In order to remove bad tenants quicker, Is it ok to have trial lease period at the begining? How to word that in the lease?

Month to Month rental agreement. I have only ever done month to month. I don't put it in my advertising, only mention it when offering an application. I tell applicants, " I only do month to month, even though I want long-Term tenants. I think it keeps us both on our toes (CJ, that means, on our best behavior.) Tenants have always accepted this.

In my state, we have to obligation to re-rent anyway if tenant breaks lease, tenants don't have a lot of extra income for garnishments, so , if a tenant needs to move, its just as easy for me to do turn over and re-rent as to try to chase rent money form tenant that 'fell on hard times.'

NE, sometimes they claim their animal is perfect, their boyfriend do not come often, or they do not smoke. Then the neighbor complained everything we worried.

Busy, I do not want to do month to month lease because that is too hard to control. We do not want winter move out.

In home visit will verify the topics you mention having trouble with, your application was not approved - good luck. So the trial period was successful (at the existing house) without keys or movein money going on the bank.

CJ, my tenants don’t want winter move outs either. Brad 20k recently posted how he kept up all of his rental goals so far this winter. So, winter vacancies can be handled.

Winter is a great time for me to have a move-out. I am slow at rehab ( probably because I spend too much time being an Agony Auntie on some forum, lol!,) my houses all still have some big projects that are better done without a tenant. So, if I have a winter turnover, I get to be the one to make sure pipes aren’t freezing, I can crank music and scrape popcorn ceilings, pull up nasty old flooring, retrim beat up nasty door casings, all on my own time. Get the placed freshened up, ready for Tax Return Tenant Swap season.

So, if the building you bought needs some renovations anyway, I suggest you give Month to Month a go. Any vacant units in November, December can get a nice renovation, all in time for the Tax Return Security Deposits to start rolling in. Win!

So far, I am counting excuses in this thread, rather than a can-do attitude. No matter what the solution, it takes effort, overcoming obstacles.

Busy, I agree. We try to do ane thing or more thing to get rid of problems. Selling and hiring manager are not options for me. Landlording is my job and I can not find anyone doing it better and working for me. America is fair and with opputunities. 90% tenants I feel very comfortable with.

Can they make up a reason for rejection to cause us trouble if we do not give them a reason for rejection?

I understand your issues CJ. One of the many reason I got out of residential rentals. Between growing socialist regulations, high liability, crime and dealing with people I would never associate with otherwise it wasn't for me.

Even with good screening I had problem tenants until I got draconian in my screening. I have never seen a managed property run as well as my self managed properties though.

The two BIG things that turned my tenant pool around was buying my office/shop property and opening my security business. It changed how tenants viewed both me and my properties from a mom n pop working out of Taco Bell, to a multi prong BUSINESS of which their rental was just part. Most nonsense stopped when folks realized we were professional and organized.

I also used two techniques to reduce pronlem. I went to m2m so I could get bad renters out a bit easier if necessary. Once I did this I had very few problems, and my turnovers actually reduced. After 6mo, if a good tenant wanted a lease for peace of mind I'd offer it, but nobody ever took me up on it. Had someone pulled the service pet bs I would have just given a 30 day and not said a thing about the illegal pet. Nothing they could fight in court.

Do you have an application for tenants to fill out to apply for the unit or are the prospective tenants the ones whom you inherited when you purchased the building?

if you are not sure if you want them for 1 year then you would not want to put them in for a shorter term either. If dogs are an issue then say no pets.

Correct, no one will manage better than you would. I too like leases for preventing winter move out, yet I have 2 vacancies. You cannot predict when tenants will fall off the wagon. You could try MTM with one unit and see how it goes.

If the neighbor complaining is only at one location, then they will always find something to complain about.

I guess prospects/tenants are more aggresive when they know I am small and not speak good English.

CJ. I own properties in mixed areas of Los Angeles where the people speak around 20 different languages. Even though I can speak a few languages, I must stick to English otherwise I must provide all documents in their native language.

What you should do is use an online language translator and learn some key phrases. So when you need to get your point across, you will know how to phrase it.

For example: To qualify for my rental you need:

1) Be at your job for over 1 year

2) Make at least 3 times the rent as you monthly income

3) Have little debt

4) Have a bank account

5) Have good credit, FICO score above 680

CJ, doing in home inspections would eliminate most of these issues. This is the best way to see what your house will look like in 3 months. If you visit the house you would see boyfriends clothes. Dog damage.

If they violate the lease time to evict.

When they say boyfriend doesn’t come often, means he will live there too.

Class C houses, 99% smoke.

Most of my tenants smoke too. Some smoke outside or inside smell ok. But some smell very bad and next unit can smell smoke.

Careful when you say 90% of people you feel comfortable with. You do need to make sure you aren’t discriminating. I don’t think that is your intention, by the way. But, you cannot rent just to people similar to you without violating fair housing laws.

Make sure you are applying your rules evenly, treating people the same.

To help with smoke smell transferring between units, caulk baseboards on both sides of the walls that are common to both units. Install bathroom vent fans that vent outside. Install kitchen vent fans with charcoal filters. Those things help a little. Add smoking space outside. I put a flower planter filled with sand in the back yards of my single family homes. I picked up the few cigarette butts that were on the ground when I brought the container over, and stuck them in the sand, so residents would know what it was for. Encourages outside smoking. Haven’t had cigarette butts all over the yard since I put those in.

Busy, 90% tenanats are ok, not giving me much problem, not because what they look like. That is what I mean.

For prospect, Over 95% of them are not qualified.

We do use eviction attorney a lot. We would use the attorney for other tenant matter if we have to.

{{{{{{{{.......Can they make up a reason for rejection to cause us trouble if we do not give them a reason for rejection?........}}}}}}}}

CJ, I recommend that you do not give a reason for rejection, unless it is the credit report. If it is the credit report, there is a letter you must send to them. It's federal law and must be sent.

What you do is to write the reason for rejection on their application and then you file the application away in a safe place so you can bring it out if they cause trouble and then you have a documented proof of the legal reason you rejected.

So far, I've had plenty of applicants try to argue about being rejected so I don't want to give them a reason that they can argue against. I've not yet had an applicant file a complaint on me to the housing authority, but if they ever do, I'm covered with proof they were rejected for a legal reason.

On the trial lease issue, there is no reason that you can't sign a shorter lease to start. Preferable, something that will get you through the winter.

It's February right now, so maybe a five month lease to get you through to summer. If they are not good tenants, you can get them out in five months by not renewing the lease.

I recommend writing down exactly how you want your applicants to be qualified.

If it pass a criminal background, credit score above a 580, no evictions and have three times the rental amount as garnish-able income.....write it down.

After you know what you are looking for, it is so much easier to say you are not a good fit for this place. Perhaps I might have another place where you are more qualified to live at.

Nothing says you have to have the same standards for all your places....only that you apply these standards in a uniform manner.