Landlord Question and Answers - Hollywood Landlords Association

Landlord Questions and Answers

Submit your income property related question to our group. It will be e-mailed to everyone in our email distribution list . Remember to include your contact information within the question so folks can respond directly to you.
We have landlords, attorneys, CPA's and Maintenance people willing to share their experiences.
This is a public knowledge sharing collabrative effort intended to help income property owners.
Please Do not include any political or advertising content.

Headline	Question	Responses
Headline: Fire Code State: FL County: Broward City:Hollywood	I own a property with 11 units. Is a property with 11 units required to have a fire sprinkler system installed? Does anyone know what type of fire system is 'required' for a property with this many units?	--NEXT RESPONSE--Yes. Any property containing 11 units or more must install sprinklers.
Headline: sue me State: fl County: broward City:hollywood	hurt finger in window know they want to sue	--NEXT RESPONSE--Ouch... I have never been sued by a tenant but the approach I might take would be that if they have secured an attorney I would at least match that.
Headline: LANDLORD TENNENT State: FL County: BROWARD City:HOLLYWOOD	HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO EVICT A TENNENT	--NEXT RESPONSE--The process for NON payment of rent eviction usually takes 3 weeks from the time the eviction is filed with the Broward County court until the sheriff posts the 24 hour notice to vacate. Steps in the porcess: 1. Post 3 day notice (not including weekends or Holidays - do not include the day you post)) 2. On the 4th day - file eviction 3. Tenant has 5 business days to repond to court and post $$ rent in the court registry 4. Day 6 - request judgement for eviction
Headline: Taxes State: FL County: Broward City:Hwd	How do you get the property value down? for tax purposes . . .	--NEXT RESPONSE--One easy method I have done and you may try yourself is simply calling broward county property appraisors office and talking to them. In the past this has worked for me. If your taxes are way outragous then there are other more complicated ways of doing it where you have to file a complaint and appear at a hearing (I have never done that process so I cant talk expertly on it.) The property appraisors office web site is www.bcpa.net. It should have information there about this topic as well. I also know if you use a property management firm they sometimes will handle this for you.
Headline: Why do we have to pay the Fire Inspection Fee? State: Fl County: Broward City:Hollywood	I have a couple of property's in Hollywood and pay property taxes, dont we pay fire department fee's already	--NEXT RESPONSE--I agree. I totally dont understand what this is extra tax is for. I called the phone number on the form and the folks that answered knew about the tax but had no clue what it was for either. At first I thought maybe it was to perform inspections but they said it was not. The only thing I can think of is that it is a way for the city to make more money?--NEXT RESPONSE--The previous reply is correct, The annual fire assessment fee, if thats what your referring to has nothing to do with the Fire Dept. it's an additional unknown fee the city collects. I have argued this issue before and all I got from the city was smoke and mirrors.
Headline: Raise the rent for the next lease year State: FL County: Broward City:Hollywood	Should I inform the tenants at time of lease renewal that I will be raising rent to $1200 next year ? I don't want to scare them off, but I should prepare them.	--NEXT RESPONSE--My policy on this is that I try to lock in whether a tenant will be renewing a lease or moving out approximately 3 months prior to their current lease expiring. Until then we are not discussing anything related to future leases. So to answer your question, my answer is no. I would not be talking about possible future increases in rent until about 3 months prior to their current lease expiring for the main reason that I do not know what the market conditions may allow in a year or what changes may occur during the year to warrant an increase. If you initiate this communication three months prior to their current lease expiring this is adequate time for them to decide if they want to move or possibly counter the offer. On another note, if your signing a lease and already thinking about how much you will increase the rent, perhaps you are not getting current market rate rent in which case you may want to re-think the current lease rate. A good tool to use in determining what your rent should be is rentometer.com. Hope this helps some! Tim (954)243-8463
Headline: Raise the rent for the next lease year State: FL County: Broward City:Hollywood	Should I inform the tenants at time of lease renewal that I will be raising rent to $1200 next year ? I don't want to scare them off, but I should prepare them.
Headline: Rehab Funds 4 units and up State: FL County: Broward City:Hollywood	Are there any programs offered for rehab for rental properties under 10 units and over 4 units? Chales Pena chariot5@aol.com
Headline: tenant failed to pay rent State: Tx County: Broward City:Hollywood	Is the notice for non-payment of rent for a multi-family available on line and can the petition be done through the web? Libraappraisals@yahoo.com (Ms. traknyak)	--NEXT RESPONSE--If you property is located in Broward County we have an eviction manual that you may download. First log onto the system using your logon ID and Password then click on the link 'Tenant Eviction Process Help'. If you have any problems give me a call (954)243-8463. Thanks, Tim
Headline: tenant failed to pay rent State: FL County: Broward City:Hollywood	Is the notice for non-payment of rent for a multi-family available on line and can the petition be done through the web? Libraappraisals@yahoo.com (Ms. traknyak)

...Return to Home Page...