Several bills in Congress now, one in the Heroes act which basically says nonpaying tenants could now go all of 2021 without paying any rent at all, and must continue to be housed. Another outlaws all late fees, credit reporting, and most of the vital tools landlords use to encourgage tenants to pay regularly and on time. Most media articles online about this I've seen tout it as 'much needed relief' and allow no commments. Media fears of the 'wave of evictions' as nonpaying renters pile up mean its not unreasonable to see such an edict renewed in 2022, 2023, and onward.

It looks as if we're rapidly entering a new America where tenants no longer expect to pay their rent every month- with much Federal and State backed opportunity to dodge unpaid rent bills after the fact, and landlords chasing unreliable government aid that is solely in the hands of tenants to apply for. There are even movements to #cancelrent.

This would seem to spell the end of the "mom n pop" or middle class landlord in this country.

Some have even gone so far as to say this is intentional, that its a move to consolidate/corporatize apartment housing, or make it all government run whichever side your political fears lean.

My question is, does everyone agree?

As someone who just got into leasing about 5 years ago it seems like a death blow, and I'm ruined. From my experience I already consider even one month of unpaid rent uncollectable- especially after a tenant takes off into the sunset. I can't afford to float months with no rental income, or spend years chasing down unpaid rent bills. Also my experience with government rental aid has been EXTREMELY slow and unreliable, and entirely at the mercy of tenant cooperation. And if you do agree with all this gloom and doom, how to people plan to cope with this.

If you can't figure a way to deal with it, just sell. Instead of facing monthly negative cash flow at least you will stop the bleeding.

Then use any money to invest in a different class of real estate, like mini storage or farmland, for example.Or buy a vacant commercial building and section it off into little stalls and make it into a flea market. At least those types of real estate likely won't be subject to these terrible rules.

Who knows if it's intentional or simple incompetence? I've not been a fan of Govt "helping" the economy ever because for every one good they do, there are 2-3 unintended consequences that outweigh it. Sure, we got a few months of stimulus and unemployment, and in exchange we got months-long moratoriums now possibly extended for a year.

Toss you a dog a bone and it forgets the hamburger.

I don't know if it'll happen or not. I don't want to see private land lords destroyed because it is one of the few ways that an individual can, thru diligence and wisdom over a long time, still become modestly wealthy.

If they try this shenanigan, there will be violence. Not rioters in the street. Quiet, planned, methodical. There will be land lords who have scrimped, saved, and worked for decades quietly doing things that you'll see in the news attributed to "unknown sources". Things like houses burning to the ground in the middle of the night after someone shouts a warning to any inside occupants to "get out now". Judges and local officials finding bricks tossed thru their house / car windows. Silent vigilantism. They will not simply sit by while the Govt steals their investments.

Can someone explain to me how this stops a virus again??

This isn't going to end well if it becomes real.

I think the fact that we even remotely may need to navigate this type of circus level of legislation should be a warning sign to us all to list every rental property we own right now. The fact that this is even on the table in Congress is absurd. Could you imagine what would happen if they gave all tenants a free pass for a year to not pay rent?

Doesn't the Heroes Act literally set aside $100 BILLION dollars for rental assistance? That is money planned to be paid to us landlords to let people stay in their units. (Note that it also specifically says that it can be used for rent arrears -- so for those in the situation where they could not evict due to the current moratorium, there is money in this bill to back-pay that missed rent also.)

We were all just talking in another thread about how all of these agencies have EXCESS money just WAITING to be given out to landlords right now if people just apply.

I'm not going to worry about this one for a while, if at all. First, it isn't going anywhere until after the election, so we're going to need to see how that plays out first. Second, it is written to actually provide LOTS of money for people like us when tenants need assistance. It is certainly NOT a "you just can't evict for the next year" bill as is being suggested here. It is a bill that provides $100,000,000,000 as rental assistance. We just need to go ahead and take it.

Again, we literally talked about it within the last week -- that there are agencies out there right now with LOTS of Covid-grant-money that they are waiting to give out to people. We've seen very few LLs here that are in dire straits because of the current moratorium, right?

We seem to be doing a lot of "what if?" panicking over things that don't appear to be an issue right now (nor in this potential upcoming bill). Again, it provides $100B for us to take from!

- John...

This could just be more panic causing news media too. 2020 has been the year of fear mongering anyway.

If they caused enough property owners to panic sell, those capital gains again flood back into DC plus gain that voter base of rent cancellers.

Everything they do is suspect, so who knows.

I think John has a point although I doubt that the "assistance" will be at market rental rates. More likely, it will simply be enough to allow the landlord to cover costs and not support profits to the extent they would otherwise be. I do think this is a move to eliminate smaller mom and pop operations without resources.

I also think that there's a lot of jawboning that's trying to take down prices by creating the expectation there will be a reversal in prices. That won't occur everywhere. Places like NYC and other congested areas where people are fleeing from will see reversals, but the places that these folks are fleeing to will see greater demand for housing and prices being bid up. This thing is going to be a mixed bag depending on your location and what's occurring your market IMO. In my area, we're seeing a lot of flight from NYC and NJ mainly because our area is a cheaper. The effect has been rents and prices going up. I'm on the fence with a place I have that I was going to flip, but given the situation and low financing rates, I seriously think I'd be better off keeping. My only hesitation is the situation with moratoriums and the risk of a dud tenant.

If you dont get any rent how can you do repairs?

If you dont do repairs tenant calls code enforcement.

Code enforcement gives you a fine for not doing repairs.

But you cant do repairs if you dont get paid any rent.

The tenant can take YOU to court for not doing proper repairs and get a possible judgement against you.

But they haven't paid any rent.

Now I'm dizzy.

Even owning rentals in the "most" restricted area in the country, Los Angeles, there are some cracks in the system that will allow me to evict "bad" tenants.

My most resent case, a tenant who isn't paying more than 50% of his rent, with claims to C-19 diminished income. He only works part time getting paid under the table now. He has allowed his girlfriend to move in, collecting a few token dollars from her. Together they rent out a covered patio area where "homeless" can sleep on the patio furniture for a "fee". He turns up the TV up in the living room so the Homeless can hear the set while they look through a glass window. The homeless drink non-stop, smoke and disturb the neighbors.

I finally got the neighbors to call the police and have a report about homeless sleeping on the patio area with permission from the tenants who are cranking up their TV all hours of the night.

Now that the Notice to Comply or Quit has expired and the tenant is still playing games, I can evict for Cause -- Health and Safety Issues. Cost for the attorney and related cost costs, around $3,000.

Now is the best time to sell. Don't chase ghost (bills) that haven't passed yet.

...Sell? to whom? I sure don't want to buy any rentals right now that are loosing $$. Or if I want to sell at what low price will I get?...

I've sold four places in the past four weeks. All cash offers on every one of them ... one requested inspections. First one sold in 8 days. Second in three days. Third in one day. Fourth in six days. I got what I wanted for each. Fair deal for me and the buyers. I also priced them to sell ... not top dollar and certainly not an investor's pennies on the dollar offers.

If it continues on and deadlines keep getting extended, at some point the good tenants will realize they are fools for paying rent when the rest of the tenants are living for free and are secure in their home. Landlords can' get them out.

I have one under contract, closing is supposed be in Nov. Buyer has an FHA mortgage.

Yeah, our local market is hot too right now. We have one SFH that we got for a steal like 5 years ago (paid $24k for it -- then put in maybe $12k). We're going to list it at $85k soon and I think it'll sell. (Not because I'm worried about any of these bills -- but because my wife and I are going to do some remodeling on our own home and I'd like to use the cash from the sale to do it. :) )

- John...