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ooomph! I suddenly seem to have made a lot of enemies in here. Would it help to explain that my mother has not raised this tenant's rent in about 10 years; that in that time she has borne the repeated costs of nearly monthly repairs on something going wrong in this 1939 structure to the tune of roughly 20,000 dollars over the years out of her own pocket, even things that were the tenant's fault (broken windows, plumbing bursts because the tenant didn't turn the spigots off, creating pressure in the lines, etc. Did I mention out of her own pocket? Don't be so quick to judge until you have all the facts.
Thank you, rjrcm, for the only decent, not to mention logical answer from the bunch.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 12-17-2009 at 10:00 AM..
Its called the price of owning and renting property. Also, it's our fault that your mother hasn't raised the rent in 10 years??? I'm not sure your "facts" really change my opinion.
if i understand your question you want to know can you pass on under rent control a new roof as a capital improvement expense..
you really have to check with local rent control laws and see what they classify as a repair item and what they classify as a capital improvement. they dont always coincide with the irs guidelines..
assuming it qualifies as a capital item then certain formulas apply as to how much and over how long a capital improvement can be added into rent. you cant just bill them for it
i did find an article pertaining to san francisco and a new roof qualifies as a capital improvement that can be passed on.... im not sure of the formula though as to how its passed but its quite complicated and can take many many years to get your money back..
repairing the roof though wouldnt qualify neither does deferred maintaince such as getting a building in need of major repairs
Rent Control Doesn't Help Tenants When Landlords Add a New Roof (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/05/17/HO99488.DTL - broken link)
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-17-2009 at 01:54 PM..
if i understand your question you want to know can you pass on under rent control a new roof as a capital improvement expense..
you really have to check with local rent control laws and see what they classify as a repair item and what they classify as a capital improvement. they dont always coincide with the irs guidelines..
assuming it qualifies as a capital item then certain formulas apply as to how much and over how long a capital improvement can be added into rent. you cant just bill them for it
Thank you, mathjack. Now there's a response for the others to emulate
Quote:
if i understand your question you want to know can you pass on under rent control a new roof as a capital improvement expense..
That's the key term: not just an ordinary broken window kind of thing but a major improvement. In the interim I did check with the housing authority and they said that 50% of a capital improvement can be passed on but the mechanics of how to do it were explained somewhat vaguely to me. Hence your third paragraph makes the jumble the housing rep spilled much easier to comprehend.
Also thank you for that very informative article.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 12-17-2009 at 03:23 PM..
Reason: later addition
i have to admit my first reaction reading it the first time was you were going to send the tenants a bill for 1/2 the roof....
but then i realized you wanted to know about passing on capital improvements.
Exactly! I know I can't just hand them a bill for 50k in a 100k improvement and say "Pay this now" but my mother is tapped out now because of HUGE medical bills and because of her generous nature in shouldering the wear-and-tear w/o any corresponding rent increases to help.
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