Landlords opinions please - How do you deal with repairs/maintenance

[ddrhazy]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

I have roughly half apartments and half single family homes... if a tenant needs an appliance I will help... the last couple of turnovers I was able to arrange for the outgoing tenant to sell the appliances to the new tenant...

Of course, if the appliance is built in like a dishwasher or wall oven... I furnish it.



Section 8 has become very adversarial where I do business... no matter what happens... it is the landlord's job to make immediate repair and try to collect from the tenant later.

It was not always this way... when I started, each family had an assigned worker that knew the family history and monitored for problems and had no problem telling the tenant exactly what needed regarding housekeeping etc.

Since contract inspectors have replaced housing workers... there is little continuity or follow through... also the appointment times have changed from a time certain to morning/afternoon...

Also, since Housing no longer is party to damage claims... they no longer hold tenants accountable...

I do recommend that landlords litigate against section 8. The housing authority will discontinue assistance if recipients have judgments and evictions against them.

[Bakeneko]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

For my rentals I require the tenant to pay a "deductible" of $100. The repair can range from something as simple as a leaky faucet to something as huge as replacing an HVAC unit. Other landlords say they don't charge anything at all because it discourages people from reporting broken items. However if I allowed tenants to demand repairs with no cost to them they would not be as careful with the items in the house so the deductible is a way to give incentive for proper care of the amenities.

What do you other landlords do? If you can provide details for how you write up your own maintenance clauses in your leases that would be much appreciated also.

Yikes, I can't imagine how that would work. My experience has been that I want to do EVERYTHING in my power to get tenants to report things that are broken.

[Ultrarunner]

This works if the landlord/tenant relationship is terminated and a nightmare if not.

The last thing I want is to have a tenant kicked off the program while residing in one of my units.

Not only would I have a problem tenant with little means... I would lose the Section 8 portion of the rent.

Back in the 80's and even 90's... I thought very favorably towards the Section 8 program... It's just every change HUD implements shifts an ever greater burden on the Landlord.

HUD getting out of the Security Deposit side of things did it for me... and the HUD reason was it was spending too much paying damage claims... and that says it all right there.

[ddrhazy]

I would never do it while a tenant is in the house but after they vacate and you've assessed the damage they've left behind you can consider your options.

[nkull]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

What I'm thinking of doing in future leases is having all plumbing and electrical be free of charge but charging someone to come out for appliances. My rentals are below market by about 10% and I'll change that as people move out as I don't believe in raising rents on people.

I do understand the problems when charging for maintenance but I was doing something similar like oregonwoodsmoke's landlord was doing; offering lower rent but having the tenant be partly responsible for maintenance. There are many things that get mistreated and it does reduce the life of item and sometimes it's impossible to get evidence to demonstrate that they are not taking care of the house but you know that your own house never has these many issues yet a rental is full of them.

When I have tenant's calling me and saying the laundry dryer is dead and I bought it 3 years ago, I know they're not taking care of it or heavily using it. I've had tenants swear right to me face that the air filters are constantly being changed only for me to look to see that's absolutely not true. I do my inspections quarterly but sometimes that's not enough to catch certain problems happening.

I would not supply a washer / dryer, and if I did it would be "disposable" and not replaced if it broke per the lease, left at their request stating I would be happy to remove before they move in if they don't want it.

That said, a dryer or washer breaking in 3 years is not uncommon now days and does not necessarily indicate abuse. The stuff isn't built like it used to be and many of these units are garbage the day they leave the store, unless you buy Speed Queen, those will probably last 25+ years in your rental.