r/Landlord

I have a house in Brooklyn New York.

I have a tenant who hasn't paid rent in last 8 months, and I have started the process already with a lawyer. I just got a court date just now of December???? He moved in 9 months ago.

My lawyer filed a case against him for non payment and he had to answer within 10 day by august, and tenant just replied and chose "Other: need time to pay".

NOW the court date has been set for December. Please tell me if there is a way to get earlier court date. He has already lived here for 8 months without rent, he can't just live here for next 4-5 months too? He is also bothering the neighbors too and spreading trash which I am going and cleaning.

I am paying mortgage and paying utilities too, please tell me if there is away to get earlier date?
I am currently unemployed too. I can't afford him to stay for next 4 months. I don't want to loose my house to bank, while he will just stay there for free and will move to another house do the same thing.

In the petition of notice, it said "When you Answer the Petition, you will get a date to come back to Court 3 to 8 days later" But this is 4 months?

Sorry I am panicking since I am unemployed and have to pay huge mortgage and bought this house thinking I can get an extra income, instead I am loosing money and going in minus and I had to take a loan too earlier this year from someone else.

I know I can Google a specific address and get an old rental listing, but that's not really what I'm after. Here's my issue, I own properties in and around Boston. It's a student-centered market, and something like 90% of leases run from 9/1 to 8/31 the following year. Even though the lease dates are roughly the same, each micro market has its peak demand months. For many its mid-May to mid-July, for others, it's January and February.

This is also when I'm at my busiest with construction projects. It's during this time when I need to go to Zillow and look at comps to get an idea of where rents are at. This way, if I have a vacancy the following year and want to list it before most people, I have a more accurate idea of where rents stand. But if I get too busy in this window, I miss my opportunity. It's not the end of the world, the next year I can always list it high and bring it down over time if I don't get enough bites. But I prefer the efficiency of pricing it right from the beginning. Less wasted time for prospective tenants and for me. I want to look at 50-100 listings from a specific time. I usually need that many to get the 10 listings with the same number of bedrooms and same quality as my units that I base my rents on.

What do other people do?

I got a job out of state and they want me to start in the next few weeks which means relocating there. My apartment lease in Texas expires 11/30/2026 and requires a 60 day notice. There is an early termination fee equal to one month's rent in my TAA lease.

If I put in a 60 day notice tomorrow, August 21, I would still be responsible for rent until October 21, plus pay the ETF which is essentially the same as November's rent. So I'm not really saving any money at that point.

Ideally what I would like to do is just pay the rent through November, move out in a few weeks, and hand over the keys. The landlord has the rent and then I won't be stuck paying utilities on an apartment that's vacant. But if they leased the apartment to someone else in the meantime, would they have to refund me the rent I paid?

Or is there a better way of handling this that I'm not thinking of?

I’ve used a depreciation calculator but I still don’t think I’m doing it right. The property was purchased in 2017 for $30,000, then a house was built for roughly $270,000. The current value of the property if it did not have a house on it is about $120,000.

I’m coming up with over $7000 a year as deductible depreciation. Is that even close to being right?

I am a landlord, I have a single family house in Brooklyn, renting out my garage in 2 years to a plumber for 300 dollars a month.

He ended up suing me, and all my neighbors because he said he slipped. He basically tried to sue the home insurance company.

The home insurance company denied him.

I have asked him to leave. He said he needs time to look for a place. He has not paid rent in 2 months.

Do I need a lawyer to properly evict him? If it’s just a storage garage does he have rights like a regular tenant? Like the garage is detached from the house and has no electricity and no water and no heat.

He used the garage as a storage for all his plumbing tools and supplies

So, my wife’s family owns a home that is in sister-in-law (A)s name. She will be leaving the country soon for a while and has agreed to let us rent the house out with me as the property manager. She named me power of attorney on the house. My wife and I will receive 75% of the revenue and sister-in-law (B) will receive 25%. Sister-in-law (A) is not asking for compensation

I was under the impression that I would just pay the income taxes on it since I am the one being made the payment to. Apparently it’s way more complicated and sister-in-law (A) has to claim the income, but deduct what she pays me, then deduct what she pays the other sister, but this makes no sense because that is 100% of the income and there’s no way to deduct other expenses

If anyone has any insight on this, I would greatly appreciate it

Is there no way for me to just pay the taxes and make the necessary deductions? Maybe through a LLC?

Hi everyone,

This month is the final month of my tenant’s lease, and they have already told me that they do not intend to renew.

A few days ago, however, they suddenly informed me that they plan to move out within the next few days and asked whether I would refund/prorate the rent for the remainder of the month after they move out.

My understanding was that since the lease runs through the end of the month, they are still responsible for the full month’s rent even if they voluntarily move out early, unless we mutually agree to end the lease early. But I’m not sure if I’m interpreting this correctly.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Am I generally expected or required to prorate/refund the remaining rent if the tenant chooses to leave before the lease expiration date?

New tenant wants us to replace a vent hood in the kitchen. I have never known the vent hood to work, and if I’m being honest, I haven’t thought about it in many years. It didn’t work when I bought the house when I lived there a decade ago and no tenant has ever brought up the issue in the past so, to be quite honest I forgot all about it long ago.

A vent hood doesn’t seem like a necessary appliance to me so I’m trying to determine if that is a luxury/add-on type item, or something that needs to be replaced. I’ll likely have it replaced, but just wondering what the general opinion was.

We are trying to rent our home first time and so far running into tenants who have not filed tax returns (has happened twice, the fist one backed out). The latest application is from couples who are unmarried and are able to show W2 and Bank account details but refusing to share the tax returns.
Is it necessary to look at the tax returns?

Hey guys, I’m in Georgia and I’m trying to figure out if I can just move out of my apartment.

For background, I applied to be added to the apartment as a roommate, but I have never signed a lease for the unit. I also never paid the apartment complex directly. I sent my roommate my half of the rent through Apple Pay, and she took the money but did not pay the apartment.

There was a renewal offer that had my name on it, but I was not a resident on the previous lease. The actual lease was later sent to me to sign, and I never signed it. I also never paid a security deposit or any other money directly to the apartment. They gave me the keys before I signed any lease documents.

At this point, I do not want to live with someone who takes my portion of the rent and then does not pay it. My roommate will still be living in the unit, so the apartment would not be left vacant.

Something in my gut told me not to sign the actual lease after the renewal offer was selected, and now I’m glad I didn’t.

Since I have never signed the prior lease or the new lease, can I just move my belongings out, return my keys, and leave? What could realistically happen if I decide to move out this weekend?

Also, should I move all of my things out before I tell the leasing office that I’m not signing the lease, or should I notify them first?

I’m mainly looking for advice from anyone familiar with Georgia landlord-tenant law or who has been in a similar situation.

I lived in the larger half of my duplex and decided to rent it out to make some extra money. I found what I thought were great tenants and we signed a year lease. It’s been a bit of a bummer and I don’t wish to renew when the lease is up in a few months. From what I can tell I should be ok since I live in an owner occupied duplex. I still live here in the other side if the property. I know CA has strict laws but I don’t believe I’m subject to them from everything I’ve researched. Has anyone been through a similar situation who can maybe give me some advice?

So, one of my tenants, who has paid her rent on time since her tenancy started in March 2026, informed me that she's lost her job and will not be able to pay her rent on time this (and next?) month. She is applying for Mass state assistance. My experience is the state assistance could take 8 weeks to come through, if at all. The question is, do I ride it out with her or force the issue...

[Landlord US- NE]

Would you rent to this tenant?

- 557 credit score

- Makes 3-3.5x the rent driving for Uber (not a consistent/reliable income source)

- No evictions

- Has lived in the same place for 5 years and paid on time/in full; slightly less expensive place than mine, but similar.

i appreciate the confidence i got from this sub. it was about tenants who moved eviction papers unto another door to make it look like it was improper service. they waited for tenant to leave for a moment before they moved their papers to his door.

they were running a psychic business and uselessly trying to hide it. they signed an agreement to leave at the end of the month and they didn't.

someone said tenants being evicted always wait last minute and that proved true. the judge just laid it out, you either paid or you didn't. it was really a waste of time, and they had no plan going in, but it was a first experience for me, and they finally left. it took about a month and a half to get them out, but they were given a month just to show the court there was plenty of good faith, but that didn't seem necessary at all. it was a simple "did you or didn't you" matter. gave them an extra 5 days to leave, which took another 2 on top of that.

i appreciate the landlords who put things into perspective. thank you.

Property managers/leasing agents, especially women: I need your perspective on showing occupied homes

I work in property management, and our owner is pushing us to begin showing occupied rental homes to prospective tenants, including people who have not applied or been screened.
Initially, we agreed that occupied homes would only be shown after an application was approved. The owner is now wanting us to show them to essentially anyone interested because he doesn’t want to lose a month of rent while waiting for the current tenant to move out.

I have three major concerns:

1. Employee safety
Most of our management staff are women, and this was never a responsibility when we were hired. We would potentially be entering an occupied home and walking through the entire property alone with a stranger whose identity and background we don’t know.
I’m not talking about being uncomfortable. I have a legitimate fear of sexual assault or physical violence. There are documented cases of real estate agents being robbed, assaulted, and murdered while conducting showings.
I also don’t think my male boss necessarily views the risk the same way female employees do. For women, the possibility of being alone in a basement, bedroom, garage, etc. with an unknown man is a very real safety concern.

2. Tenant privacy and security
The tenant’s home contains their personal belongings, medications, documents, valuables, children’s belongings, etc. How do we prevent theft or someone using the showing to “case” the property?
What if the person requesting the showing is an abusive ex-partner or someone the tenant has a protection order against? We wouldn’t necessarily know that connection.
There’s also the possibility of prospects taking pictures/videos of the tenant’s belongings, damaging something, or returning later after seeing the home’s layout and security.

3. The additional workload
This isn’t really a 30-minute showing. We’d have to coordinate with the tenant, provide notice, schedule around their availability, travel to the property, potentially verify IDs, supervise the prospect through the entire home, prevent photos/videos, and make sure the property is secured afterward.
If multiple people want to see the home, I don’t feel comfortable having unrelated prospects walking through an occupied tenant’s home together.
Our jobs already involve managing current tenants, move-outs, inspections, vendors, make-readies, applications, and vacant-home showings. This would be an entirely additional responsibility.
I’m not saying occupied homes can never be shown. I’m trying to figure out what reasonable safety procedures look like.
For those of you who actually do this:
Do you require an application or screening first?
Do you verify government-issued ID?
Does another employee accompany the person showing the home?
Would it be reasonable for a female employee to request a second employee or maintenance person accompany her?
Does your company provide self-defense training or other safety resources?
Do you have a written policy for showing occupied homes?
Can employees refuse a showing if they feel unsafe?
How do you protect the tenant’s belongings and privacy?
Are prospects allowed to take photos/videos?
Have you or your tenants experienced theft, harassment, threats, assault, or property damage from a showing?

I’d especially like to hear from women in property management, leasing, or real estate. What safeguards does your company use, and what would you consider a reasonable request from employees being asked to take on this responsibility?
I’m also looking for documented examples of crimes or other incidents involving real estate/leasing agents or occupied homes being shown. I’d like to understand the actual risks and bring some objective information back to my employer rather than relying solely on my personal concerns.

I am the landlord of a single family home that is rented to tenants who have informed me they will not renew the lease and asked if I would consider terminating the lease early. There is no termination clause in the lease.

I'm considering selling the home. I would agree to let them out early if they were to cooperate with me during the process of getting pictures of the home, keeping the house clean, accommodating showings, etc.

Has anyone dealt with this and can offer me any advice? They have been great reasonable tenants and I think they would be willing to deal with the headaches and annoyances that come with selling a home.

Hi, I'm a property manager for a queens apartment and we have a huge backyard. So we rented to a person with a dog once and they destroyed the backyard so we vowed to never rent to people with dogs again. I could rent out the space to a dog person for 3500K but I lowered the price to people without dogs for $3200. Today someone contacted me and when I asked if they had pets they said no but then after I made an appointment to show they said they had a service dog. Like, what? Now I'm on the hook. It sucks because I can get much more money for this space for a regular dog but now it feels like they are trying to trick me. What do I do? I know I can't say "No Service Dogs!" legally. Do I just not contact them again? Anybody know what to do?

December 2025 I closed on a townhome that had a tenant in it. His lease at the time continued until April 2026. Salvation Army paid his original down payment and rent as part of some assistance program he was on. The Salvation Army informed me when I inherited the situation that he was not compliant with their program (he had to communicate and prove he was looking for a job). They continued to pay his rent until the end of lease despite that. Lease ends, tenant doesnt pay me for two months and is impossible to get ahold of. I follow my state’s law and deliver a 30 day notice. He eventually reached out stating that he was having a hard time finding a job, but finally landed something. He ended up paying rent for July and August, but I cant get him to sign a lease. Do I just let it ride? I also lowered the rent value for him to help him out.