So I have a house in San Francisco that I rent out to college students. There’s no lease agreement and because of legal ownership issues along with silly SF laws on rent control and evictions I can’t really do much about the house for now. I feel like the students in there have gamed the system since many of them have already been there for 4 years at way less than market rates.
Anyhow there have been a couple of issues in the last couple of months that have raised my ire. There was a supposed emergency plumbing problem that I sent out a plumber (very expensive if you can imagine) that was a non-issue. About a month ago, my wife changed a lock to the entry door to the house because the lock was loose. She replaced it with a new one, and everything was fine (easy repair). Now a month later the lock Is loose again and supposedly about to come off. They are asking for a door person to come, which I am not going to send a person out for $$$ since I feel as if someone is abusing the door. I can’t go out there myself since I don’t live or work close to there. How should I handle this?
@yourmomma She just went thru arm surgery a few days ago and doesn’t want to deal with my problems quite frankly ( technically, this is my kid’s house ).
My problem is that spending $150 for a handyman to send someone out for a $10 lock that takes 5 minutes to do that could be loose again in a month seems to be a huge waste. This is actually the 3rd time in the last 18 months this has happened BTW, when the original lock was on there for the previous 20 years. I’m leaning towards just having them take care of this themselves but not sure how feasible that is. I would send out a handyman if I knew I could increase my rental by an appropriate rate to cover the costs.
Yes, it is a PITA, and a waste of money, etc, etc. However you don’t know the details of what it looks like or how it might be compromising the safety of the house occupants. So you might just need to call that locksmith and see what in the world is going on, and do what is needed to make it work properly. Perhaps the previous lock was stronger or the screws are now stripped. There are better and worse months in the landlord game, as I’m sure you well know.
For the future, can you deputize one of those long term renters to be your eyes on the ground when things go wrong? Give them a little rent reduction to let you know what is going on as needed?
Well as a follow up, I got one of the tenants to agree to buy (and I reimburse) another lock (different brand) and they will install it themselves. I’m guessing that Kwikset is probably too much of a cheapie brand. Talked to a couple of locksmiths who both agreed that most likely the lock itself is defective, Kwikset sucks, and the screws are threaded (the screws keep getting loose after a day of tightening back up) though I can’t understand how a lock can get threaded so fast after only a month even if the handle is turned a lot.
Most doorknobs and locks in the usual hardware stores are lower end models that may not have that good durability. A few may be listed as “light commercial” with better durability.
Security of deadbolts against forced entry methods is another factor. In many cases, a strong strike plate with 3" screws into the frame stud is a necessary upgrade if that hardware is not already included (and installed) with the deadbolt.
I don’t really understand how students are “gam(ing) the system” if your kid bought in a rent controlled area. That’s not really the students’ issue. Are you paying your tenant for the time it takes to purchase and install the lock? Their time is worth something.
They’re gaming the system because they went way past the original lease. I’m not going to go into the legalities of my situation, but there’s a reason why all student leases usually are for one year ending May 31.
It takes 5 minutes to change a lock. Home Depot is walking distance. They are paying $1,000 under market per month. Any other questions?