<p>“Blood bath” :eek:</p>
<p>The article says the landlord has already cleaned it out and is planning on gutting the bathroom.</p>
<p>Has anyone owned properties out of state</p>
<p>I do, but only one other state. It gives me a reason to travel there a lot. :)</p>
<p>We used to live in that state, so that’s why we have properties there. I wouldn’t just go out of my way to buy real estate in other states…uh…second thought…maybe Hawaii. :)</p>
<p>We do rent to single moms, but not just “any” single moms. These are girls who are going to college and have one baby. The dads aren’t in the picture. They’re in a program that helps them with rent and college costs. We get less rent, but that’s ok because we’re happy that these young ladies are getting themselves back on their feet. These aren’t people who will be welfare recipients their whole lives.</p>
<p>One of our wierd stories…one tenant moved out and when we went in there was a sign on the hall closet “Paco’s Room”. Paco was the “unapproved” cat that he had living there. Oh my…that closet STUNK.</p>
<p>We do have property in CA, but it was not purchased by us. My friend in CA has property in AZ, but her dad lives there & keeps an eye on property manager there, who is said to be terriffic.</p>
<p>HI properties are very expensive and tough to get positive cash flow from, especially with high maintenance fees assessed.</p>
<p>Such a sad story above–the poor mom & landlord. Makes you really wonder about people–the BF & folks who watched & assisted. ICK!</p>
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<p>Some times things happen. I bought an old house in NJ. After moving in, I always smell some thing strange, can’t tell what it was. First I thought it was pet or food odor, but I cleaned everything many times over, I also had the gas company came out twice and they cannot tell if there is a gas leak or not. A YEAR later, the gas compy came again and advice to have the pipe checked by a plumber, finally, I had the gas pipe pressure checked, there was a very very small gas leak at the turn off valve behind stove. We checked everywhere but not behind the stove.</p>
<p>Had a tenant recently whose yr lease had ended, we started a m2M. I notified tenant of the option to renew for a yr at same terms and conditions or to stay on a m2m but at a very slightly higher rent. Tenant opted for the yr. Ok.
4 months into the new yr lease, tenant tells me he/she is moving because tenant found a place tenant likes better. Aggravating, it seems tenant misled me just to get the same rent. Too bad our state does not permit an automatic penalty for tenants that break leases.</p>
<p>I suspect this thread might be so much longer if it were about experiences with a bad landlord. Far more people have been renters than landlords. And I have experienced tenants (mistakenly) blaming a LL for something he wasn’t responsible for. But most landlords have the perspective of seeing the whole picture- from the tenants angle and from the LL’s.</p>
<p>Tuesday I go to rental to let in the flooring company. We are installing new flooring and new kitchen stove. 20 minutes later I get a call from installer, “Power company just came and disconnected their power.” “Oh, we thought we had to the 5th to pay it.” I look down and see previous month’s bill, which was due March 1. So why exactly did they think the April bill gave them until the 5th? “Umm, we don’t know, we lost that bill. Boy they shut it off fast”. No kidding, funny how utilities want their money for the service they are providing…</p>
<p>Bummer for me was their electricity runs the water pump that also provides water for the upstairs apt.</p>
<p>They spent their $4000 tax refund check on a w-i-d-e screen tv and couch. I’ve so had it with incompetent lazy stupid people (perhaps I should move to the venting thread…!) Yes, all references checked out well during the verification process.</p>
<p>It is not always the tenant that makes life hard…take the example happening in San Francisco (the people’s republic off). There is a 40 year old law on the books which states only the city’s parking authority may charge for parking. If you are a private party and charge for parking - like renting out your own garage or that of an apartment building you must pay 20% of any garage rental to the parking agency. This law has never been enforced. In fact it is so obscure that even the professional building management agencies are unaware of its existence. </p>
<p>Ah, but the city is broke and someone must have had the time to read old law books. So, city audits all management companies and private parties to assess not only the tax but a hefty penalty going back - 40 years if they can. In my dads case, he owes $300.00 in actual ‘tax’ but has been assessed a $1000.00 penalty! His management agency has a client who is being assessed a 400K penalty. </p>
<p>Beware of where you attempt to own and manage this type of business.</p>
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In my state this would entitle the tenant to sue you to recover the cost of all of their electric bills for the entire time they’ve been there.</p>
<p>You have to be very careful that no common areas or other apartment areas are metered through that unit’s meter.</p>
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<p>Its time for long extention wire!!:)</p>
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<p>I think I live in your state. 
I’m very very used to the idea that if there are any common utilities, they must be included in rent and not billed to the tenant. But I think that water is included anyway in my state. I’ve never had to pay a water bill separate from my rent.</p>
<p>That story about the landlord finding the body is awful.</p>
<p>Yep, running an extension was my next move. I wanted them to sit in the dark and figure out how to pay their electric bill…which they would have had much less initative to do had I switched it over to my name. They figured it out :)</p>
<p>It’s well water, so no water bill. It’s a single house with a separate upstairs apt. Everything is metered separately, and there are separate furnaces and water heater, but the downstairs unit electricity does power the pump. I’ve read our state code and don’t remember a common area part, but it might be there.</p>
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<p>That was my initial proposed solution - PM said they are not willing to leave AND unable to pay rent so that wouldn’t work. They have now paid up 2/3 of April’s rent so I have 1.33 month rent to collect plus that $500 lake fee before end of lease. Since August, we have an existing court order/judgement against them, we are now just looking at the option of eviction - calling the bailiff and locking the doors on them. The PM and I are trying to give this family as much compassion as we can. </p>
<p>I am sure it will all work out eventually. I am probably close to selling this rental, the local market is getting quite good. </p>
<p>Someone commented why would I deal with a PM that I don’t trust. In my 25+ years of dealing with different PMs, I found there are no good ones. They all take a cut of maintenance, they do not look after the house or select tenants like the way we would. No one looks after our properties the way we do ourselves, that is just reality. If they are semi -competent and honest, ie, kickbacks/padding expenses less than 30% we count ourselves lucky. I think tenant selection skills and getting the house rented in a timely manner almost trumps all other considerations. The expense padding, well, now I am in a position to fly to the city myself and oversee the work myself, hopefully resulting in less of that.</p>
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My state allows the tenants to be billed for water but it is a pain - you have to completely separate the water to each apartment, each unit has to be separately metered, and then there has to be a master meter. The expense of completely isolating each apartment’s water makes it completely impractical in a multi-unit building.</p>
<p>Wow, this is a new one:</p>
<p>[Family</a> Flees ‘Haunted House,’ Sues Landlord - ABC News](<a href=“http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/family-flees-haunted-house-sues-landlord/]Family”>Family Flees 'Haunted House,' Sues Landlord - ABC News)</p>
<p>^^ maybe that house is built on bunch of graves…</p>
<p>Was wondering if the tenants can get out of a lease for undisclosed death in the house?</p>
<p>We have two homes we rent across the country. Has not been a huge problem because we enjoy going back twice a year to check on things. Worst problem was casued by nature dropping a big tree on my garage. Very lucky my two cars I keep there were basically OK. Got a nice new garage and fence out of my insurance which was cool. </p>
<p>Last moveout basically lost it mentally and left lots of junk and old household items behind. 5000 pounds to take to the dump. Plus clogged the plumbing with a towel. luckily deposit will cover most of the expenses to make ready but the way it looked at first made my wife cry. We plan to live in that house in a few years. </p>
<p>Day to day this:</p>
<p>“I beg my tenants to call me if something is dripping or leaking, or a toilet is running, or whatever.”</p>
<p>Always leads to bigger problems later. They just do not call enough with “small” things.</p>
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As far as I am aware there is no legal requirement in my state to disclose this, and I don’t think this would be grounds for getting out of a lease.</p>
<p>If you wind up in court, though, you never know what will happen when you’re in front of the judge.</p>
<p>It is required in some states to disclose such things when selling a house.</p>
<p>My landlord story was when the family that rented our former home separated, dad and the kids stayed in the house – with the pet ferret (contrary to the lease) allowed to run around and poop/pee wherever it was inclined. Then dad lost his job, quit paying rent, and we began eviction only to have him file for bankruptcy, which stays any pending eviction action. Took us nearly two months to clean, repair and recarpet the house – all told, we went without a rent payment for five months, not that the mortgage stopped, of course.</p>
<p>Never had rental property since we sold that house. </p>
<p>D’s landlord comes through and inspects the rental house every three or four months – he always gives them plenty of notice, and is rather clearly just looking for maintenance issues. I think that’s a good idea.</p>
<p>^ That’s because events like a gruesome murder can have a material, adverse impact on the value of the house.</p>
<p>For a rental, the value isn’t really an issue.</p>
<p>In my loony-tune state, some housing courts are more inclined to consider claims of emotional distress, and I could see a tenant claiming it was “emotionally distressing” to live in the same place a death occurred. If that happens, the landlord could be screwed - damages, moving costs, etc.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of it happening, but I’ll ask DW if she knows of any cases.</p>