r/Landlord

Tenant has requested to be present for move out inspection. I hate conflict/confrontation and would prefer to complete the inspection on my own and let them know what the results are. This is the first time I've ever had a tenant ask to be present during the inspection. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?

For context, I am my own property manager. When I met this tenant, she was perfectly nice, though she had been previously homeless. Despite that, I decided to move forward with the lease. She has rented from me for 7 years (although she hasn't made one payment yet).

I decided to conduct a surprise inspection at 3am the other night. She was very excited to see me, so I wasn’t expecting any problems, though she can tend to be high maintenance, contacting me when she needs things like belly rubs. She likes a lot of attention. When I conducted my inspection, I found she had pooped in the hallway.

There is a perfectly good bathroom inside the house, though she prefers to go outside usually either in the backyard or while walking around the neighborhood. I just wasn’t expecting this behavior. I’m just not quite sure how to proceed. Any thoughts?

EDIT: this was a one off event so I think I'm going to let it slide since normally she's a very good girl. Just curious what others would do.

TLDR: should I be worried about water seeping into basement long term and handle this with landlord differently?

I’ve been renting a small house almost a year and want to renew my lease but 80% of the time when it rains there are about 5-6 puddles in the unfinished basement from water seeping in from the sides.

I take pics and send to the landlord each time just as an FYI, as my lease states I must make them aware of any leaks. I keep my stored items in plastic tubs so they aren’t affected, and my washer/dryer (that I brought) are on a riser so don’t get wet either. But do I have to mop it up each time and run my fan? I told her I have before but I only go down there for laundry so don’t always see the puddles each time or right away.

I’m worried it could come back on me if mold grows or it damages the floors, etc or gets worse? But I don’t want to be a pain as I understand it’s an older home and I’m getting a good deal.

Former tenants left the place a mess. I documented everything through video and hired a cleaning crew to clean the place. Not one of the tenants asked for a walkthrough to be done before they moved out even though it was highly suggested that they do so. Not did any of them fill out the move in walkthrough list to show if anything was damaged or dirty. When cleaning was done, I sent them notice of the amount that was being held from their deposit, why it was being held, and a copy of the invoice from the cleaning company. I did not send them the video I made because it’s not required for me to do so plus they know how they left the place. I refunded the remainder of their deposit before the required 30 days.

Today I received an email demanding that I return the remainder of their deposits stating that they had requested that I provide an itemized breakdown of the cleaning that was done, verify that the cleaning was done only to their unit and not any others, and supporting evidence demonstrating that the cleaning was necessary due to damage or condition beyond ordinary wear and tear. It also states that I have 5 days to return the wrongfully withheld deposit.

I’m at a loss here. I’m pretty sure this is a form letter they found on the internet. I had provided the invoice for the cleaning and proof of payment, but that invoice did not provide any details of what they cleaned, it was just considered a move out cleaning. I had gotten quotes from 2 companies and paid the going rate for the area. I’m tempted to just ignore the demand. They are definitely welcome to pursue it in court, but wondering if there will be any ramifications for not responding to them. These tenants were a nightmare to have living there and I’m glad they’re gone, but hate that I’m still having to deal with them.

It's been a traumatic week doing my first move out inspection of my first rental home. Some items are completely missing ie a 300 dollar chandelier replaced with cheap TEMU piece of junk, a nice overhead light replace with a cheap fan, a large lockable outdoor storage box . Do I even waste my time chasing these or just deduct their costs from the Security deposit. I know the tenant is going to say, " they stopped working so I replaced them." But that's likely not true, he just wanted to change things without permission.

I do not have receipts for these particular items, but I can find their approximate value online. Will that suffice for security deposit withholding? Who knew people steal chandeliers? At this point even if I do get the items back they will likely be damaged, and I will have to re-install them, which isn't free.

Hello everyone,
I’m a fairly new landlord with about a year of experience. Our HOA requires tenant approval before anyone can move in, which includes a $150 application fee.
Here’s my current process:
• I fully vet the prospective tenant first (background check, credit score, income, references, etc.).
• Once they pass my screening, I submit the HOA application.
The problem is that HOA approval can take up to 30 days. Many good tenants are ready to move in within a couple of weeks and don’t want to wait. I don’t want to keep a qualified applicant on the fence or risk losing them, but I also want to get the lease signed and secure the rental.
How do other landlords handle this timing conflict?
Do you typically:
• Sign the full lease before HOA approval (with a contingency clause)?
• Have the tenant submit and pay the HOA application earlier in the process?
• Build extra buffer time into your screening timeline?
Any experiences, tips, or sample lease language would be really helpful. Thanks in advance!

Hello, First of all, I'm not from the US, Canada, or the UK, but I'd love to hear different ideas and perspectives from people in other countries.

I recently took over managing my mother's rental properties a couple of weeks ago. Before I took over, I noticed there were quite a few issues with rent collection across the different houses.

I'd like to use the Reminders app on iOS to help manage my tenants and keep track of rent payments, but I'm open to anything that makes staying organized easier.

Do you have any recommendations for managing rent collection, tracking leases, organizing maintenance, or anything else that has made your life as a landlord easier?

Thanks!

For those who rent rooms, do you have your thermostat under a lockbox?

We have 2 SF homes 800 sq/ft 1/1 each with LVP flooring. After 3-4 years the flooring I installed looks horrible and cheap IMO. I’m looking for quality flooring that could get me 6-8 years and still look good. I have same flooring throughout. Thanks in advance for any specific recommendations. I have 30 days before tenant move out.

Hi All, I am looking for tips on what kind of furniture to buy for my ADU. I want to rent it as furnished for the college term for visiting professors and such. Not interested in Airbnb. I already have a good queen bed and mattress and a Ikea Sleeper sofa. I need patio furniture for the backyard and the deck upstairs. Also a dresser for the bedroom and a small dinette with two chairs. Plus cookware and utensils and such for the kitchenette. Where do I look for these? Costco / Ikea? Anything specific that folks who rent out furnished homes recommend? I will get linens, etc as well.

Bay Area landlords: do you start out with new tenants on a month to month lease, or a longer six or 12 month one? What are the pros and cons?

Until recently I have only rented out a room in my house for which I always use month-to-month, because what if my roommate and I wind up hating each other? But now I am working to rent out a condo studio apartment I inherited and it's a bit stressful not knowing whether the next tenant will leave at a bad time of year. I'm thinking that a six or 12-month lease might be the better way to go, but I have no experience with these and also don't know if they tend to turn away prospective tenants.

If you saw my post last night about my suspicion of out recently kicked out tenant “22” living with her sister “13” in the back yard then you’ll know what’s going on, if not check my profile to get up to speed if you care.

So I just picked up rent from 13 and 22 is not living in her back yard, the mattresses and tent are according to 13 her old things and she’s getting new stuff, again out two and two together and it’s pretty obvious that it’s 22s stuff and mattresses at 13s place and 22 has likely brought their roach infestation to 13s place.

Now for the bad part I went in the house to inspect a repair on the fridge and found out she’s got quite a few more people living there than those on the lease.
All three bedroom doors were closed with voices behind 2 of them, there was a teen boy in the hall and a teen girl on the couch who aren’t on the lease.
For record 13 is the official tenant with her toddler mother and uncle being approved occupants.

This shit just went from bad ish to completely fucked…
We’ve had this issue before with a bunch of people being at 13s place but we can’t prove that they’re living there as 13 says they’re friends that are just visiting.

If I give her a 7 day cure or quit she’s just gonna say they’re visitors and I really can’t prove it other than daily emergency inspections…
I feel like I’m beating my head against a wall, all the tenants are just issues after issue, if this didn’t make the money I live off of, I would have completely lost my shit by now.

May have a situation of having an unauthorized occupant in our rental - tenant has asked if sibling can move-in, we said no because sibling didn't pass credit/background check. I drive by the rental on my way to work and noticed that the sibling's car has been there on multiple days.

Would you do something about this or would you just let it go (assuming the sibling doesn't cause any issues and there's no damage, etc.)

Is there even a way to prove that the sibling is living there full time? If I notify them that this is not allowed, I feel like they can always just say the sibling is just visiting. Or they could move the car elsewhere and he could still be there without us knowing.

We had our property management company come and repair a broken ballast on our staircase.

The technician that came was new, as the prior one had been promoted to manager of all their properties.

When he was repairing it, he said “I noticed you had some lightbulbs out. I have bulbs in my truck, would like me to replace them for you?”, tone heavily suggesting it to be a courtesy.

We were surprised by the offer, as we have always taken care of those ourselves. We thanked him and said “sure! We would love that”

The next day, we got an $84 charge for replacing the 7 or so lightbulbs.

The lease agreement states we are responsible for general upkeep around the house and always understood that to include the lightbulbs. And for the 5 years we have been in the house, we always replaced the lightbulbs ourselves.

The lease does not, however, state they will charge us if they provide services for such tasks. Nor does it list charges for if the management company were to do it themselves.

FACTS UP TO THIS POINT:
\- We agree with the property management company it is our responsibility.
\- There is no listing of charges for services rendered by the management company
\- The replacement of the lightbulbs was offered to us as a courtesy
\- There was never any disclosure that we would be charged for the service

I’ve been going back and forth with the office on this and they keep stating “this is the responsibility of the tenant”, which I already told them I agree with, and that it isn’t what we are fighting. We are fighting the undisclosed charge for the service offered as a courtesy by the technician.

Additionally, the technician is arguing that we initiated the request, not him.

We offered to pay the material cost of the lightbulbs, but not whatever service charge they tacked on top.

This really just seems like a big misunderstanding on protocols due to the new technician.

Thoughts?

NOTE: there are a few lines in the lease that say things like “all service requests must be submitted through their portal” (which the light bulb repair was not). I don’t care to make this argument about technicalities in the lease… but should I start pulling that card if they are to keep going back to the agreement?

I have been allowing a friend to stay with me while she gets through hard times. I've been providing for all of her needs (food, water, utilities, spending money, etc) and unfortunately she just isn't moving forward. It's been 5 months and she has no job, refuses to quit drinking and just won't get her life together. I am concerned she may make things complicated if I ask her to leave.

I am not technically a landlord and she just lives here rent free. I am the owner of my own home. I do plan to follow up a lawyer who has handled a couple of other things for me but I was hoping someone could give me some general direction on what to do. While I do hope it won't come to that, where she makes things difficult, I need to be prepared. Thanks for any advice.

I moved to the US from the UK in 2023. As many of you probably know, when you move countries your credit rating basically resets to zero. I'm still trying to build some semblance of a decent credit rating, but it's taking longer than I anticipated (more of a longevity issue in my case). However, I do have a long history of good relationships with landlords, both in the UK and, for the past three years, the US. Never been behind on rent.

Just wanted to get a landlord perspective on whether or not this would be enough in most cases, without the credit check element. I'm assuming I'd have to avoid agencies as credit checks are an integral part of their vetting process. But if you're an independent landlord who doesn't use agency management, what do you prioritise with a prospective tenant in terms of checks?