I would like to hear any comments or advice from any other landlords out there as to what they are doing in regards to Y2K. I own a couple of rental properties and at this time am unsure what I should do to protect my investments. I have thought of selling, but right now rentals are my only income. Come Jan. 1 I will be safe in the country and wont want to come back to town to check on my properties. Do I have any obligations to my tenants when the city electric and utilities go down and they are left with no heat? I dont want my properties to get trashed in a panic or for them to try to build fires for warmth. Another idea that I had was to write all my new leases with an end date in Nov. so that my biuldings would be vacant come 2000. Any landlords please comment on your plans. Thanks

-- Scott (carstens@werewolf.net), February 26, 1999

Answers

Scott - Quick question for you.

I have some friends that live in rental properties, my question is

In the case of an economical colapse, would you still try to evict the occupants. This is something my friends are very worried about!

If Y2K knocks the hell (which I am counting on) and tenants cannot make the rent (even though they would under normal circumstances) would you still take steps to evict them - i.e. lock & load - your out of here - or state I have friends/family that I want to stay here.

At what point do you simply throw your hands in the air & allow tenants to stay put. Any chance of barter for stay????

This is a serious question that many tenants/renters have serious concerns about.

Thanks - Matt

-- Matt (Butenam1@aol.com), February 26, 1999.

Matt,

Your friends need to ask their OWN landlord this. Scott's answer will have NO BEARING on their landlord's condition. It may even become a problem if they assume that Scott, being a conscientious, nice guy who would work with his tennants gives this type of answer and they are living in appartments/houses owned or managed by "Warbucks Inc., Realty Mgt. Div."

If they are REALLY concerned, they need to contact their landlord(s) NOW and not in December!

Chuck

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 26, 1999.

I, too, am a landlord and have given this some thot. If the power goes out, I don't feel any "responsibility", after all, it's just another winter storm (ha ha).

Which brings up the point that our property is in SE Wisconsin. No power, no heat. I can't see my tenant hanging around too long. Funny thing, this Jan 1st (1999) the gas furnance's igniter went kapooey. No heat. Temp dropped to 55 in 4 hours! Boy did she holler!

We live upstairs, so we can monitor what's going on downstairs. I am going to encourage my single-mom-tenant-with-6wk-old kid to spend New Year's at her mother's, making it quite clear that she should not expect to come upstairs to enjoy our newly installed wood stove! Not nice? I don't think so. I do not want to be responsible for a whiny, cold, no diapers, no baby food 1 yr old.

Will I evict her? No. She'll will probably locked out though, because the locks on her door will be replaced with those kind of locks that need a key to get both in and out. That way, if someone breaks in to get upstairs, they won't be able to get out the first floor doors and into the hallway. Windows mught be pre-boarded anyways, depending on how the year shakes out.

More discussion here is welcome.

Chuck - hope you are feeling better. A choo!

-- have q's (answer@here.com), February 26, 1999.

Check with your insurance company whether you will be covered for damage from burst pipes from a Y2K-related failure. You may need a rider. Providing an alternative heating source might solve both the insurance and the AWOL tenant problem for you.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), February 26, 1999.

Concerning the burst pipes: by Dec 31, every one should have a darn good idea of the condition of their local utilities. Act in advance! If it looks like it's gonna go down hard, we will have: 1) pre-drained the pipes 2) pre-boarded the windows 3) brought in enuf wood so we won't have to go outside and be a moving target 4) plugged the basement pipes so sewage won't back in.

You get the idea. Act in adavance! Don't fix on failure! Remember the slogan? Hope for the best, prepare for worst.

Forget about insurance.

-- have q's (answer@here.com), February 26, 1999.

What I meant was, don't assume you will be covered by insurance. Also, problems may well lead to much higher repair costs, so if you think there are repairs or improvements you need to do (and for some reason vandalism is not an issue), then you might want to take care of them this year.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), February 26, 1999.

I live in an apartment building and rent my shop. If either landlord thinks they're going to evict me in the middle of y2k then they'd better think again. I will appeal to their kinder nature, which I'm almost sure they have . But if they want me to leave, I'm not going. Period. I've got new locks ready to be installed and I'm not leaving; simply because I have no where else to go.

And I really don't think the sheriff or courts are going to have time to come around with the eviction papers (even if they do, it takes MONTHS to evict someone).

-- Not Telling (abc@abc.com), February 26, 1999.

True Story

From 1935 to 1939, my parents paid 8 dollars per month rent on a whole house in Florida, and the landlord was glad to get it.

-- dave (wootendave@hotmail.com), February 26, 1999.

One point I've seen brought up on this subject elsewhere is the quality of the tenant. A good tenant in a rental property during Y2K could be the best way to insure the survival of the property. And if there are rent difficulties, if both parties see what's coming ahead of time and have discussions on how to deal with the issue, then it's a lot better than waiting until every conversation is a yelling and screaming contest (and after 01/01/2000, I expect that to be the case).

The jist of the issue is that landlords should want to keep responsible tenants in a property just to have someone on their side on-site if trouble comes to the neighborhood. Vacant rental properties are more likely to burn than occupied ones. And even "middle-ground" and somewhat poor quality tenants have possesions they'll want to protect, and in doing so they will protect the property.

Of course, if you're renting to some real-life "Beavis and Butthead" types, then they might not even wait to New Year's to torch the place if they ever get it about Y2K.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 26, 1999.