The Property Management Shop

A Few Good Ideas

by Marc Wilson

Q. I own a 12-unit apartment building that has garbage chutes with access doors in and along the rear stairwell. The tenants occasionally clog this garbage chute with pizza boxes and clothes hangers; someone actually sent a toilet seat down the chute last year, which cost me $250 to get sawed in half and removed. My wife thinks that I should just remove this chute or seal the access doors. I�m afraid that the tenants will get upset. Can the tenants argue a reduction in services for the removal of the garbage chute? What would you do?

A. San Francisco tenants can and often do file similar reduction-in-service claims at the San Francisco Rent Board. Sometimes they are successful; sometimes they are not. Fortunately, most tenants have better things to do than go to war over a garbage chute. My experience has been that there are two kinds of garbage chutes: those that get clogged and those that do not get clogged. Last week, a client of mine educated me as to the difference: the size of the access door. In the words of my client, “You need a small door and a large chute.“ Most garbage chutes have access doors that are roughly the same size and diameter as the chute, a sure recipe for a blocked chute. I suggest that you contact a reputable metal worker and have him fabricate and install new, smaller access doors for your garbage chute. It will take you some time and money, but reducing the size of your access doors is a good idea that should reduce your clogged garbage-chute calls by 95%.

There is nothing quite like a good idea when it comes to property management. Good ideas save you time, money, heartache and legal exposure. I can think of a few more good ideas:

1. Install a roof alarm with an access code. Tenants should only access your roof in the event of an extreme emergency.
2. Create and distribute an operating manual for radiator valves. Most tenants do not realize that the valves on single-pipe radiator systems should never be touched by the tenant.
3. Use a no-smoking addendum with your rental agreement. There are many reasons to have a smoking prohibition within your agreement and the rental value of your vacant apartment will not be negatively affected simply because you disallow smoking within the unit.
4. Have your building master keyed by a reputable locksmith who can store your key codes in his computer. Your locksmith should be able to go to your property without you to rekey a unit. Your locksmith can then drop off the new keys at your house or office. Why make an unnecessary trip to the property? A well-managed master key system will save you lots of time over the years—no more searching for keys!
5. Only rent apartments that are in perfect condition and I mean perfect. It is always easier to do repairs in a vacant apartment.
6. Keep a separate file for each and every tenant. Place absolutely all correspondence in this file, including (but not limited to) repair requests, letters from tenants, yearly rent increase notices and 24-hour notices to enter. If you ever have a legal problem with a tenant, the first thing your attorney will want to review is your tenant file. Try to make sure that it is up to date.
7. Do not allow tenants to install satellite dishes on your roof. They are unsightly and, in an emergency, people are in danger of tripping over them. You have no obligation to allow your tenants to install satellite dishes on the roof.
8. Use an offer to lease/tenant application form that mandates a $300 good faith deposit. This good faith deposit is refundable to the tenant only in the event that her application is rejected. This helps prevent wasting time and money on applications that are not made in earnest or in good faith.
9. Don't screen your tenants over the phone. Your phone message should simply indicate the dates and times that you will be showing the vacant apartment.
10. Try to conduct your apartment leasing affairs in order to avoid discrimination beefs and in order to achieve a tenant profile with an average tenancy of three to five years. Show your apartment to whoever wants to see it and accept applications from anyone who wants to submit one. Price your vacant apartments so that they garner multiple applications. In this way, you can select your ideal tenant type from a pool of applicants.
11. Paint all of your apartments the same color. Try to use a neutral, off-white color from an established local paint manufacturer. Believe me, touching up vacant apartments will be much easier if your units are all the same color.
12. Advertise your vacant units on Craigslist and always include multiple pictures of your unit. Many prospective tenants only peruse those advertisements that include pictures.
13. Place marketing signs around your vacant unit during your open houses—signs that say things like: “laundry facility downstairs,” “huge backyard for barbecues,” “we are flexible about move-in dates,” “professionally managed property,” “we love our tenants” and “check out the roof deck upstairs.”
14. Adopt a zero-tolerance policy for late rent payments. Never, ever call a tenant and ask about a rent payment. Always serve your tenant with a Three-Day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit if you do not receive her timely rent payment.
15. Never, ever tolerate any deviation from your written rental agreement.
16. Never warn tenants verbally. In fact, never have verbal discussions or conversations with tenants at all. Communication should always be in writing, a copy of which goes into the tenants' files. Your tenant is not your friend. You and your tenant have the quintessential business relationship: you provide habitable housing and your tenant pays rent. Absolutely nothing good will ever come from having casual conversations with your tenant.
17. Create a detailed map of all of your parking spaces and storage spaces. Keep track of which tenant has what parking space and/or storage space. Keep a copy of this map in each tenant's file. You would be surprised at how many property managers do not know who is parking in what space or who is in possession of what storage locker. Never allow tenants to store personal property in common areas.
18. Manage your revolving tenancies and serve 6.14 Notices to subsequent occupants. Use an Acknowledgement of Residents Notice to Vacate document, which clearly spells out your expectations relative to your vacating tenant: what the tenant should do with her keys, when you will return her security deposit, where she should mail her forwarding address, that she has the right to a move-out inspection, and that dumping of furniture on the sidewalk or in the side alley is not allowed.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. Marc Wilson has specialized in the brokerage of San Francisco apartment buildings for 20 years. He can be reached at 415-229-1275. Copyright © 2007 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.