Home Owner Association Rules/eviction ? Help
Hello All
We have a rental property that I have owned since 2002. We have had it rented out to the same group of students since then. With no probelms whatsoever. When I first bought it the subdivision had not yet been completed. Now that it has the HOA has adopted some new rules which prohibit properties to be rented to more than one adult that are not related. i.e I can only rent to a single family. They also want me to add them to the Lease stating that they have exclusive power of eviction etc....
I have forwarded the letter to by Management Company.
Can anyone give me some insight ? can they do this ? Can they evict my tenants as they say they can in the letter. Thanks
Again much thanks to all for your feedback. I will look into all the suggestions
Thanks
A straight lease is always better than a straight rental. Be careful with lease options, however, as your tenant can be found to have an equitable interest in the property and you can be faced with expensive foreclosure costs rather than a simple eviction. Good luck.
Da Wiz
Keep it clear, use a well written lease.
Jim
A verbal agreement is law in most states. A judge will assume that since the person is in your house and you say they are renters, that is no doubt the situation. In Michigan a written lease is only required for a term over one year.
However, I am not saying no lease, I am saying a month to month written lease that clearly sets out term, rent due dates, late fees, termination notice requirements, entry notification, etc. etc. There are a lot of things it is good to be absolutely clear on...
Chris
Whenever you have a tenant there is a rental agreement. A lease usually means that the rental agreement is for a set period of time - 1 year being the most common. Some people do not write anything down and they have a verbal understanding. This is still a rental agreement. Some people just let friends move in and start paying rent without even a verbal agreement, this is still a rental agreement. The courts would have certain criteria (how often did they pay rent, what was the amount that was accepted for rent, etc) and certain accepted customs to determine the rental agreement.
So can you evict without a written lease - sure. You can file eviction on any tenant.
FYI Plantet Baltimore. We just bought a beautiful double (3/3) in Buffalo for $33K. Rents are total of $950.
Of course, Buffalo has its own issues, i.e., landlords pay for the water which is quite expensive. We can sometimes separate it for our singles but often the tenants will just go down the street and rent from someone that includes it.
Quote:They also claim they can evict a deadbeat faster for non-payment of rent. rick54,
I would ask "them" why they keep renting to deadbeats.
A month to month lease is great when you are renting to deadbeats, but I much prefer a written annual lease with well screened tenants. I would rather keep a property vacant than rent to deadbeats.
You will find that well screened tenants take better care of your property and tend to stay longer. Slower turnover means a low vacancy rate, which translates to consistently higher cash flows.
Rick - IMHO it would be better to hire a lawn care service and build the cost into the rent of the 4 units equally. This would eliminate the possiblility of one vacancy causing you to handle the lawn or the other three tenants assuming the grass cutter is your property manager.
Jim
What does the lease say?
Most of the time the type of tenants you have to pickup rent from can barely pay the rent much less a pickup charge. At the very least to be fair you would have to give the tenants a choice and if they decide have them drop off the rent to you. I just have them use the mail.
Also these other companies chargeing an extra charge do not have a long term agreement they are changeing before the end of the term. Also you could require tenants to mail or drop off to you but chargeing to receive payments sounds like a good way to piss off a judge if ever in court.
That may be true but I think I may have to add that to the lease. Most of my tenents mail and I have a clause about late fees so why not add this in. I think it may open some eyes and get people to pay on time. I have a lot that are now using billpay so maybe I can get the rest on that.
Definitely encourage them to use an online/direct debit payment method to pay you. It saves time and money. What if you drrive out to them and their not home? How many times are you going to do that?
It is a long drive (45 min one way) for some.Some of my tenents do not have computer access. I also provide housing to special needs individuals who are afraid of the mail and the bank. I would not ever charge then because I knew it when I rented to them. Anything other than handing me cash give them an opportunity to blame someone else or something else.
Business is business and life is life and it is getting to the point where these cost must be passed on. It is a statement of our times and something we should all be worried about which is an ecconomic slow down. When cost get passed on and all of us are paying more for food, loans, gas and such it will cause us to pause and wonder where did the good times go.
if they had to mail it to you would you allow them to deduct for the postage?????? I think not....so why should you charge them for something that you elect to do. You could get a po box and have it mailed.
James,
Let’s pose this question a little differently…..
Creative Investors – I have several multi-family units that include the utilities in the monthly rent. Recently, the utilities have increased over 50% per month. Should I raise the rent?
We put over 25000 miles a year on our business vehicle so I identify with your concern.
Now back to your question –What about giving them an option to pay a minor pickup fee or send/bring the rent to you. That would allow your special needs tenants a clear choice. If your lease doesn’t specifically allow you to surcharge or raise the rent during its term you may be out of luck until renewal. But you could approach your tenants now with the idea that agreeing to a new lease amount at this time will be less expensive than waiting for the renewal so you are giving them the chance to save money. Approach it as a win-win solution to an issue neither you nor your tenants have control over. Also, I think I would refer to it as a pickup fee rather than a surcharge, which has a temporary connotation. When you switch someone from pickup to mail, you may want to be sure that your late payment penalties are clearly defined and cover your ass comfortably.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Jim
[ Edited by jimandlacy on Date 04/23/2006 ]
You get to write off 45 cents a mile on your taxes.
The problem is that you are picking up the rent check. Weekly rentals in boarding houses are the only landlords that I know who pick up the rent. You are an enabler to their disfunction. Believe me, not everybody they pay comes to collect their money. There is nobody who could function well enough to be on a lease and not be able to buy a money order and post a letter.