Every landlord knows that the lease controls when it comes to managing properties and settling tenant disputes.

But did you know there are two hidden rules inherent to every lease agreement, even if these rules are not written in the lease?

Habitability

In every leasing situation, verbal or written, long-term or short, good or bad, a landlord has a duty to provide habitable premises. This is true if the lease is silent on the issue, and remains true even in cases where the landlord has shifted the responsibility to the tenant or attempted to limit this duty in some way.

While there may be language in a local statute and ordinance on habitability, this rule comes from simple contract law, and that makes it very flexible. The duty of habitability covers all the day-to-day necessities, including hot and cold running water, heat, and in some cases air conditioning, safe access, reasonable security from intruders, and compliance with zoning, building and fire codes.

The gray area: the tenant’s own actions. While the landlord has the duty to keep the property habitable at all times, a tenant may be liable for costs of repairs or remediation caused by their deliberate or negligent actions, including the actions of their guests.

Quiet Enjoyment

The biggest beef tenants have against landlords is intrusion on the right to quiet enjoyment, which exists whether or not it is mentioned in a lease agreement. Quiet enjoyment, the right to live without intrusion or nuisance, encompasses everything from excessive or unannounced landlord visits to noisy neighbors.

Despite the label, it’s not just noise that violates this covenant. Secondhand smoke is a common culprit.

Tenants’ Rights

When either of these hidden duties is violated, tenants have a number of possible remedies, including withholding rent (constructive eviction), or breaking the lease entirely, with no ramifications.

In a worst case scenario, the tenant can sue for damages that may go far beyond the actual rent paid under the lease agreement, so it’s important to keep these rules in mind when making property management decisions.

American Apartment Owners Association | Company Website |  Rental property management can be very demanding. Our job is to make this day-to-day property management process smoother. AAOA provides a host of services ranging from tenant screening to landlord rental application forms and contractor directory to apartment financing.

by Vera Dordick

Every property manager knows that spending time and effort to retain residents is more cost effective than working to attract new ones: Each resident turnover is estimated to cost a property around $3,000. While much has been written about strategies for enticing residents to renew, little is said about the different challenges involved in working with residents from other cultures.

California has more foreign-born residents than any other state, putting its property managers in a unique position: Odds are quite good that they will be working with renters from other cultures. New York, Texas and Florida are the other states with high immigrant populations. According to the Public Policy Institute of California:

• One out of four immigrants to the United States resides in California. (That’s more people than the entire population of Michigan!)
• Of this population, more than half are Hispanic and 37 percent are Asian.
• Asia has surpassed Latin America as the major source of immigrants to California.

Across the board, retention experts have identified good communication as a critical factor in keeping residents. The big challenge with multicultural renters comes when your communications style is not necessarily the same as theirs. Culturally based behaviors and styles affect communication and can impact every step of the property rental and management process, from leasing to maintenance.

Culture is a loaded word that means different things to different people.  It is based on your family history, your religion, your reality and your perceptions. For example, if you have never tried an ethnic cuisine, its ingredients, flavors and textures may seem strange.  Similarly, if you don’t understand why people from a different culture behave the way they do, their actions may also seem strange, unfamiliar, or even wrong.

They aren’t “wrong.” They’re just different. This is the key concept that will be most helpful in working with people from other countries.  In a world of cultures, there is no right or wrong culture, no one culture that is “better” than another. Approaching education in cultural sensitivity with an open mind, devoid of stereotypes can help you achieve the “cultural mind shift” that your perception may not be their reality.  This will help you work efficiently and effectively with any multicultural renter.

All residents of a community want to be valued and understood, and feel comfortable living in a community. By understanding the reasons that drive their behaviors – the “why” – you will be better prepared to handle various communication styles and achieve your goals without offending. Some countries have a fluid time culture that does not place significant value on punctuality. Others do not have a history of fixed-term or fixed-price leases. Cultural differences can also impact gender relations and issues of hierarchy on both sides of your business dealings, particularly during the initial leasing process. By taking into account these differences from your very fist meeting, you will set the stage for an open and welcoming atmosphere.

Helpful tactics

Accommodating cultural differences does not have to consume a great deal of time or money as long as you are prepared. Before showing units to any potential renters, it’s a good idea (and prudent legal practice) to ask if renters have any special needs or requirements. By asking everyone, you will not stumble into issues of stereotyping or run afoul of the Fair Housing Act.

Additional challenges may arise after renters join your community. Cultural differences can create concerns over safety and maintenance, which in turn can affect your entire property.

• Some residents may not wear shoes in the home and pile them outside, creating a fire and safety hazard.
• Renters from some cultures may remove closet doors and burn incense or candles inside.
• Cooking smells can be distinctive and pervasive.
• Maintenance in some areas of the unit may become a concern, such as grease build-up in the kitchen or water damage in the bathrooms.
• Appliances may be damaged because of unintentional misuse.

In all of these cases, cultural differences are the root cause of the challenge.  Depending upon the culture of the renter, there are various ways that issues can be addressed to solve the problem without offending the client. Often, problems can be avoided by providing renters a list of leasing etiquette points that must be followed.  Essentially, it’s a list of do’s and don’ts, which can be useful for any renter.

Reminding renters that maintenance is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week can be critical.  In some countries, maintenance service – particularly without an extra charge – does not exist. Familiarizing residents with the availability of the service can save a bundle on repair costs when the situation is one that requires immediate attention.

Sometimes, communicating with non-native English speakers can be challenging. Be mindful of the language you use in speaking with multicultural renters. Speak slowly and avoid compound words and idioms, which can be difficult for them to understand. Don’t be afraid to say you are having trouble understanding and ask someone to repeat themselves.

Interacting with multicultural residents can be an exciting and personally rewarding experience. Their traditions, stories and perspectives can enrich the lives of the entire community.  Moreover, from a business perspective, they cannot be ignored. Most all ethnic communities have an informal network that newcomers use to find sources of goods and services.  It could be damaging to a property if it were to develop a reputation as being unwelcoming to foreign-born renters.

Progressively minded property management companies will seize the opportunity to attract and retain this sizeable market segment.  Educating and training staff members to effectively communicate with multicultural renters will have an immediate and tangible effect on a rental community’s bottom line.

Vera Dordick | Company Website  |  LinkedIn Connect Tangible Development helps companies thrive in a world of flux through cultural awareness training and improved global communication skills. It offers customized consulting with special industry expertise in property management, hospitality, higher education, science and technology, health care and financial services.

“There isnt enough time to do time to do preventive maintenance,” might be the battle cry for every new maintenance supervisor.

“You’ll pay in time and maintenance expense, when you don’t perform preventive maintenance,” is the sage advice from any Obi Wan Kenobi that has a few years of experience in the lead maintenance role.

No one is ever going to find time for preventive maintenance. It has to be scheduled: a half hour a day, a half day per week. Therre’s isn’t one right answer. There’s only a wrong answer-NOT SCHEDULING!

At the beginnng of a month, or the beginning of the work week; determine the preventive maintenance focus for that time frame. Then determine how much time is needed to accomplish this task for the property.

– Changing furnace or air conditioning filters for 125 apartments.
– How much time for each apartment home?
– Enter
– Perform Service
– Check Smoke Detector, ALWAYS!!
– Exit, leaving door tag that says “Maintenance was in your home today.”

Worst case, ten minutes? So for 125 apartment homes, its 1250 minutes, about 21 hours of time to schedule. Almost three full days! To prevent maintenance operations from coming to a halt, could you schedule two hours a day for two weeks?

With a scheduled activity, the number of apartments being serviced can be managed to prevent overscheduling. In this case, twelve to thirteen apartments would need to be scheduled each day. A scheduled, controlled limited effort compared to giving notices to an entire property, something interrupts the schedule resulting in the domino effect of revising notices and mass confusion for maintenance and residents.

In many cases, it makes sense to combine quarterly initiatives; smoke detector test, unit inspections, or filter changes. It takes more time in each apartment home, but not near as much time as a repeat performancee of entering every apartment home again. Before undertaking a property wide initiative, look at the calendar, what items are on the immediate horizon? Budget Prep? Is it time to update the capital needs inventory for the property? Use the time effectively and efficiently.

Properties with consistent preventive maintenance almost eliminate after hour emergencies.

The number of calls for poorly performing air conditioners or furnaces that are remedied after a pricey service call to change the filter is frustrating to anyone reviewing invoices; what a waste of financial resources. In addition to the realization that failure to service HVAC equipment properly will result in premature failure of the equipment or systems.

Exterior inspections are a critical feature of preventive maintenance.
Do exterior doors close securely?
Any loose shingles, gutters or downspouts?
Are extensions in place on all downspouts, with splashblocks to take water
away from the building foundation?

Spring, fall and even winter can be wet seasons. Heavy rains and melting snow give building drainage systems a work out. Without extensions to drain the roof run off away from the building, the excessive moisture is a perfect climate for mildew to develop on interior surfaces.

A resident reports they found mold on the wall, in the closet, behind the sofa or when they pulled the bed away from the wall.

Step 2, ( after Step One cleaning the area) Exterior Inspection, are the gutters and downspouts properly draining water away from the building.

If this isn’t a regular maintenance practice, additional time will be committed to this effort to reinspect after future rainfalls to insure the problem is resolved.

Properties in northern parts of our nation need an appropriate plan for snow removal.
Who plows?
Where is it pushed to?
Is the equipment for the sidewalks in good working condition?
Is there gasoline for the equipment, ice melt products on hand?

“Getting Around To It” generally doesn’t happen until there’s no choice because it is now too late to prepare, its time for action. Scheduling is the key to success.

Taking the time to review items for the preventive maintenance agenda, determining the time to complete the task and scheduling is the first step to proactive maintenance in an environment that changes daily.

Lori Hammond | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | Lori has 30+ years’ experience in the Property Management Industry, working with both market rate and affordable housing.  Lori has been privileged to work with some tremendous industry leaders during employment tenures with Oxford Management, NHP Management, AIMCO, Alliance Residential, Boston Capital, The Sterling Group, P.K. Housing and currently Management Resources Development.

You’ve likely already considered options like renting by the room with separate contractual leases as a method of attracting student renters. So as a property owner, how do you make changes to your property itself that will attract even more of these surefire renters? Here are a few amenities that draw in higher education students.

Proximity to Campus

So this isn’t so much an amenity as it is a “feature” of the property, but the key to really luring in student renters is being close to the campus. Keep in mind, college students tend to play hard, party hard, and likely work hard in addition to all that studying, so being close to the college campus is ideal for those that punch snooze several time before getting out of bed. Being within two miles of campus is the target distance for most students, so if you’re considering buying a rental property designed for students, get as close to the campus as possible.

Lease Timing

Consider adjusting your lease lengths to accommodate the periods that students are in school. Most students put in about 9 months each year, although a few will stay on for summer session. However, by giving students the option for a lease that encompasses the traditional two semester year, you will likely attract even more students. Word gets around fast on campus about that cool property owner that isn’t forcing them to pay for three months of rent they won’t even use.

Add an Exercise Area

Staying in peak physical shape is high on many students’ priority list, and if you have an empty room anywhere on the property, go ahead and consider the inclusion of a weight and fitness room. The equipment doesn’t’ have to be fancy or even brand new, but the addition of an exercise room will certainly attract student renters that don’t want to commit to a gym membership.

Consider a Clubhouse or Other Central Common Area

Again, college students seem to like options for partying, and the addition of a clubhouse or common area to your property can meet that need. You certainly can consider charging additional funds beyond rent for utilizing the clubhouse for a party or gathering, which can increase your bottom line on rentals. If there’s a room and nothing happening in it, consider transitioning it into a money maker that will attract both college students and other renters.

As a property owner, do keep in mind that college students also appreciate additions such as extra storage, bike racks, and privacy. However, making a slight change in your amenities can help your property become one of the most recommended on campus!

Interested in learning more about student housing trends and what you can do to capitalize on this growing market? Check out this free webinar.

Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money.  Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.

Pasadena, CA – March 25, 2014

We hope to see everyone back in Pasadena in 2015!

www.IncomePropertyExpo.com

Whether you’re a busy property owner or an even busier property leasing agent, whenever you can have a time saving tool in your back pocket that simplifies the entire leasing process, how can you say no? We’ve seen great strides in the mobile leasing technology realm from basic online applications to our fully streamlined process that takes you right down to digitally signing and closing the lease on the spot. On the spot lease completion simply lands more tenants for many reasons that we’ll explore.

Don’t Let Tenants Leave Without Committing with Immediate Leases

Mobile applications aren’t new, nor is accepting fees online; however, the ability to have potential tenants’ credit worthiness confirmed and a lease generated and ready to sign at the time of showing gives you maximum leverage to convert a prospect. The ability to close the deal on the spot keeps the leasing momentum going, helping agents and owners land more tenants. Once a tenant leaves the property without committing, a number of things can happen to jeopardize the deal:

1. Lookie Loos Often Get Lost – Desirable tenants may have several options on their list to view after evaluating your property that they may like better. The fully mobile lease flow lets you claim them as tenants so they never see other properties.
2. Delays Get in the Way – Unexpected life incidents just happen, and that prospect may only have one day a week to handle property shopping; hence, your property sits unoccupied even longer and they have time to change their mind or find other rental options.
3. Paper Apps are Inconvenient – They’re not very time or eco-friendly, and filling out and returning rental applications via mail, fax, or in person requires precious time on behalf of desirable renters. If attracting modern tenants is your wish, you’ve got to modernize the application and rental processes so you can get their signature on the lease immediately.

Speaking of Wasting Time, Resources, and Getting Lost…

Consider the amount of time that you as a property owner or leasing agent spend attending to the details of processing paper applications. Putting the applicants extensive information into the computer for credit and background checks, and then typing it all over again to import it into the lease agreement – who has time and payroll to spare on that? These processes can be instantly streamlined and fully customized for your rental needs producing a digital, ready-to-sign agreement so you can cement a new tenant immediately through a mobile device like a smart phone or tablet.

Beyond the perks of immediate lease options, you can modernize your communications and field inquiries, schedule viewing times, send the PDF application form, and see all the paperwork’s status, all online! Saving time, money, and reducing turn around time is what it’s all about in the property management scene, and these affordable and easy to use leasing features make it easy to achieve all this. Read more about how you can take your leasing flow online here or check out this awesome webinar on the future of leasing.

Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect |AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money.  Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.

One of the biggest problems facing today’s entrepreneurs is the lack of access to financing. In fact, 98% of the businesses that are able to secure an appointment with a venture capital firm fail to secure financing often as a result of a single element in their business plans.

The Small Business Administration reports that, regardless of the level of legitimacy of the business’s need, banks in the United States are lending less often. In 2011, banks had over $607B worth of outstanding American business loans, all of which were for $1M or less. In comparison to the same period of time in 2008, that’s a reduction of about $100B.

As discussed earlier in the week, crowdfunding, is the practice by which informed investors pool their money together into a single deal. For real estate investors, that would be to acquire property. In return, the investors earn a share of the profits once the deal is complete. Aside from the smaller risk, the “crowdfund” investor is able to benefit from having other informed investors involved in ensuring their deals’ success.

It’s clear that the advancements in technology have revolutionized the ways in which we access and gather information. Researching an investment was once more of a cumbersome process that took not only time and money, but know-how and access to previously publicized resources.

These days you can research everything from property profile data and lean information with nothing more than an address or parcel number. Once you’re invested, there is technology available that allows you to track and manage all the deals in your portfolio without missing a beat.

Now, thanks to the JOBS Act that President Obama passed in spring of 2012, the general public is now allowed to obtain actual company equity in exchange for funding a company’s efforts.

And the timing for such an act couldn’t be better. With all the communities that have been hit by the housing crisis and unemployment trends, crowdfunding has the potential to become one of the primary means for boosting the overall economy.

Through these types of investment opportunities, we can see a new surge of investing for our nation’s small businesses. After all, in the past two decades, small businesses have been responsible for creating 65% of the new jobs in the country.

As far as the public’s acceptance of the crowdfunding platform, statistics gathered by Massolution Research show that the funds collected on the current platforms have grown by a whopping 524% to fund over a million new projects with the $1.5B they raised.

“Yesterday, it was a big deal if you could get Intel to invest in your company. Tomorrow, you will seek funding from 500 Intel employees, who are all better qualified to vet your technology startup than 90% of the people in Intel’s investment arm,” says Fred Trotter from O’Reilly’s Radar. “These crowdfunders are also willing to make a decision to invest in six hours rather than six months.”

Justin Alanis | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | Justin Alanis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Rentlytics Inc.  Rentlytics is based in San Francisco, CA providing deep analytics for apartment property owners and managers. View and analyze property operational and financial metrics more effectively and identify issues.

Amid numerous investigations against landlords in New York accused of violating rent stabilization regulations, New York officials now are targeting tenants who are abusing the system.

“Double dippers” — those who live in rent-regulated apartments but claim another residence — will no longer get away with also enjoying a popular tax exemption on a separately-owned home.

Governor Cuomo criticized those double-dippers, saying that any corruption of the rent-stabilization system hurts the hard-working tenants and homeowners who follow the rules.

In the first-ever crackdown, rent-regulation records were cross-checked against the statewide School Tax Relief (STAR)  registration system, and 156 duplicate names were found.

New York State Homes and Community Renewal and the State Tax Department sent joint letters that give recipients 60 days to correct their records, or risk having the information provided to their respective landlords.

“In 2011, the state’s rent laws were extended and strengthened for the first time in decades, as part of Governor Cuomo’s efforts to effectively protect tenants. The rent laws have critical obligations for landlords, but also for tenants. This action is an important next step to protect two million rent-regulated tenants from the abuses of a relative handful who would try to defraud the system,” says Commissioner and CEO of New York State Homes and Community Renewal Darryl C. Towns.

Commissioner of New York State Department of Taxation & Finance Thomas H. Mattox adds it is also simple common sense: if you lease a rent-regulated apartment, you cannot also have another home as your primary residence.

Last year, New York State introduced a new statewide STAR registration program to protect New Yorkers from the cost of those falsely claiming multiple exemptions. Approximately 2.4 million property taxpayers registered for the Basic Star exemption. The STAR program provides targeted school property tax savings to more than three million eligible homeowners across New York. The Basic STAR exemption, saving homeowners $700 per year on average, is available to all homeowners with incomes below $500,000, while the Enhanced STAR program is available to senior homeowners with incomes below $81,900.

The state’s rent-regulation laws, among the most comprehensive in the nation, aim to maintain the affordability of approximately 1 million apartments in New York City and the surrounding counties. The laws limit rent increases, ensure timely lease renewals, prohibit harassment, and set minimum standards for conditions and maintenance of apartments.

American Apartment Owners Association | Company Website |  Rental property management can be very demanding. Our job is to make this day-to-day property management process smoother. AAOA provides a host of services ranging from tenant screening to landlord rental application forms and contractor directory to apartment financing.

Seduced by the promise of extra income — a $100 or so a night in many cases — tenants across the country are looking to vacation rental service Airbnb to turn their apartments into profit centers through temporary sublets.

The most active markets are in major cities, including those with rent limits. In some cases, rent-controlled tenants are making more money than the landlord is legally allowed to charge.

Some call it ingenuity. But others, including property owners and managers, say it’s illegal.

As the practice grows in popularity, landlords are fighting back. For instance, in a recent report from San Francisco, a tenant who was earning $185 a night by taking in temporary boarders just got the boot. An eviction attorney says he’s filed about a dozen of these cases in the last few months, according to the report.

In New York, a landlord was slapped with fines when a tenant’s sublet violated the ban on short-term lodging.  The landlord deferred the eviction when the tenant agreed to pay the penalties and to stop renting out the spare bedroom.

Airbnb offers a turnkey service allowing visitors to search online listings for extra rooms or even empty couches in large cities around the world. Sublets in San Francisco alone are estimated in the thousands, according to the report.

Despite negative publicity,  the problem doesn’t seem to be going away.

If a lease agreement prohibits sublets, or short-term rentals violate local law, a landlord may have grounds to file an eviction. However, in some cases there is no built-in remedy for landlords against tenants who are exploiting a lease for profit.

And, some tenants won’t leave quietly. One tenant attorney told reporters that landlords are using the Airbnb situation as a “false pretense” to get rid of rent-controlled tenants. He negotiates lease buy-outs on behalf of tenants in cases where an eviction may be costly and protracted.

Airbnb says its policies discourage anyone from breaking the lease, or the law.

American Apartment Owners Association | Company Website |  Rental property management can be very demanding. Our job is to make this day-to-day property management process smoother. AAOA provides a host of services ranging from tenant screening to landlord rental application forms and contractor directory to apartment financing.

Just reaching your prospective renters through targeted marketing isn’t enough anymore. Without a full toolbox of digital tools you might be missing out on golden opportunities to close more sales. If you are straddling the fence between a paper leasing processes and a digital automated leasing system, here are a few details to help you get off the fence.

The Problem with Paper Trails

The paper application process isn’t efficient, it’s fragmented. Tenants look for a property online (or during a drive-by), pick up an application, mail it back, fax it in or hand deliver it to the leasing office, and wait for a leasing agent to manually key in the information. Depending on how motivated the prospect is, he may or may not view other properties while waiting for notice of approval.

At every point in the process, property managers risk losing the prospect’s interest. He or she might take the application, but get distracted by other properties before filling out the application.  He could fill out the application, but fail to return it. Maybe, another property using digital processing reaches a decision faster and closes the deal while your team is evaluating the paper application.

Digital (Mobile) Lease Flow

Mobile lease flow systems close those gaps. When an apartment seeker locates a property that piques his interest, he can complete an application from any mobile device, get an answer from management, and sign the lease – all digitally and without leaving your property. No loss of momentum and no interference from other properties vying for attention. This also means prospective tenants doing a drive-by don’t have to wait for open office hours to apply.

Supporting a Green Lifestyle

Digital lease flow systems support an eco-friendly lifestyle. Managing guest cards, non-paper applications and online virtual tour brochures drastically reduce paper waste and shrinks your property’s carbon footprint. An environmentally responsible, low-impact management style is very appealing to many urban apartment dwellers who look for sustainability-centered properties to call home.

Boosting Profits

Digital applications are efficient and cost-effective. Property owners and managers find that digital leasing systems reduce staff hours, while increasing closing ratios. Cost of printing and file maintenance also falls. Integrative, seamless paperless leasing options require fewer staff hours, but allow for more customer contact. It is like having a virtual leasing agent on call to keep your prospects engaged throughout the process from the point of interest to a signed lease.

Still Not Ready to Switch?

Beside appealing to today’s savvy, digital consumers, saving money on supplies and labor costs, and reducing your carbon footprint, there are a few more advantages for digitally integrated systems.

• Speed up background check processing times.
• Electronic payments reduce NSF chargebacks and late payments.
• Paperless applications reduce turn-around time.
• Electronic files are secure and archived for future retrieval without taking up file space in the office.

Changing the way you do business can be stressful. Switching to a system that saves you money and boosts efficiency relieves stress though, and is a great option for tenants and property managers.

Appfolio | Company Website | LinkedIn Connect | AppFolio, Inc. develops Property Management Software that helps businesses improve their workflow so they save time and make more money.  Appfolio submits articles & blogs including topics of Resident Retention, Improved Owner Communication, Time Management, and more.