NBR - home leases (long)

ladybugpjb · January 2013

I'm posting this here because most of my RL friends are home-owners or live in apartments, so they don't deal with these things. I'm hoping that others here have some insight/experience. I just have this sinking feeling in my stomach after going over the draft of the lease this morning.

Situation: we are going through property manager for the house I want to lease, but he's only doing the initial lease. After the lease is signed, we'll be dealing with the owners. The owners live out of state, and this is their first time renting the home. (It belonged to their parents.) I don't think they've ever been landlords before.

Little things keep popping up that we've never had to do before (we've rented three homes since we've been married):

-initially, they wanted to put a requirement in our lease that we pay to get the carpets cleaned every 6 months. They took that out, but that was my first clue that they might be....picky.

-they want us to pay by money order -- I honestly don't understand why. We have good credit, so it's not like we have a history of bouncing checks. Can anyone tell me why a landlord would require that? In my mind, it makes me think they are paranoid that we are going to bounce a check. I've also never actually done a m/o before, so in my mind, I'll be toting two kids to the bank every month to get a m/o instead of writing a check from the comfort of my own home. Sounds like a hassle to me.

-Not related to the landlords, but now I'm paranoid about lead paint - do any of you live in older homes? Should I ask that the home be tested? They've done remodeling throught he years, but I don't know if there was any lead paint originally used. (It was built before 1978, which is when lead paint was banned, and the "lead pain disclosure" kind of freaked me out.) I have no experience with this, and don't know what other people do. I emailed asking if they knew whether there is any lead paint (or lead pipes).

It looks like theymight not have it ready for us before the end of the month, which was my primary reason for choosing this house over others. I have three other houses that are newer and more updated that would be available Feb1st that wouldn't give me these misgivings. At the moment, I feel like it's going to be a hassle to deal with these landlords, and the other potential landlords all live in twon and I've personally met them. I don't like hassle, especially with DH going to deploy and #2 on the way.

Edit: turns out the money order thing was from the property owner. The owners will take a check, so maybe I AM just being paranoid about them.

fancefpp · January 2013

My only advice is to try to research lead paint laws in your state. MA has some pretty strict laws in favor of tenants, especially tenants with young children.

The carpet thing might need to slide. They probably just don't want to give up control over those things. I'm a landlord and wouldn't want my tenants making even minor improvements, especially being bound by them in a lease. Maybe approach them down the line and ask if you can do it - outside the lease.

BnchaNums · January 2013

Honestly, I'd move on. I am a landlord and I would not be able to keep up with managing my own property, much less out of state. They do sounds picky and they also sound like they don't know what they're doing. Insisting on every 6 mo carpet cleaning is crazy talk. I'm glad they dropped that but they still sound nuts.

MrsCase1 · January 2013

A money order to me says they're trying to hide rental income. I don't want to deal with ANY owner who is trying to hide anything.

I would bail out now if possible. I used to manage properties and I can tell you that when an owner lives out of state, it usually takes twice as long to get repairs made if something goes down. Talk about a hassle. Can you back out?

BnchaNums · January 2013

Oh and lead paint - the concern is that it's flaking or peeling. Encapsulating it just requires painting over it, which probably has been done if its updated. How old is the house? I wouldn't worry about the pipes unless its much older.

I'd actually never heard of someone irl dealing with lead until Lala (I think) mentioned her kids levels were elevated. I'm sure she can add more.

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha · January 2013

Hmmm... I would say go with your gut.

If you're not feeling it, then you're not feeling it. Not much you can do about it.

ladybugpjb · January 2013

Mrs Case:
A money order to me says they're trying to hide rental income. I don't want to deal with ANY owner who is trying to hide anything.
I would bail out now if possible. I used to manage properties and I can tell you that when an owner lives out of state, it usually takes twice as long to get repairs made if something goes down. Talk about a hassle. Can you back out?

After talking to the property manager, HE is the one who prefers money orders/certified funds instead of personal checks. The owners are okay with a check, so that's not an issue anymore.

I think this manager just isn't the most organized person - he's causing me all sorts of panic by things that HE is doing. Like the lease end date (Jan 31) which is what caused me to think it won't be ready when he said (Jan 31 end date implies Feb1st start date) -- he should have left it blank since it was just a draft and we haven't settled...or he should have noted that in his email.

Meh... If anything else goes wrong, we're backing out.

ladybugpjb · January 2013

BnchaNums:
Oh and lead paint - the concern is that it's flaking or peeling. Encapsulating it just requires painting over it, which probably has been done if its updated. How old is the house? I wouldn't worry about the pipes unless its much older.
I'd actually never heard of someone irl dealing with lead until Lala (I think) mentioned her kids levels were elevated. I'm sure she can add more.

I believe it was built in the 60s.

I haven't seen Lala around as much (but I haven't been around as much...only to post these obnoxious house-hunting posts...ha. Maybe she'll see and comment.

MommyRie123 · January 2013

Mrs Case:
A money order to me says they're trying to hide rental income.

this was the first thing that popped into my head, too.

ladybugpjb · January 2013

LalaMama81:
BnchaNums:
Oh and lead paint - the concern is that it's flaking or peeling. Encapsulating it just requires painting over it, which probably has been done if its updated. How old is the house? I wouldn't worry about the pipes unless its much older.
I'd actually never heard of someone irl dealing with lead until Lala (I think) mentioned her kids levels were elevated. I'm sure she can add more.
This is true - you most likely will not have an issue b/c w/ a rental especially it has been painted over so many times.
I am convinced the only reason we had an issue is b/c DD1 ate a paint chip at around 9-10 months old when we were in the process of moving into our 1930s house. Paint had been chipped between moving furniture, floors getting refinished, etc. We painted all trim and chipped areas w/ oil based exterior paint and never had an issue again.
DD2 was fine when she had her lead tested and DD1's levels went back to normal so it was a one time incident.
I would not hesitate to buy or rent an older home - I would just inspect the trim work and windows specifically for paint chips.

Thanks for giving the details - they just repainted EVERYTHING, so unless WE damage it, there are no chips. If we do go with this one, I'll have to watch the movers closely to make sure they don't chip paint when they move furniture in.

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NBR - home leases (long)

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