NY Houses 4 Sale

Yup, I am sure that I hate this apartment. Can I have my money back?

A few months ago I had a situation with one of my experienced agents and a tenant who rented an apartment through us.  When the tenant originally presented herself in my office, it was made clear from the very start that finding her an apartment was not going to be an easy task for my agent, Carl.  (Names have been changed, really no reason why - but I have always wanted to do that). 

After my agent showed her about 7-10 apartments she fell in love with one, she wanted the apartment and did not care what it took to get it.   But yet, my agent negotiated for her with the landlord and was able to get her rent decreased a few dollars, the tenants got the washer and dryer and a brand new air conditioner.  This apartment was a brand new apartment in the exact area that she requested on the floor that she desired and within the rental range that she wanted to spend.  ALL IS GOOD!

After 7 months of the tenant living in the apartment, she decided that she did not like the apartment anymore because of various little reasons - like the new tenants above her had a small child and she hated the noise.  She complained that the washer made a rattling noise and she told the landlord - but yet he has not come to fix it.  She complained that she can smell the cooking from the restaurant down the block and she also complained that the floors creaked and yada yada yada...

So she wanted out of the lease.  After speaking with the landlord he was more than happy to release her from her lease.  (So you can clearly see that the landlord and tenant just did not love each other).  But this happens - so it was a win win situation for both of them.  He returned her security, she paid the last of her rent and *poof *- they were rid of each other. 

But I was not.

Two days later she calls me and wants her commission back.  See, not that I disagree with her, but I don't agree with her.  My agent did his job.  He found her an apartment that she wanted, in the area that she wanted, for the price she you wanted.  It was impossible for him to know that the tenant and the landlord would come to this agreement 7 months into the lease.  None the less - the job was done and he deserves to get paid. 

In any other profession I have never heard of a boss asking his employee to reimburse him for work that was completed 7 months ago, because the boss now decides that he did not like what was completed.  In every other profession, career or job - this just does not happen so why are people inclined to demand money back for a service that was provided, completed and paid for

So I had to explain to her that there were no returns on a service that was provided - We would be happy to help her find another apartment but I will not reissue the commission that was justly paid.  She declined.      

   

Can I refuse a tenant?

This morning I got an email from a landlord who is curious about what or how he can refuse a prospective tenant. 

======Start of Email======

"Hi I read your blog and you have good info on there.   Keep it up.  I have become a new landlord, some apartments are already rented with leases and two are not.  I have posted my own ads and I got alot of replies but some of them I am not to comfortable with renting to.  Can I deny a tenant a[n] apartment?"

Well in short, yes.

You can deny a tenant an apartment but you must be careful on your reasons.

Valid reasons to deny:

• Credit history.
• Smoking.
• Drug use.
• Number of people. (Be careful on this one.  You can not discriminate against a family or non-family)  But if you have a one bedroom apartment and 7 people are looking to rent your apartment - yes, you can deny for the NUMBER of people not family status!
• Pets.
• Length of lease desired.  (You are requesting a year lease and the tenant wants more or less).
• Income to rent ratio.
• Convictions - (including Sex predators)

Reasons that could be discriminating:

• Family status (Married, divorcee, single, same sex marriage, etc.)  Let me clarify, a landlord cannot say to a prospective tenant "Oh, I only want single people in here" or "Or I don't want a married couple because that only means they MIGHT have kids".
• Race - (Do I need to explain?    Thought NOT!).
• Political Stance.
• Religion.
• Sexual orientation.
• Disability. 
• Age. (Very gray area).

also read:

Explain your fees, Please.

Landlord, Tenants and Co-signers.

Questions ?

Have a great weekend, I will see you Monday!

Being a landlord is not an easy job.

That is for sure!  In NYC there is no easy way to remove a deadbeat tenant.  If a landlord rents out their apartment to a tenant and the tenant does not pay or destroys the property there is very little that a landlord can do.  I have seen landlords invest more than a year in evicting a deadbeat tenant and I have to say it is disruptive to all involved.    NYC has instituted more rights for a tenant than the landlord and it always seems so lopsided. 

Once a landlord is able to evict a tenant it could still take months to have the tenant actually removed from the premises.  Insane - isn't it?  So even though a landlord wins in court (If brought that far) what did the landlord win?  A landlord can sue the tenant - but what does that mean?  A landlord can't garnish more than 25% of the ex-tenants salary to recover costs. 

Want to read some horror stories?  Head over to MSN.com, you will cringe over some of the stories.  One poster suggests a website for deadbeat tenants - - Sounds interesting and perhaps helpful.

My Landlord plans to sell the house - what rights do I have?

Last night I got this email:

Hi, I have been reading your blog and I want you to post a question on it so maybe you can help  me.  I live in a house with two other guys and I think that we are good, no we are great tenants.  We pay our rent, we are quiet (sometimes) no pets and we only smoke outside.  Today my ll (landlord) told us that he was planning on selling the house - we are screwed!  What rights do we have? 

- BoyVixen

Well - (should I call you Boy or Vixen?)

For some reason I am thinking that this is someone that I know who is just joking around with me .. but I am at a loss today on blogging ideas, so I am going to make a go of the question.    (Apologies in advance if this is a real question) .

Mr. Boy -

You did not tell me if you have a lease or not. 

If you do have a lease:  Then it is important to know when your lease expires. 

If you don't have a lease, then it is my guess that your landlord is giving you somewhat of a warning that he is selling or is thinking of selling.  Once he puts the home on the market, he will most likely ask you to be accommodating for showings if there should be an interested party.  If you opt not to cooperate, then he can and probably will give you a thirty day notice to vacate. 

My best advice:  Talk to your landlord.  Stay friendly with him and perhaps spruce up your place so any new buyers will be wanting you to remain with them. 

Curbed reader asks...

"We have found a one-bedroom in Bensonhurst for $1100. We passed the credit check. The agent is asking for security/rent/fee in cash or money order. Is it normal for an agent not to take a check or another form of payment that involves a receipt? We don't mind paying cash if this is a legitimate transaction, but how do we know?"  (Curbed)

I like this question and I feel more comfortable answering it here (on my turf) than on Curbed. 

Here it goes:

The reason why my brokerage prefers to be paid in cash on any rental (I am not talking about deposit - I am talking fee) for one main reason.  What if the check bounces? 

Ok, so renter's are leery of Realtors renting them an apartment and some have even asked why the tenants are paying the fee and not the landlord, when the ironic part of it all is the agent who is renting the apartment to the tenant is actually working for the landlord - not the tenant.  Make sure you are aware of that. 

But, just like the prospective tenant is leery of us - we are just as leery of the tenant.  What recourse does the agent have if the check, oh say .. I don't know... bounces like Tiger on too much sugar?   

Let's say that there is a lease that is fully signed and finalized, the tenant gets the keys and three days later moves into their new nifty apartment that the agent found them (after showing that tenant 5,6,10 apartments) and the check bounces or worse there is a 'Stop Payment" issued on the check? ( I say worse because that is a blatant act of cheating).   Who does the agent contact to recover their losses?

So my short answer would be for the Curbed question is: No it's not uncommon nor is it out of line for that agent to request cash for payment of their fee - in fact, it is very common.  Just get a receipt for any and all monies you ever leave anyone!

A++ To HotPads.Com

So your growing up!  You don't have to listen to mom or dad yell at you about how big of a slob  you are.  You wont have to hear your mother screeching your name because you left the dishes in the sink anymore.  No Curfews, No making your bed if you don't want to and you can       P A R T Y.     Hey, You are going to be the Master or your OWN domain!   

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the real world sometimes is not all that fun, trust me I know I have been doing for quite sometime now...

Colleen Corgan from HotPads.com came up with a fantastic list for the "RealWorlders"

• In the real world, you must choose from an unlimited number of apartment complexes and rental houses. 
  In the real world, you cannot afford everything.
  In the real word, you must choose from a limited number of potential roommates. 
• In the real world, you have neighbors who care what you do.      
• In the real world, the "real police" come.

As a graduation gift, Colleen has a rental check list for you. 

By the way - Go make your bed!

I am moving out.. now give me back my security deposit!

In New York there are some guidelines that both the landlords and tenants have to follow.  These guidelines are not written in the lease, but they are valid and could land either a landlord  or tenant in some hot water. 

When a tenant rents an apartment in the Queens, NY area normal procedure is the tenant gives the landlord one month rent and one month of security (and if there was a Realtor used in the transaction - the brokers fee goes to the Realtor).

At the end of the term, if the landlord and tenant have both agreed to not renew the lease, the only two reasons why a landlord can dispute returning the security funds is - 1. As payment for last months rent or 2. repairs that are beyond normal wear and tear. 

Landlords are not allowed to have the security money co-mingle with their own funds.  If it is a building with six or more units then the landlords MUST put the funds in a NYC bank interest earning account at the prevailing rate.  The tenants can request to know what bank the funds have been placed.  The tenants are also allowed to collect the interest earned, minus 1% for administrative fees.   

Related articles:

RentLaw.com "New York Security Deposits"

Section 8... What is it?

SECTION 8 - What is it?

In NYC there are many people that are relying on Section 8, this program is designed for any person who can not afford housing.  Its not a program that everyone is eligible for, and to be honest there are not alot of landlords that accept or are approved to house Section 8.

An interested applicant must make under a certain amount of income.  Tthe applicant also must fall within other strict guidelines that has been laid out by the NYC Department of Housing.  There is an application that must be filled out and approved before any tenant can begin to look for Section 8 housing and the place of residence must be approved by the NYC Department of Housing  just as well. 

In most cases the tenant would be responsible for 10%-30% of the rent being charged.  The outlines that are shown is what would be paid to the landlord for the rent./utilities. 

 

	SRO	0BR	1BR	2BR	3BR	4BR	5BR	6BR
New Payment Standard	$815	$1,087	$1,176	$1,308	$1,608	$1,810	$2,081	$2,352

The following are the new utility allowances effective October 3rd, 2006 (Courtesy of NYC.Gov)

# of Bed- rooms	Gas	Electric	Total Without Gas & Electric	Oil Heat and Hot Water	Gas Heat and Hot Water	Electric Heat and Hot Water	Electric Heat Only
0	16	47	63	138	88	372	256
1	18	52	70	155	99	419	288
2	19	58	77	172	110	465	320
3	19	67	86	180	116	488	336
4 +	20	73	93	189	121	512	352

 

Watch CW11 news report about Section8Programs.com.  This website has been charging for information that of course is free.  Prospective applicants stumble onto this website and think that this is the only way to apply for Section 8.  I just want to make the applicants/landlords aware that this information is FREE if you go through NYC Department of Housing. 

The Real Estate Fee -

On my previous post, I talked about the landlords and tenants.  A prospective tenant posed a question to me which I think I will answer here (Thankfully, I had nothing else to write about tonight, Sellsius threw me off by their post  - trust me, it was heading down hill for me tonight). 

Question:  Why does the tenant and not the landlord pay the real estate fee with apartment rentals?  To be honest with you, I know that in many States the landlord pays.  But, we are not in many States, we are in the State of NY.  So the best reason as to why the tenant pays the fee is because the rental market is tough, it is fast paced (as in -  what is here today WILL BE gone tomorrow) (literally) and it is competitive.  With this combination Real Estate offices that excel in doing rentals have the "goods".  Which means that a typical real estate office that does alot of rentals have alot of landlords that trust them to rent their apartments for them.  For free.    The landlords become our clients.  So we provide the landlords a service - they wont have to advertise, we will do it.  They wont have to run the credit, we do it. They wont have to even show the apartment we will do it for them.  When we offer to do these services for the landlords we can gain inventory.  What a typical tenant will see when they look in the paper or online is a 16th of inventory that we have.   

When a tenant presents themselves to us that they are in need of renting an apartment most likely they have searched and scrubed the papers, the internet and even local deli's to find out that what they are looking for they can't find.  So the tenant employs the agent to help them search.  But what the agent has done that a tenant has not, is they have built up reputations and clientele that a possible tenant is missing. 

To to recap even though an agent only spent 5 minutes with you showing an apartment - they have spent months and years building up their clientele.  That is what you are paying for -

Now let me just touch on this for a second.  The landlords are our clients and the tenants are our customers.  So what we offer our customers is use of our inventory, the use of our negotiating skills and the ability to find you an apartment.  Our job is to connect the landlords with the right tenants and visa versa.  I will be honest with you - not all tenants are picture perfect.  Most have requests that are hard to fulfill - such as they might need a pet friendly apartment, an apartments with a washer and dyer, an apartment that include use of yard, driveway or garage, an apartment on a particular floor, in a building or in a private home - and so on.  So when someone is looking for these particulars and can't find it, they are hiring us.   

A good rental agent will preview their landlords apartments so when a tenant calls looking for a particular size, price and area that agent can cut to the chase and show the tenant exactly what they are looking for.    A good rental agent will also know how to reason with a landlord when an tenant has not so good credit as well as possibly negotiate with the landlord to lower the rent a few dollars for then tenant.  There will always be things that needs to be negotiated with on either side and that is part of the service that agents provide to both parties.  We want both parties to be happy and to re use us or refer us out. 

As for the fees that agents are charging - that can vary.  It is usually set up by the broker as to what is expected but just to give you a hint -  nothing is set in stone.    I am sure that you can understand why most agents wont like to or will refuse to negotiate their fees.  I hope that I somewhat answered your question -

Landlords, Tenants and Co-signers..

My Office tends to do alot of rentals, we are probably one of the best rental firms out there.  Granted that is not all we do, but a good chunk of our business comes from rentals.   I think one of the reasons why we do so many rentals is because:

1.)  We have an actual rental department.  Some agents only do rentals and they make a good living off of it. 

2.)  We run credit checks for our landlords and the credit reports not only give a history of the prospective tenant but it includes any judgments, liens, foreclosures as well as fico scores.  But, one thing that our landlords really love is that it also includes a multi-state sex offender history. 

There have been times that a GOOD prospective tenant does not have excellent credit and sometimes there are reasons why their credit is bad -   Divorce, injury, deaths and loss of jobs can and will ruin a good persons credit.    So what do we do?  Well, if the landlord is not accepting an explanation as to why the credit report took such a dramatic change then they might allow the tenant to use a co-signer. 

When using a co-signer be prepared that we will have to also run a credit report on them as well.  Along with that, we will need a way to get in contact with them and perhaps allow the landlord to speak with them.  Sometimes the landlord will ask for more security and a month or two of rent paid up front. 

Also Read:

How To Rent An Apartment - With Bad Credit.

Question marks the spot..