Q: My tenant wrote me a check to pay his rent and the check bounced. What should I do? Eric, Orlando, FL. A: The best way to deal with situations like this is to have a property management policy in place that is written in the lease you have your tenants sign that addresses this potential issue before it actually happens. Now, if done correctly your lease will entitle you to charge a reasonable fee that should cover your bank’s bounced check charge, and then a little more for the hassle of dealing with the problem. I charge tenants a fee for writing a bad check–it’s written into my lease and I also stop accepting rent by check after a […]
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Landlords beware of a prospective tenant who has no landlord references or has a reference that is too good to be true. A too-good-to-be-true reference may indicate that the previous landlord just wanted to get rid of a bad tenant by transferring their headache to another unsuspecting landlord.
continue reading Q: Gerald, I recently evicted a tenant. The tenant was months behind on rent and they really trashed the property. Should I go after them for my legal and court costs? Philip, Huntington Valley, PA A: Great question, Philip. In my view, charging delinquent tenants for legal and court costs first and foremost depends on whether you can legally charge for those costs where your property is located–landlord tenant laws vary widely from place to place so it’s your job to do the research to find that out. Assuming you can legally charge delinquent tenants for legal and court costs, the decision to do it or not depends in my view on how much those costs are and how much […]
continue reading Q: My cousin’s tenant wants to break his lease. I know a lease is a binding contract, but are there any good reasons to let a tenant break a lease? Quincy, Chesterbrook, PA. A: That’s a great question, Quincy. And you’re right, a lease is a binding contract. But to be an effective landlord, you have to embrace the world as it comes at you and not get bogged down in the theoretical idealism of how things are “supposed to be.” So, I’m going to give you an example where it would make sense to let a tenant break their lease. Let’s say you have a tenant and the tenant lost their job – they can’t pay the rent. Let’s say […]
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