Today’s Deep Thought:

Wishy washy landlords CREATE their own wishy washy residents. The LL cannot understand why his/her people are wishy washy about paying on time.

Stick to the rules and everyone knows what to do.

When the LL slacks off on the rules the residents get angry when the landlord FINALLY enforces the rules. The res is confused because the LL has let him slide all along - why get on me now?

I agree, the fuzzy landlords get fuzzy replies and ask - why? Follow the local and state tenant rules, the court will help you best this way, do you think a judge is gonna enforce some illegal agreement you made?

More about rent increases:

At the very least, index rent increases to the rise in cost of living in your area. That's the inflation rate.

If you have a mortgage with fixed payments, are you paying more in property tax, fire insurance, repairs and maintenance every year? of course you do, then you pass these costs to the tenant.

Your costs rise even higher if you have an adjustable mortgage.

I agree Brad. Sticking to the lease makes it easier for everyone.

Here's an example of NOT doing that: Long-term Tenant loses license in a DUI. For a long time...so his two cars sit in his driveway for ages. I finally contact him and he agrees to move them so they were less of an eyesore (turn them around, dust them off) and I let him instead of enforcing lease which clearly says ALL cars must be operable and tagged and insured.

Later I get a letter from Town: get rid of cars or $50 day fine! I contact him, give him a few days to make arrangements, contact town get a little extension, etc. Anyway big hassle and he waits until last day and then we have a storm. Tow trucks all rescuing flooded cars. Have to ask town for another extension and now they are mad (small town, not good.) Finally get a tow truck get them towed on last day of last extension.

I want to expand on Brad's post about being a wishy-washy LL.

Even if you are a brand new, lacking in self-confidence LL, you can still present as someone who knows their stuff. Pull this off, and you will prevent a lot of problems down the line. The tenants will not test you.

How do you do this when you are brand new? Know your laws, know the process in your state for evictions and enforcing lease provisions, and spend a day observing in eviction court. Know your lease/rental agreement inside and out. You will learn a lot and gain self confidence. The BEST thing you can do as a new LL is post that 3 day notice on day 4 of late rent. It is just a piece of paper, but it carries a loud message. The message is: I know the law, and I will not be messed with.

I must come across as a real be-atch in rental agreement signings. We recently rented an apartment to a young couple. They paid their rent on time WITH the late fee. They were afraid their rent was going to be late! (We refunded their late fee, and explained the process, again.)

wMH - when I receive a notice about vehicles, I move the deadline up 2 days with the tenant so that if the city is going to tow/ticket me on the 19th, I'd notify the tenant it must be done by the 17th or I'll do it. Too many times did I keep driving past at the last minute .... which is when they all seem to move them. I actually have a tenant right now that I had a vehicle towed earlier this summer. VERY unhappy tenants. WHY did I do that? Well, because I told you to take care of it and you told me that you'd take care of it two weeks ago ... I even gave extra time !! Guess what? they have another sitting there now unregistered/unlicensed/uninspected. Actually, I want that vehicle rather than have it towed. Will have to see if I can work something out.

The Wishy Washy Landlord it starts with screening the tenant. They want the unit rented HOWEVER they don't want to spend the money on a credit check. This is a huge mistake. The Wishy Washy landlord does not know nor wants to know the law HOWEVER when they take the tenant to court AND the paper trail is not there, especially the check in paperwork and the pics to support the paperwork they get mad at the judge for not ruling in their favor. Then the tenant walks...

The Wishy Washy landlord is being trained and strung along by the tenant on every issue: late rent, unpaid utilities, breaches in the lease. AND its always a confrontational situation when Wishy Washy Landlord talked to tenant about a lease issues.

In many cases the Landlord does not know the landlord tenant laws for his or her state and at times is intimidated by the tenant. PLUS does not want to have the tenant move losing that monthly rent money and chasing it every month.