Anyone have rental properties?

[Ugly]

Good point! I think your insurance needs to be adjusted too.

[midtennchip]

Good point! I think your insurance needs to be adjusted too.

Yes, don't know why it slipped my mind.

[Erik88]

Great info guys. Thanks for sharing. I think I'll avoid renting at all costs.

[Patton]

There is actually a new threat to rentals that didn't exist twenty years ago when my parents had rental property and that is meth labs. Guess who gets hit with the multi thousand dollar clean up bill when a lab is found in a rental property?

[Guest theconstitutionrocks]

I deal with landlord tenant stuff for a living (counselor/advisor, not one of the parties, thank the Lord). I see this kind of stuff all the time from both sides (renters who trash/abandon the place, and landlords who couldn't care less about what the law says), there are a few basic commonalities I see regardless...

 

1. Property managers DO remove a lot of the stress in terms of managing the day to day function of the home....until something big breaks. When that happens all too often they head fake the tenant and say...well...we have to get with the owner to authorize the repair...uh huh, guess what, BOTH the property manager and owner are, by definition, landlords and therefore they are controlled by the URLTA....your central heat goes out in January?...that tenant has very specific legal rights (TCA 66-28-501 & 502) and you havd better be Johnny on the spot to fix it.

2. The laws generally give pretty good specifics about how the move out process is supposed to go...both parties usually fail to follow the specificity, which creates legal problems later on.

3. That security deposit?...did you properly account for it, properly store it, and properly disclose it? No?...then you can't legally keep it.

4. Non-compliance by either party is corrected through legal action in the courts....which is time consuming, convoluted, can be expensive, and is not a sure thing.

and 5....Lord help you if you are dealing with a servicemember tenant who is not a good occupant. Getting those guys out of the home is difficult and, if not done properly, can actually open you up to CRIMINAL, not civil violations (course that one is federal so it applies in all 50 states)...Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) title 50 USC typical section dealt with is 535.

 

Florida Landlord Tenant Stuff is contained in Florida Statutes, Chapter 83, Part 2. We usually don't deal with stuff other than KY and TN so I'm not familiar with FL law. You might want to look through it. 

[Ugly]

One thing about service member or govt worker tenants, if they default and you have to go after them in civil court, you can easily recoup some money. Fed law allows it and they don't want a black eye from their people. Civilians, not so much so.

[tnhawk]

During the years my mother had a friend to watch her property in FL it was a good investment.  Later when she had to pay a rental company to oversee the property things went down hill.

[frankmako]

i did many mango season ago.  but these day i would not.  to many problems and you will all ways lose in the end.  one meth lab in your house and you are out big money.