get a reference and this is our first rental so we don't have any other references.

Any advice?

My question is more, not if we have a case to sue, but if landlords care why. We aren’t litigious, we just have a horrible landlord that broke the law and our lease. Can landlords find out about these things and if they do will we have any chance of renting?

Edit: thank you everyone for your responses. I realize I didn’t provide all the details in the post so maybe the entire picture isn’t there. I understand why landlords wouldn’t want to risk it but it’s frustrating when the process is there to help tenant but in the end it harms me.

I won’t be responding anymore

I have a condo unit with 3 bedrooms. All units in the building are owned by separate private owners. My sister lives in one of the rooms. I rent out the other two.

Her roommate wants to get an ESA animal. My sister is allergic to both cats and dogs, and would greatly prefer not to have an animal in the condo.

I understand that the FHA requires us to make reasonable accommodations.

My question is: am I exempt from the FHA? This is the only rental unit I own.

I’m confused because it is a condo, not a single family home. If it was a single family home, I would be sure we are exempt as there are less than 4 units. Thank you!

I have some renters that are late on rent every month. Rent is due on the 1st with a 5 day grace period. $100 late fee if rent isn’t paid by the 5th. They usually don’t pay until the end of the month send atleast 2 partial payments to get it paid. They are due to renew the lease in a couple months. My thoughts are I don’t want to renew the lease but on the other hand they do pay every month eventually and they are pretty clean people. I made the mistake of letting them not pay the late fee the first couple months hoping they just hit a bad spot and would get it together. That don’t happen so I started enforcing the late fee(lesson learned will never do that again). I’m also planning to increase the late fee so hopefully this won’t continue. Any advice? This is my first rental I now have 2 rentals. The other one is going well but the rent is fairly cheap for the area. We bought the home with tenants already in it that will move out at the end of the year. Plan to fix it up a little more and increase the rent. 1st rental is 2150 a month 4 bed 3 bath, the 2nd is 1350 a month 3 bed 2 bath huge yard.

Note: I did not fall. I don't know the person who did. I don't have the details of exactly what happened and can only tell you what I was told.

A friend of mine was talking about how a mutual friend of ours was away caring for her mother. A according to my friend:

Her mother leaned on the railing of the back deck. The back deck railing collapsed causing her to fall and shattered her elbow. The injury required a 6 hour surgery and she will need months of rehab.

I immediately brought up insurance as Landlords should have insurance for this sort of thing. This was news to my friend who didn't know that landlords could be covered for claims against accidents on their property and invited me to come on zoom to talk about this.

I'm not qualified to deal with this sort of thing. My first inclination is to tell them to talk to HER mother's health insurance who would be happy to investigate for her since this is hitting their wallets first of all.

And they have more expensive lawyers.

Am I off base suggesting this?

I'm hoping this is the right place to post because I'm not sure where else to ask this but I have a question about a violation charge. I just received a text from the management company that handles the property where I live (I've never spoke with the actual landlord before) and it says I'm being charged for a violation about my garbage cans being in the front of my house. Now I've lived here for a year and 2 months and they've always been located in the front of the house because that's where they were dropped off at when we had the cans delivered, it's up against my front porch on the left side of my stairs. I've never been notified by anyone (the landlord, management company or the city) to move the cans from that location and now I'm being told that I have to pay for the violation charge when I was unaware there was a violation in the first place because I would've moved the cans if I had been informed. Can they really charge me for this violation? Also wouldn't the landlord have been notified they needed to be moved before the city issued a violation and given the landlord time to contact the tenants to take care of the issue?

Hello! I’ve had a lot of ongoing issues with my current rental and it’s hit a bad point. I live in Missouri and haven’t had working heat in my unit all winter long. I’ve reached out three times. The first time they sent someone( 11NOV24) and he said he would have to do more work but he doesn’t know what’s wrong and I texted her on 20NOV informing heat still isn’t working and it’s cold and she said she would try to reach out to someone. No word from her until January 03rd because they are complaining the electricity bill is too high. It’s high because I had to get a space heater which they approved. I then had to buy two more space heaters because the bathroom is unfinished and snow is coming in through the ceiling. And there is mold on the ceiling that I’ve brought up more then once ( text screenshot proof) . Now they want me to pay the extra electric and they refuse to reimburse me for the electric heaters I had to buy. Do I have any type of case here? I might be leaving some stuff out, but I have text proof of when I reached out. I sent proof of the temperature being 55 degrees in my unit. My rent has been up to date. Okay, thanks for reading!

I’ve only ever rented out one unit, and through a property manager, so forgive me for any ignorance shown here.

My property manager acts like he works for and is paid by my tenants and not me. I imagine he just wants to avoid having to do any work now that he’ll no longer get paid since the tenants have moved out. He’s basically argued every point below as wear and tear.

As an aside, I raised rent all of $150 in the 8 years my tenant was there, even reducing rent during COVID for 3 years. I’m not one to gouge. And I believe in honor and sticking to lease’s clearly stated rules.

Throughout the 8 years we’ve used our property manager, I’ve asked him to do one walk-through while the tenant was living there. That’s it. When he did, I was told there weren’t any leaks or broken appliances to report. This part is key for the rest of this post.

PAINTING and CLEANING

Cut to the tenants moving out at my behest as I’m moving into the unit.

During the walk-through, I notice (as anyone with working eyeballs can see) that the living room walls and ceiling are a dark yellow despite the paint being white. I ask the tenant if he smoked. He denies. The property manager acts dumb and says he doesn’t think tenant smokes. The lease states no smoking.

I have a painter and electrician come the next day to give me quotes on various things. Without me prompting them, as soon as they come into the house, they immediately ask me if someone used to smoke in there.

One out of the four bedrooms also has some yellowing on a wall and ceiling.

A bathroom had yellowing, but I was able to mostly get that out.

1. Can I charge the tenant for painting of the whole house or just the two rooms even though I have to match the whole interior of the house?

2. Can I charge him for cleaning? I tried cleaning the living room and bedroom walls, but the stains won’t budge.

MOLD

There’s so much mold on the caulking between the sink and the window above. There’s also a ton of the mold on the baseboard in one of the bathrooms. Lease states the tenant is responsible for notifying landlord of leaks (he didn’t notify, and his excuse was that “it takes too long”). Note that he’s notified me/property manager once of something, and being that I’m ALWAYS on my phone or computer, and I respond immediately, I don’t think the tenant has a leg to stand on, unless the property manager is the bottleneck, which I guess is not surprising given what I’ve seen lately.

3. Can I charge him for mold removal and/or plumbing?

STOVE REPLACEMENT

I provided a brand new stove when tenant moved in 8 years ago. He claims it stopped working so he bought his own, and then at move out, he moved ours back into the kitchen. Stove indeed doesn’t work, but he never notified me while living there, and now I have a gas stove where the cooktop kinda works (with gas), but when plugged into the socket, none of the oven buttons work, and the oven doesn’t turn on.

4. Can I charge him for a replacement? If not, can I charge him a portion of the replacement cost to make up for devaluation?

DOOR REPLACEMENT and INSTALLATION

Tenant clearly changed the direction of a door (the hinge on the old door is still there), and now there’s a gaping hole where the old lock went into.

5. Can I charge him for a new door, installation, and patch work since it’s a modification done without approval plus he didn’t put it back to its original state?

TIA for any tips. Appreciate it.

So I have had same tenants for 4 years (use a management company btw as I am in another city). I have tried my best to keep rent at what it started which was 2150 a month. Well in Texas insurance and property taxes have gone insane as you know, and I was going to suggest 2350 for a 2 year lease. Management company says their model is showing 2500 is the target amount we should be looking for but I don't want to fuck my tenants as they have been great to me. Is this something ya'll would offer? Is 200 a fair increase after 4 years?

Had a tenant who stopped paying rent and violated many clauses on the lease. I evicted them (was a long process taking them through court but won eventually) but they left after 2 months. Court also ruled that they pay the rent they owed est. $7k. After I accessed the unit, it was a messed up condition and they have damaged the place badly with estimated repair cost between $15-20k. I did remodeling before they moved in, in less than a year they made the place upside down. They don't have a forwarding address, also she said to the court she was laid off from her job so not sure how to track her or even how to get my money. I am a small landlord on this property I have that I rent. Please any advice on how to go about this will be helpful. This is in DFW, Texas.

Okay so I have a building and I have a strict no smoking policy. I walked into one of my units to check on a maintenance issue and one of the tenants was smoking right in front of me! Is this enough “evidence” to get an eviction? Or do I need additional evidence? Thank you in advance

Does x number of years allow you to “forgive” it?

Does x credit score prove they have changed paths?

Is there any criteria you require to forgive an eviction and allow them to rent from you?

Just wondering if it is always a 100% never rent to them no matter how many years or depends on what the current situation is.

We just purchased a two family in ma and keep getting asked if we accept home base?

Our tenant hasn’t paid rent since last April cause she was pregnant and couldn’t work. We were lenient for the first 3-4 months and she assured us she would start paying then she called the cops on us cause we were fixing our heater and it was noisy. Our relationship has been rocky since. She said she is using a program to find new housing, and we started receiving checks from the city for $400 a month to cover some rent and that was it.

Today we saw her packing her stuff but she took the keys. Went downstairs to check and it’s mostly just pots and pans and garbage. We texted her but she hasn’t said anything. Can we put her leftover stuff in boxes and change the locks ? We have a garage and can leave all the stuff in there for her to get ?

My 7yr Rental was deep cleaned by rip-off cleaners. Before we occupied it, at best the the trim & doors were touched up based on dated paint cans we found so walls were wiped clean. Laminate floors were 2-5 yrs old at our move-in, had some nicks, and feel wavy/ not flat in many areas. We may have added a couple more nicks in the floor during move-in or move-out; we don't wear shoes inside. Cleaners used Murphy's Oil soap on laminate floor that left a film, so I quickly wet Swiffered them last/ as I left. I got Mr. Clean sponges to get both Refrigerator & freezer- white inside. I used same sponges on 28 vertical blinds to remove any scuffs & dirt. 6 extra wide horizontal blinds, I sponged out marks & dirt that cleaners never touched or finished. Blind cords lite gray b/c even Comet w/ bleach spray didn't help. I redid shower & glass door, wiped outside of toilets, behind toilets, wiped behind pedestal sinks, cleaned out light fixtures, & I bleach sprayed porcelain floor grout. I had travertine in hall bath so I have only used Stone & Granite cleaner so stone is not damaged but grout stayed dirty or stained. Cleaners didn't improve that grout. I wiped out kitchen cabinets b/c they only did first 2 shelves of 4 shelves in some upper cabinets. Freestanding Gas Range cleaned on top to shine but I couldn't get the gas burners back to silver metal; stained from usage. I had to soak grates with Simple Green b/c some parts were sticky. Grates clean but worn from usage. I sprayed Simple Green inside oven to soak & remove stuck bits after it self-cleaned. Oven glass cleaned to shine. I sent landlord cleaners receipt. Do have to I pay out of my deposit for drip in between oven door glass, hall bathroom grout, some minor floor nicks, & cords on blinds?

Is this common? I don't get why this would be happening. I've lived in my house for nearly 4 years and as far as getting other people's mail goes, I have only ever occasionally gotten the previous home owner's mail that whole time. Nobody elses.

About three to four weeks ago, I listed my house for rent. I've had a few showing. I checked my mail today (haven't checked it in a couple of weeks) and aside from my own mail, I have gotten mail for 4 other people. One of which seems to be addressed to a company. What's going on? Anyone see this before? Know why it's happening? I can't imagine it being from someone needing a fake address to list, so they go to what's on the market to find an address when they could just pull a random one from Google maps.

https://preview.redd.it/ioeoaiz67tge1.png?width=364&format=png&auto=webp&s=2806da07fb2aae46974ac6a7553426c87f6f2f7e

you're very weird to put a note on my door when I already paid my rent

Ten-day notices get posted the day rent is late. If she had paid before today, it wouldn't have been posted.

we need to let go of that trauma from your previous tenant just because I pay a day late don't mean I'm not gonna pay rent.

There's nothing to gain from responding to someone like this.

Hello folks

I am fortunate enough to have two properties that I inherited. I’m wanting to buy my first property, and don’t wish to sell my current two. Which means I’m due a higher additional stamp duty figure.

If I was to buy a new home, and didn’t own any property as an individual, I’d pay £17.5k stamp duty.

However, as this is an additional home purchase I’m due £47.5k in stamp duty.

My question is if it is worthwhile housing my properties in a limited company and what are the complications of this?

I want to move in with friends or with my partner to save cash while unemployed. I'm a new homeowner with no experience leasing or managing property. Open to long term renters only.

I have owned this property since February 2023. Mortgage monthly payment is $2,399 and will be increasing in April 2025 (lender sold me a 2-1 buy down on the interest rate). Single-family, 1920 original build, flipped and renovated small 540 sq ft space, 2 bed 1 bath with a huge fenced in backyard and spacious driveway for off street parking. At the end of a no-outlet street, quiet, in a Latinx majority neighborhood in Denver.