Category Archives: Property Management Tips

Questions from Property Managers: Early Termination and Co-Signers

  By Judy | September 7, 2011 - 3:30 pm | Property Management Industry Trends, Property Management Tips
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Property Managers are frequently faced with an all-too-common scenario, these days: The tenant has lost his/her job, and can no longer afford the rent. Here’s a question that came to me via email the other day, and my response:

What’s an owner to do?

We are currently renting out our home, and the tenants signed a year lease(with a co-signer) in Feb. 2011. Yesterday, we received an email from them stating they can no longer stay in the home because the husband has been laid off. They asked us if they could stay until next month and use their security deposit as a rent payment for September. He says his cell phone has been cut off, so he can’t talk to us over the phone, and will only converse through email. I’m so angry but would like to deal with this in a professional and calm manner. Do you have any advice as to how to approach this situation? This is our first time renting our home out.

(more…)

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Questions from Property Managers – Part 2

  By Judy | August 25, 2011 - 7:51 am | Fair Housing, Managing the Management Office, Property Management Tips
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Thoughts on Tenant Selection

Last week, my blog addressed a few of the more common questions raised by Nevada Property Managers. This week, I’ll address a couple of questions received from a California landlord, as they pertain to managing residential rental property throughout the USA.

 

Screening Tenants

I am a landlord renting out a single detached home in California. I have received 5 applications to rent in the last couple of weeks, and I have two questions about the rental process.  (more…)

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Questions from Property Managers – Part I

  By Judy | August 17, 2011 - 8:00 am | Managing the Management Office, Property Management Tips
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Emailed questions from Property Management Pros

As anyone who has ever attended one of my property management classes knows, I welcome questions from the property management community in Nevada, and elsewhere. No, I don’t give legal advice, but I enjoy answering practical questions about the landlord/tenant business, fair housing, rental agreements, management contracts, policies and procedures, risk reduction, and other issues important to our industry. Whenever I do this, I learn something new.

 

This morning, it occurred to me that, if one person is asking, there may be ten with the same question who are not asking. Odds are, they’ll benefit from the information shared in these email exchanges, too.  So, with that in mind, here’s a sampling of questions recently emailed to me, and my responses.

 

Security Deposits

 

QUESTION: “The way I understand NRS 118A.242, I am allowed to collect a deposit that doesn’t exceed 3 months’ rent. Does this amount include the first month’s rent?”  (more…)

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Are you Pet Friendly?

  By Judy | April 22, 2011 - 10:12 am | NV Landlord/Tenant Law, Property Management Tips
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Are you Pet Friendly?

In a quick review of our local CraigsList rental ads, the term “no pets” is a common refrain. My wholly unscientific poll on these ads places the “no pets” policy at a ratio of about 50% of the total number of ads. As a long-time Nevada Property Manager, I fail to see the logic in a “no pets” policy. Here’s why:

 

About 62% of households in the U.S. have pets

 

This is reason #1 for me, supporting a pet-friendly policy. No matter how you slice it, a “no pets” statement in your rental ad immediately eliminates over half your potential market. Are vacancies a problem in your management portfolio? Allowing pets will certainly help to bring occupancy levels up.

 

Pets are good for our health

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Insurance and the Property Manager

  By Judy | April 7, 2011 - 10:19 am | Managing the Management Office, Property Management Tips
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Insurance and the Property Manager

 

Insurance is an integral part of sustaining and growing your business. Unfortunately, there is a great amount of misunderstanding about insurance and as a result, most people either do not buy the proper coverage for their situation, or have inadequate coverage.

 

When buying insurance it is very important to know what risk you face in your business, and how well you manage them. Risks are inherent in all aspects of our business. Good business practices, will minimize but not eliminate the likelihood of these risks becoming liabilities. Insurance will defend and indemnify the business when the risks do become liabilities.

 

Property Management Professionals have a unique set of risks…  (more…)

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Appliance Repair – Landlord Responsibility?

  By Judy | January 14, 2011 - 9:31 am | NV Landlord/Tenant Law, Property Management Tips
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Appliance Repair - Landlord Responsibility?

This issue seems to be a recurring theme among Nevada Property Managers. At least once a month, I’ll receive an email from a residential manager asking me a variation of this question. Whose responsibility is it? Although I’ve addressed the issue before, I think it’s important to revisit it, in response to a recent email:

I manage a rental property in northern Nevada that includes a refrigerator with an icemaker. The icemaker stopped working, and I’m told it will cost more to repair the icemaker than to replace the refrigerator. The tenant says I am required to repair the icemaker or replace the refrigerator. Is this true?

The answer is a solid “Maybe.”

Nevada Landlord/Tenant Law tells us it is the landlord’s responsibility to maintain appliances in good repair, if they are supplied by the landlord. In the same section of law, the landlord and tenant are allowed enter into an agreement making the tenant responsible for some repair items, only if: (more…)

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ADA and Fair Housing – There is a difference!

  By Judy | December 16, 2010 - 10:07 am | Fair Housing, Property Management Tips
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Assistance Animal (click photo for source)

Recently, a student asked me about an article she saw published in a trade magazine for Community Association Managers that addresses recent changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, or ADAA – as amended). In part, the article states:

“The new [ADA] regulations should put an end to the countless service animal questions that have vexed managers, attorneys and judges for decades. The 2010 [ADA] regulations narrow the definition of service animal specifically to dogs…No more debate about monkeys, pot-bellied pigs, cats, or birds.”

The article seems to imply the new ADA regulations apply to resident requests for service animals, which is not the case. The article goes on to say (emphasis added):

“Training has become a key factor. Not only must dogs be trained, but the training must relate directly to the resident’s disability… The [ADA] act makes clear that dogs that simply provide emotional support, comfort or companionship do not qualify as service animals.”

I found these statements to be shockingly misleading.  (more…)

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Some of the best conversations take place on Facebook

  By Judy | December 14, 2010 - 2:58 pm | Fair Housing, Property Management Tips
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Some of the best conversations...

I returned to my office this afternoon, fully “charged” by the highly interactive training session I co-facilitated this morning in Reno. Our topic was fair housing, and the group was very engaged, offering up questions and comments of great relevance to the group of housing providers. We had property managers, landlords, community managers, leasing agents, and maintenance personnel in attendance.

After settling in at my desk for the afternoon, I posted this on Facebook: (more…)

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Would you pay your tenant to leave?

  By Judy | November 22, 2010 - 3:05 pm | NV Landlord/Tenant Law, Property Management Tips
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Would you pay your tenant to leave?

____________________________

Why would a landlord offer to pay his tenant to vacate? At first blush, it seems absurd, right? If the tenant is fulfilling his obligations under the lease, why would the property manager offer to pay the tenant to vacate?

There are a couple of situations in which I can envision this occurring. In each case, it would be because the landlord has no legal standing to require the tenant to vacate. In other words, the tenant is occupying the property under a long-term lease, and fulfilling his obligations under that lease. In the absence of default by the tenant, the property manager cannot force the tenant to vacate, and must rely solely on his/her negotiation skills to resolve the issue.

Imagine this scenario…

You just signed a one-year lease with your tenant last week. As the property manager, you did so under the authority given to you by the owner in the Property Management Agreement. On Monday morning, you receive an email from the property owner. Her job on the east coast has ended unexpectedly, and she wants to move back into the home within the next 2 months. She asks you to get the tenant out of the property, and make sure the home is ready for her upon her return. (more…)

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Maintenance – Whose job is it?

  By Judy | November 14, 2010 - 8:32 am | NV Landlord/Tenant Law, Property Management Tips
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Who maintains the appliances?

I’m frequently asked whether the Nevada property manager (landlord) is responsible for maintaining such things as air conditioning, washers and dryers, and microwaves. It seems there exists a bit of confusion around landlord vs. tenant items of responsibility.

Here’s my take on it…

I’m often heard to say, “If you provide it, you maintain it.” In my non-lawyerly opinion, this means if the landlord provides something as an amenity, the landlord must maintain it, UNLESS there is a clear agreement between the parties to shift responsibility for maintenance to the tenant. (more…)

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