Just a quote

“Though Alec had never seen the occupants of the first floor loft, they seemed to be engaged in a tempestuous romance. Once there had been a bunch of someone's belongings strewn all over the landing with a note attached to a jacket lapel addressed to "A lying liar who lies." Right now there was a bouquet of flowers taped to the door with a card tucked among the blooms that read I'M SORRY. That was the thing about New York: you always knew more about your neighbors' business than you wanted to.” 
― Cassandra Clare, City of Lost Souls

Bad Landlords, Make the rest look bad

Its landlord's like this that give landlords in general a bad name. Its a business, practices like that make it hard to get good tenants. Only someone who doesn't care about long term tenants and is looking to make a quick buck would let their property get like that. The property I currently own had a bad landlord, prior to my purchasing it. It took me years to escape the bad reputation. I spent weeks working on Tenant Screening trying to find a good tenant my first year. 90% of the applications had multiple eviction and some had criminal records. Now when i have to fill an apartment I have a lot of good choices. But it took a long time to earn that reputation, so seeing landlords pull this crap annoys me.

Couple sues landlord over mold in Bound Brook rental home

Published: Sunday, August 09, 2009, 6:27 AM     Updated: Monday, August 10, 2009, 10:44 AM

 By Tom Meagher 

BOUND BROOK -- A husband and his pregnant wife are suing their former landlords, accusing the Jersey City couple of failing to remediate "toxic mold" from the Bound Brook home they rented until May.

A complaint filed last week with Superior Court in Somerville alleges that the mold may have caused the health problems Floyd and Tabatha McColley suffered from while living in the Cedar Crest Road house, and also suggests that it had an impact on the woman's unborn child.

"There's a definite problem with the baby that will require... immediate action after birth," Floyd McColley said Thursday, but stopped short of saying mold is responsible for the unspecified medical issue that was diagnosed by an obstetrician.

The girl, expected in about two months, will be born at Columbia University Medical Center in New York "so she's right there with the best doctors when she's born," said Floyd McColley, who now lives with his wife in Brick Township, Ocean County.

The couple's complaint, filed on July 27 by attorney John Charles Allen of New Brunswick, claims Sameen and Yameen Khan, the Jersey City husband and wife who rented the house to them, failed to respond to complaints that there was "severe leaking" and "substantial growth of toxic mold" in the home they moved into in August 2008.

Both McColley's had become sick after living in the home, Floyd McColley said.

"It was a gradual worsening of symptoms," he said.

They had issues with being over-tired and had trouble breathing, said the husband, who's sickness were more pronounced.

"As a result of the defects to the property and more importantly, the hazardous conditions with the property, plaintiffs were forced to move out," the complaint says.

Both McColleys are healthier since leaving, said the husband.

After moving, the landlords hired contractors who the court filing calls unqualified and not properly equipped to remove the mold. The complaint says workers destroyed property left behind by the McColleys, and Floyd McColley, who hired his own mold expert, said Thursday that the mold was made worse by the contractors.

The Khans never paid for the cost of alternate housing or relocation, the complaint said.
Reached Thursday, Sameen Khan referred questions to the couple's attorney, Michael Wroblewski of New York.

"My clients vigorously deny the allegations and have acted responsibly through this matter," he said later that day, but didn't want to elaborate.

The McColleys' suit, which is requesting a jury trial, asks that the couple be awarded compensation for various damages, as well as legal fees.

Floyd McColley, a military contractor, said he and his wife moved to Bound Brook from Illinois after his employer called him back from Iraq to work in New Jersey.

The home appeared nice when they moved in, but the flooding started with the first rain storm, he said.

"We had high hopes of staying in this place only to find out we'd moved into a nightmare."

Why Landlords Tenant Screen

Ever wonder why your landlord asks you all those questions? Why you have to fill out endless forms every time you go apartment hunting? Well there is actually a good reason for it. Being a landlord is like being a business owner and the apartments are your business. Its the landlords job to insure that the apartments are a safe environment, both for the tenants benefit and their own. 

After all, if they get a tenant who decides to destroy the property because they are having a bad day, the landlord is responsible for paying for the damages.Its true that they can often get the money back in  court, however that takes time and even more money, and until they manage that they have to pay for everything out of pocket, which could be thousands of dollars.Many landlords also depend a great deal on the money that comes from the tenants. There are a great deal of property taxes involved in owning an apartment. Without having that money coming in, many have no way to pay for it. So in truth its in the landlord's best interest to find a tenant who is capable of paying rent, likely to stick around, and not liable to go on a rampage and destroy the property. They also want to make sure you personality is a good match for their buiding. 

However, landlords, aren't mind readers. That's why potential tenants are required to fill out applications and submit to tenant screening. The information asked is only part of the process. Landlords take that information and use it on sites www.atenantscreen.com to get information such as credit reports, criminal records, and number of prior evictions. The also verify that you are who you claim to be, something that has become more important in today's society, where identity theft is rampant.

Landlords look at things like credit, how steady your job is, the amount of money you make and how much you have in account as a way to judge how likely you are to pay rent. Eviction records and criminal records generally can tell landlords how likely you are to cause issues. Last thing a landlord wants is to find the  cops at their door because of something a tenant did. 

What seems like an endless pain to tenants is the landlords best protection against scams and risky tenants. So when your filling out one of those applications, consider this, you probably don't want a neighbor selling drugs next door, or damaging any of your property either. 

Protect Yourself, Take Pictures

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Again and again I see tenants cheated out of their security deposit and unable to do anything. Often because they did not take the proper steps to protect themselves from a bad landlord. Many not realizing that they were at risk until it was too late.

Its important to make sure that you take pictures and videos of the apartment, both before you move in and right before you leave. That way you have evidence to prove that the damage was not there prior to your leaving or in the case of previous damage, already there before you move in.

Renting Vs Owning

There are a lot of reasons people rent or own. Here are some of the major ones.

Renting

Pros

• Your not bound to a property
• Landlord's job to maintain
• More affordable

Cons

• Can't alter property with out permission
• You don't own the property
• Landlord can cause issues

Buying A Home

Pros

• Its an asset
• You can change anything you like
• You can sell it to gain back money spent

Cons

• Responsible for all issues
• Can be hard to sell if there are issues
• Cost a lot of money

Landlord Responsibilities

General landlord responsibilities include:

• Know your tenant rental rights. The best way to protect your rights is to know them.
• Learn about tenant landlord laws regarding the State/Province you are renting in.

Providing a livable unit... Livability means that the unit should:

• Be weather and waterproof
• Have working plumbing
• Provide enough hot and cold running water
• Have a working heating system
• Have an electrical system in good working order
• Be free from infestations of insects and rodents
• Have sufficient trash cans
• Have floors, stairways and railings in good repair
• Have natural lighting in every room
• Have working windows that open at least halfway or mechanical ventilation
• Have safe fire or emergency exits leading to
  street or hallway
• Have a working deadbolt lock on main entrance
• Have working security devices on windows
• Have working smoke detectors
• Have a secure mailbox facility that prevents Identity Thieves from stealing mail

Landlords should show respect and consideration for tenants by:

• Providing the tenant with a list on move-in-day such as where to put the cardboard boxes, where to park, a vacuum to clean up any mess, flyers or brochures for a pizza delivery or Chinese food, show up and ask how things are going, help where you can and perhaps make suggestions where required
• Treating all tenants equally
• Educating tenants about rights & responsibilities refer to www.tenantsinfo.com
• Respecting tenant(s) privacy and quiet/peaceful enjoyment of the rental
• Never becoming involved in a heated argument or physical confrontation with a tenant
• Never swearing or yelling at a tenant
• Putting in writing requests, warnings, notices of change etc.
• Maintaining clean premises so that the tenant can take pride in his/her surroundings (no clutter)
• Effectively communicating with tenant(s) on a constant basis to determine if any problems
• Knowing tenant(s) habits to prevent crime i.e. when at work, when at home, when on holidays
• Making all accessible areas safe and well lit that includes parking
• Developing a sense of community, get input from the tenant as to how you can make things better
• Providing the tenant with an incentive or a reward for paying on time and letting tenant know how much you appreciate him/her being a good tenant
• Offering good tenants a Certificate of Satisfactory Tenancy upon termination of satisfactory lease period from www.tenantverification.com
• Showing common sense in all dealings and problem solving with tenant
• Treat tenants as you would like them to treat you

Landlord Advice

A tenant with a bad tenant history with other landlords and a poor credit history that includes bad pay habits, can cause nightmarish issues, where there is property damage or worse, where an Individual has a propensity for violence or other dangerous criminal activity. It is extremely important with the liability issues we all face today that a suitable tenant screening process is implemented in each and every application for rent. www.Tenantverification.com offers tenant screening resources to help landlords find the right tenant. this includes a criminal and eviction search and consumer credit report. It’s much easier to deny an applicant tenancy than it is to go through the tenant eviction process. Reporting tenant pay habits to the TVS database minimizes the risk of late rentpayment, non rent payment and other activity that is associated with not paying rent. The two go hand in hand, not paying rent and not being responsible tenants.

Failure to fulfill tenant responsibilities can result in a tenant eviction. In the case of unpaid rent or money owed as a result of damaged rental property, a landlord can have the debt reported to the major credit bureaus through a collection agency. It is important that a tenant does not breach the rental agreement/lease.. A tenant eviction and unpaid rent can have a negative impact on one's ability to rent in the future. Tenants often do not consider the consequences when breaching a rental agreement/lease.

Information from www.tenantsinfo.com and www.atenantscreen.com

How to Start out As a Landlord: 8 steps (with pictures) - wikiHow

How to Start out As a Landlord

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit
Have some extra money and not sure where to invest it? Have you ever thought about becoming a landlord? You couldn't pick a better time to start on this rewarding career choice. The renting market is booming and properties are current cheap to buy. A landlord is not a easy career choice, there are times when it can be a lot of work, but with time and some effort, it can be a rewarding investment.

Steps

1. First you need to find a property. While renting is up there are still some places with no renting market. This can be the result of several things such as too many apartments already, or it could be a popular area for new families to buy their first own. Note that a property in a good area might be more money but will attract better tenants who will be willing to pay more money.
2. Once you have the property its time to make it ready for your first tenants. You'll want to make sure everything is up to code. Pick fairly neutral colors when decorating. You don't want the place to look like a hospital but you also don't want to scary a way tenants with bright colors.
3. Next you need to create an application. There are hundreds of free ones online you can print off and adjust to meet your needs.
4. While your printing out your application you should grab a lease as well. Spend some time decide what things you are firm on, and what you are willing to negotiate. Consider things like pets, early lease, repairs and smoking.
5. Now its time to go looking for tenants. The are several ways you can advertise for apartments- web,papers, signs, even the radio. The more people apply, the better options you have.
6. Once you have a stack of filled out applications its time to start reviewing them. There are tenant screening sites all over the web to help you. It generally a good idea to pick a site that is BBB certified like http://www.tenantverification.com and http://www.atenantscreen.com. Less risk of them being a scam since BBB monitors and will kick any business with poor conduct or lots of complaints.
7. After you have narrowed down the field based on prior evictions, criminal records and credit it is time to start the leg work. Call potential tenant's previous landlords, bosses, and run a google search. You will be amazed by what you can find and by what some people might pull.
8. Once you got your tenants, maintaining property will be your main focus. If you don't have the spare time and are earning the money, you may want to invest in a property manager.

Tips

• Specify in you lease when the rent is do and how much the late fee is.
• Take pictures of the apartment or house before the tenant moves in.
• You can learn more about landlord responsibilities at http://www.tenantsinfo.com.
• Tenants who have been with their job for longer periods of time are less likely to lose their job.
• Insure that everyone living in the apartment over the age of 18 is on the lease.
• Look for a tenant who makes 3 times as much a month as what you are asking for.

Warnings

• Be caution around sob stories. They are often used to guilt landlords into renting to a risk tenant and are often a scam.
• Identity theft is rampant. Make sure to compare ages and description to reports.
• In the case of eviction, make sure to follow all legal procedures.
• Keep paperwork for tenants until 3 years after they move out.

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Start out As a Landlord. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.