Tenant Screening Information | Billy the Lovable Landlord

Grilling on a Balcony

July 5, 2012 at 9:40 pmCategory:Tenant Advice

Let’s face it, there are a lot of awesome things about summer and most of them – like air conditioning, watermelon, and micheladas – can be enjoyed from the comfort of any home, no matter how humble. But for those of us who enjoy that magical summer pastime of grilling up a steak or some kebabs, it can be frustrating when you live an in apartment without a yard. Those of us who have the luxury of a balcony may make use of an outdoor grill on that little sliver of sunlight. If that’s you, be sure to consider the following tips before firing up this summer.

Is it Legal?

In many metropolitan areas, municipal codes make it illegal to have any type of grill on a balcony. Other laws state that a grill is okay, as long as it is a certain number of feet away from the building. Still other laws state gas or electric grills are okay, but no charcoal. All of these are meant to reduce the potential fire hazard that could be caused by open flames near buildings. Pretty common sense stuff, it just depends on where you live. Be sure to check the laws in your area before putting out your balcony grill this summer.

Does Your Building Allow It?

Even in those cities where you are legally allowed to have a balcony grill, you may not be allowed by your apartment building or condo board. There may be a clause in your lease that says you can’t cook outside at all, so do a quick review before you get a warning.

Is it Safe?

Even though something is legal and allowed doesn’t guarantee it’s actually safe. If you have a wooden balcony and want to fire up any kind of grill, well, I can’t really recommend it. If you live in a high rise and you feel like your grill might tip over and rain charcoal down on passersby from 10 stories up, a balcony grill may not be the best idea. Better yet, if you feel unsafe at all, better to break out the grill pan in the kitchen and avoid a potentially massive disaster.

Go to a Park.

If all else fails, you can always hit up a local park. Most bigger parks have public grills, but if that weirds you out (does anyone ever clean those things?) you can always just take your portable balcony grill to the park and fire it up. Set up at a picnic table and grill all the meats and veggies you want with no fear whatsoever of burning down your apartment complex.

Reaction to Landlord Turning 3 Apartment Units Into 44

June 27, 2012 at 4:50 pmCategory:Tenant Advice

This morning I saw an article on Huffington Post about a Landlord in Los Angeles who turned 3 apartment units into 44 units. He is currently facing a 53 count misdemeanor complaint.

My initial thought was: how is this even possible? I have lived in my share of small apartments, but I imagine one of these units would make even the smallest place I have lived look like a gymnasium. The article does not say the square footage of these units, however allow me to play out some possible scenarios. Let’s say he had 3 apartments at 1,500 square feet (more or less the national average), 1500 X 3 is 4500, then divide that by 44 and suddenly you have 44 apartments each with a square footage of just over 102 square feet. Keep in mind that is roughly a 10 X 10 room. Of course this is all conjecture on my part but I imagine these were very small units with paper thin walls. Unfortunately, the article does not provide the numbers of how large the apartments were.

What this article does highlight is just how far some landlords are willing to go to make a buck. Turning 3 units into 44 is illegal for a reason, it’s not safe. With rental prices on the rise some landlord’s may feel tempted to exploite the demand for monetary gain.

Please remember if you are a tenant you have rights. For a list of the specific rights in your state click here

- Billy the Lovable Landlord

What Happens to Tenants During Foreclosure?

June 27, 2012 at 3:37 amCategory:Tenant Advice

A huge reason that many people choose to rent is that they don’t have to deal with all the hassles that come along with homeownership, including yard maintenance, general repairs, and the all important and paycheck-consuming mortgage. But unfortunately, in the last few years, more and more tenants have had to deal with something that they probably thought would never affect them. For more and more tenants, foreclosure is becoming a relevant situation.

What is Foreclosure?

Simply put, foreclosure happens when a property owner is unable or unwilling to make their mortgage payments. After a set amount of time, their property is taken away from them and becomes property of the bank.

A Guide for Tenants

For tenants foreclosure used to mean an automatic end to any remaining time you had on your lease, but that is no longer the case. Instead, as long as a bank or other entity takes possession of the property, all remaining leases must be honored. However, if an individual or family buys the building with the intention of living in it, you may be given 90 days notice to vacate no matter how long you have left on your lease.

The unfortunate thing about tenants and foreclosure is that many tenants are left completely unaware of the situation occurring. In many instances, tenants will continue to pay rent to their landlord, not knowing that they are no longer the owner of the building. Landlords have been known to simply pocket that money without a word. Furthermore, many banks have little interest in expending resources to keep up a building that they plan to sell as soon as possible. This means living in a building that has been foreclosed upon can be at the best inconvenient and at the worst hazardous. Foreclosure for tenants and for property owners is not at all fun.

Your Next Step

If you know or suspect that your building may be going into foreclosure soon, you may want to begin your housing search now. Depending on the circumstances, you may or may not have to move, but if you start putting your feelers out for a new situation, your tenant foreclosure scenario can go much more smoothly.

If your building has already been foreclosed upon, be sure that you know your rights as a tenant. No longer can you be summarily evicted without cause so be sure to stand your ground and take legal action if necessary.

Tips for Communicating with a Landlord

June 7, 2012 at 5:54 amCategory:Background Check Tips | Tenant Advice

If you’re new to renting, for whatever reason, there are a few things that might take some getting used to. You won’t have to worry about fixing the plumbing, but you might have to contend with noisy neighbors or property inspections. But one of the most important things that you can learn how to do as a renter is to communicate well with your landlord.

You’ve probably heard plenty of landlord horror stories and yep, there are quite a few obnoxious, noisy, demanding and just plain crazy landlords out there. The worst part is, you don’t even know what they’re really like in most cases until you’ve already signed the lease. Still, the vast majority of landlords, no matter how crazy, are easy enough to please. They want their rent on time. They don’t want you to mess up their property. And they don’t want you to bug their other tenants. It’s pretty simple when you break it down like that.

One of the best ways to keep your relationship with a landlord on the up and up is to communicate with them well. Sometimes tempers can run high, especially if you’ve done something that’s put you on their bad side like paid your rent late. That why staying calm is one of the most important tips for communicating with your landlord. Apologize when you’ve messed up. Explain yourself without making excuses. Offer them something useful like pitching in with yardwork, painting, or something else that you can do for them.

But sometimes it will be more difficult to be ingratiating, especially when it’s not you who messed up. Maybe it’s taken your landlord and inordinate amount of time to fix something he or she promised to fix ages ago. It’s still important not to lose your temper. Instead, make your request again, and this time put it in writing. Keep a copy of your request for yourself. If the repair is something that needs to be done in order to make your apartment safe for habitation, you may have grounds to report them to a housing authority. That should be your last resort, though. Usually a strongly worded note with a date on it will be enough to help them remember.

Finally, it’s important to keep, read and review your lease. Read it before you sign it and keep your copy of it somewhere that it’s accessible. The lease is an agreement of what you are responsible for as well as your landlord. When communicating with you landlord, you may need to make reference to your lease directly in order to let him or her know that you do know what you’re talking about.

Communicating well with your landlord is the very best way to keep the relationship between the two of you running smoothly so that both of you can get all your needs met. A well timed batch of homemade cookies never hurt, either

Dealing with a Rental Yard

May 24, 2012 at 4:41 pmCategory:Tenant Advice

Summer is upon us. Birds are chirping. Shrieking kids are home from school. The smells of chlorine fill the air. It’s true, summer is a magical time. And if you live in an urban apartment (hopefully with air conditioning), it’s even better because you get to appreciate the sounds of lawnmowers and the smell of freshly cut grass without doing any of your own yard work!

The story can be a little different if you have a rental yard with your housing. In more suburban areas where space isn’t at the same premium that it is , there are many rental yards that come with houses, condos or duplexes (duplecies?!) that have their own yard. This can be great if you have kids that need space to run free (no running in the street!) or a dog that needs to be outside to commune with nature.

Check Your Lease

Whether or not you have a rental yard with your rental unit, it is recommended that you thoroughly read your lease agreement before signing it. But when you do have a yard to consider, you want to be clear about your responsibilities up front. Many landlords or property managers will already have a crew on staff to do the yard work and you won’t have to worry about it. However, you may be expected to either maintain the yard yourself or to hire your own professionals to do it, which can be an added expense, either in time or in dollars. You’ll definitely want to know what is expected of you when it comes to your rental yard. If there is nothing included in the lease, you will want to ask the landlord to add a clause specifically about the yard so that there is no confusion down the line.

Advantages of Professional Yard Work

If you rental yard comes with an agreement that a professional team will do the mowing, weeding and general maintenance, that might seem like a total godsend. But in some cases, it could end up being a headache. Definitely make sure whether or not you are expected to pay for professional maintenance of your rental yard. It may be included as part of your rent or it may come at an extra charge.

Of course the main advantage of having pre-arranged yard workers is that you don’t have to do the yard work yourself which can be a minor inconvenience or a major hassle depending on the size of your rental yard.

Disadvantages of a Yard Crew

If your maintenance crew is already on contract with your landlord, you may have very little control over when or how yardwork is done for your rental yard. This may mean lawnmowers of leaf blowers early in the morning or at a time when you’d rather be enjoying quiet. It also means that if the crew isn’t doing a great job, you may have to complain through you landlord rather than directly to the crew which can be an additional headache.

A yard can be a wonderful thing, improving the appearance of your rental unit and your ability to enjoy the outdoors. But be sure you know what is expected of you in terms of maintenance before you sign a lease.

Renting with a Bad Rental History

April 26, 2012 at 10:47 pmCategory:Background Check Tips

There are a lot different reasons that it stinks to have a bad rental history. It’s not fun for anyone to be evicted or to have a conflict with your landlord. But even less fun is the fact that after you’re evicted, after you get out the situation, you still have to try to rent another apartment with your bad rental history. And if we’ve learned anything, it’s that before they rent you, landlords will definitely check into your background and an important part of that is you rental history, bad or good.

Luckily, there are a few tips that can help you land a new place, even when you have a bad rental history. Because everyone deserves a second chance, right? We think so, too.

Use Your Resources

You may not know it, but chances are you’ve got a lot of apartment renting resources right at your finger tips. Especially if you live in a densely populated urban area, you probably know someone that either owns an apartment building or knows someone that owns an apartment building or even just has an in with their own landlord or property manager. If you have a bad rental history, you need to use these resources to your advantage because your friends aren’t very likely to run a background check and even if they do, they’ll be much more forgiving and understanding than a stranger. So ask around. Explain your situation. You might be surprised who steps up to help.

Suck it Up: Get a Roommate

A lot of us equate living with roommates as something that we’ve long outgrown, but when you have a bad rental history, moving in with a roommate might not only be convenient, it might be your only choice. If you find someone seeking a roommate who is willing to be the only one on the lease, you may be able to move in without a background check from the landlord. Pay your rent on time every month and you’ll even get a good reference out of the deal.

Beat Them to the Punch

If you have a bad rental history, you know you have a bad rental history. There’s no sense in submitting to a background check with your fingers crossed hoping that your potential landlord won’t find out about it. Beat them to the punch by offering up an explanation for your past actions. Sure, they may turn a deaf ear and toss you out without an apartment, but they also may be sympathetic and willing to work with you. You’ve got nothing to lose by trying.

Get Letters of Recommendation

I know, I know, you have a bad rental history so you can’t get a recommendation from your landlord. But that doesn’t mean you can’t look to your friends, neighbors or former roommates for a recommendation. If you can get a letter from your employer stating that you have a good job and will be able to pay for your new apartment, so much the better!

Pay More

We’d like to think that explaining the circumstances surrounding your bad rental history will be enough for a kind landlord, but the fact is that nothing sounds louder to a property owner than money. Offer to pay a bigger security deposit, or even more than they’re asking each month and most landlords will be able to overlook some past indiscretions.

Sure, having a bad rental history is definitely a drag, but it doesn’t have to mean you’re relegated to the streets or worse, someone’s futon. Follows these tips and you can be rebuilding your rental history and living in your dream home in no time.

Why Landlords Background Check: What Are They Looking For?

April 21, 2012 at 8:43 pmCategory:Background Check Information | Tenant Background Check

When you first encounter a prospective landlord that runs background screenings, you may or may not wonder why landlords background check at all. Of course, it should be fairly obvious that every step taken by a landlord prior to you moving in to their property is to protect that property and themselves. This can mean landlords background check to protect themselves from physical harm, from financial harm or simply from the inconvenience of other tenants complaining to them. This is the most basic reason that landlords background check.

But delving a little further into the process, what is it that landlord’s are looking for when they decide to run a background check?

A Criminal Record

Most landlords are concerned with finding out the criminal history of their prospective tenants when they decide to run a background screening. This does not mean traffic violations or unpaid parking tickets (because honestly, how would anyone get an apartment if that were the case) but actual criminal convictions.

Most often, landlords are concerned with those criminal actions that would put them, their current tenants, or their property at risk. This may include drug dealing, violent tendencies or other predatory behavior. If you have one of these types of crimes in your background, you may have difficulty passing a landlords background check.

Sex Offender Registry

Hand in hand with a criminal record, a landlord is often looking for whether or not a prospective tenant is registered as a sex offender. This may go beyond protecting his current tenants and into the legal issues surrounding this since in many states, registered sex offenders are required to live a certain distance from schools, playgrounds and other places that children congregate.

Rental Specific Incidents

If you do not have a serious violent past and are not a registered sex offender, landlord background check in order to determine if you have had any legal issues specific to renting in your past. This may include but is not limited to evictions. To a landlord, a history of bad rental behavior can be a very good reason not to rent to a prospective tenant since there is no telling when that kind of behavior may resurface. It may be difficult to find a rental unit when you have been evicted or have had other troubles in your past that were specifically related to you being a renter.

Your Credit

A credit check is separate from a background check, but landlord background check and also credit check in most instances. Again, a credit check will indicate a history of evictions, late payment or other irresponsible financial behavior.

If you have a checkered past, it is true that it will be more difficult to find an appropriate rental, particularly with a landlord who background checks. However, when you know what they are looking for, it will be a less surprising and therefore less painful process.

Tenant Screener

April 21, 2012 at 8:15 pmCategory:Background Check Tips | Tenant Background Check

Hi There!

As a tenant or prospective tenant, we know that there are a lot of different emotions that come up with finding a new apartment. Whether you’re stressed about the possibility of moving, anxious about finding the perfect place or worried about committing for a whole year, it can definitely be an unpleasant process. However, one thing that some of us experience that may not even cross the mind of some other renters is the anxiety that comes along with a tenant screener or background check.

These days, a lot of apartment building and rental units have begun to require a tenant screener as a prerequisite for moving into an apartment. These screenings for tenants can mean different things to different landlords, but they all amount to a check into your background, looking for something that may disqualify you from renting a particular apartment.

If you have a background that’s less than clean, this may cause you some anxiety when you find a place where you would like to move. Of course, we can tell you not to be anxious about a tenant screener, but the fact remains that you probably will be. At this point, the most important thing we can tell you is to be honest with your prospective landlord in your tenant screener. Whether that means disclosing the information that they may find before they even run the check or offering an explanation when they confront you with something that seems less that attractive in a new tenant’s history, it’s important that you keep everything above the board and be forthcoming. Because even if you trick a landlord into letting you move in with a less than stellar background, if you are dishonest, you may find yourself facing eviction down the road.

This is only our first post, but we want this blog to serve as a clearinghouse of information for those people who are feeling anxious, nervous or even threatened by the prospect of undergoing a tenant screener. If you have questions, comments of concern, please leave them in the comments at any time!