Hi My name is Kellie I live in pa. My husband and I bought a double house. We live in one half and the other side is currently occupied by a family that has been there for 10 years. They are currently paying $350 a month. There lease is month to month. There security deposit was only $100. My husband and I need to raise the rent to $475 and we would like a security deposit of $475. We are wondering how to go about raising the rent and getting our security deposit. We don't want to cause hardship to the family that is there however we need to do this in order for it to be a beneficial move for us. I'm preparing a new lease that will allow them to pay $350 for July and the starting Aug 1 it will go up to 425 for 3 months and then finally 475 for the next 6 months. Is that best to put all in one lease or should we have them keep Signing new leases at the end of each term. We did consider evicting them and starting fresh but they have a good rental history and I would like to give them first option. What would you suggest? At this point is eviction an option seeing as they have no lease with us, only with the previous owner?:confused:

First if you are a new landlord, several things, write down all the things that will happen, what type of notice to evict for non payment, what type of notice to evict for other reason, do you need to put the depoisit into a separate account and do you owe the tenant interest on the money. I will assume the 100 dollar deposit was transferred to you at closing.

As a landlord it is well worth paying a few 100 dollars for an attorney visit in your ara that does real estate law. It will save you tons of problems latter.

Also are you going for a 6 month or one year leaswe or are you leaving it on a month to month rental.

You are required to give them a 30 day notice before you can raise rent.
If you wish to change the deposit, I would allow them to do it over several months.

Hello d:

I would advise you to become familiar with the Rules of the landlord business. You can find then in your state landlord/tenant laws. We have a copy of them right here at the top of the real estate page on a sticky note.

You should also get into the frame of mind that the landlord business IS a business and needs to be operated like a business. Lot's of people don't have the heart to do that. If these people have been there 10 years, if they can afford the increased rent, they sound like great tenants. They probably haven't had an increase for years, so this shouldn't be a surprise.

excon

And as a landlord you will hear every sob story, be asked to give and supply everything you can think of. As noted you have to decide from day one is this a charity operation or is it a business, If you intend to make money, you have to set your rules and stick to them.