Landlord Mini Convention Quotes

The Landlord Protection Agency & Collect Back Rent
"Fort Myers Mini-Convention"

If you're a Landlord or Real Estate Investor in S. Florida, you'll want to attend the The Landlord Protection Agency & Collect Back Rent "Fort Myers Mini-Convention" at the Hyatt Place Fort Myers/at The Forum, we'll have a lot going on the weekend of March 14th and 15th!

Did you ever feel like you needed that one thing to kick start your real estate career, or want to get back in the mode of attacking new ways to make money?

If you're a Landlord or Real Estate Investor in South Florida, you'll want to attend the The Landlord Protection Agency & Collect Back Rent "Fort Myers Mini-Convention" at the Hyatt Place Fort Myers/at The Forum, we'll have a lot going on the weekend of March 14th and 15th!
Would you like more information about this event? Click here

If tenants owe you money, you don't have to let them get away with it.

FREE Tenant Credit Reporting for LPA Members

Have you ever been beaten by a tenant on the rent? Most of us have and unfortunately, it is one of the costs of doing business as a landlord.
On the brighter side, remedies are available for many. If you have documented your tenancy with the proper paperwork including a rental application, lease agreement, late notices, etc., you may have a chance of collecting.

Credit bureau reporting is an option in which many modern landlords are beginning to participate....

Click here for the full article

Important Elements of The LPA Lease

Hot Lease Clauses for Landlord Protection

I know many of you have been successfully using the LPA Lease for years, but I like to remind myself and it is good for you to be reminded of the important clauses in our contracts with our tenants once in a while. Often when things go smoothly for a while, we may tend to forget some details and be caught off-guard when tenants start to wander off-track.

The following clauses in the LPA Lease make it possible for me to be an effective landlord and property manager. Each and every one of these clauses have saved me repeatedly from the situations in which they apply. I've included links to related articles and forms I use to enforce these clauses.

1. Late Fees, Added Rent & Bounced Check
   LPA Lease Clause # 3, Late Fees is one of the most active clauses that frequently need to be enforced for most landlords. Without this clause, you are not legally able to enforce collecting a late fee, so it is very important to have in your lease. I am thankful for this clause because it not only covers us for an initial late fee, but it also provides the tenant with an incentive to hurry up and pay the late fee and the rent by imposing a "Daily Late Fee" that starts one or two days after the initial late fee is due.

   The clause also provides for a "bounced check" or NFS charge, which covers the landlord for fees in the event of a dishonored rent check.

   A very important detail that is often left out of many leases is "Added Rent" or "Additional Rent". You should always classify unpaid late fees and other charges like bounced check fees as "Added Rent". That makes makes those charges legally collectible as rent. If you really wanted to, (I'm not saying you should), you can evict a tenant for unpaid late fees classified as "Added Rent" even if they've paid the rent each month.
   
   

2. Early Payment Discount
   Many landlords don't like to give the tenant a discount for paying the rent on time or early. The sentiment is: "Why should I reward the tenant for doing something they agreed to do anyway?" I agree with the sentiment, but I have to disagree with the reality of it. I would rather have the bulk of my rents come in a week to 5 days before the first of the month. I usually build a $5. or $10. early payment discount into every lease.

   Good responsible tenants want that discount and have a reason to pay early. It sure beats sending late notices and chasing the rent each month. More importantly it saves my valuable time and gives me peace of mind too.

   If you don't have this clause already in your lease, you can also present your tenants with an Early Payment Discount Voucher.
   
   

3. No Pets
   In the words of the late Nick Koon, a landlord guru and mentor of mine, "No pet ever improved a rental property." The LPA Lease has a standard No Pet clause.

   In the event I decide to accept a tenant with a pet, I require a Pet Agreement Addendum to spell out the specific rules of conduct and care needed to protect the rental property. The Pet Agreement explains that the privilege of having the pet may be revoked if the tenant does not uphold his responsibility.
   
   

4. Maintenance & Repairs
   LPA Lease clause #9 instructs the tenant on maintenance and repairs in detail. This clause has saved me many times in various ways. It includes policy concerning how presentable the property must be for the purpose of showing once notice is given to vacate. A messy or damaged property can prevent you from re-renting.

   The clause also requires the tenant to be responsible for minor repairs under a certain determined amount of money. Painting is not allowed without the owners approval. If I find the tenant is not upholding his responsibilities, I will notify him with a Lease Violation Notice.
   
   

5. Grounds
   Do you maintain the grounds or does your tenant. The Grounds clause makes the tenant responsible for the exterior maintenance of your rental property. Part of being my tenant means taking on many of the responsibilities of a homeowner. Taking care of the property with pride is one of them. The clause states that if the grounds are neglected, the landlord may correct any problems or hire a landscaper at the tenant's expense.

   I use the Grounds Violation Notice to enforce this clause.
   
   

6. Appliances
   I am thankful for our appliance clause in the LPA Lease. It makes the tenant fully responsible for all the appliances. This clause has saved me countless time over the years, because appliance are sometimes high maintenance items. Especially washers and dryers! My policy is to explain this clause to the tenants when they sign the lease. I tell them many tenants bring their own appliances. We are not in the appliance business, and all of the appliances are in excellent working order and we expect them to be returned that way. If the tenant wishes to replace our appliance with his or her own, we will remove our appliance and they can take their appliance with them when they leave. Most of the time they leave their appliance. If your lease doesn't have an appliance clause, The LPA's Appliance Agreement can come in handy.
   
   
7. Plumbing Stoppages
   A common call you hear from your tenants might be about toilets or plumbing stoppages. I love the plumbing stoppage clause because it has practically eliminated plumbing stoppage calls for us. It is the tenant's waste in the lines and the tenant should be responsible for keeping the waste lines clean. Even if you don't use the LPA Lease, the Plumbing Stoppage & Drain Maintenance Notice can be very helpful.
   
   
8. Heating & Cooling
   I am grateful for our heating and cooling clause because the tenant is required to maintain a heating contract on the heating system and not doing so is a lease violation.
   
   
9. Attorney Fees
   It is very important these days to include a clause for attorney's fees in the event you have to take a tenant to court. The attorney fees are not normally recoverable if you do not have a clause like this. Before starting an eviction, I like to send an Attorney's Fee Warning Notice to give the tenant one last opportunity to pay and avoid an attorney's fee before sending the account to my eviction attorney.
   
   
10. Renters Insurance
    I'm glad this is in our lease. I remember an incident years ago when the garage roof leaked during a heavy rain storm. The tenant called threatening to sue us for the damage to his sofa, which he stored in the garage. I was doubly thankful for our clause in the LPA Lease because of a) the Renter's Insurance clause which makes the tenant obligated to have renters insurance and b) the Maintenance Clause which indicates that garages and basements are not included in the rental, but may be used at the tenant's own risk.
    
    
11. Service of Process
    This is a clause I'm grateful for when serving an important notice because it gives each person listed on the lease 100% authority to receive or give a notice on behalf of the other tenant(s). Just imagine how difficult it could be if you had to serve eviction papers to multiple tenants who are trying to avoid you!
    
    
12. Illegality
    I once had a tenant's attorney tell me he was going to have my lease declared "illegal" and the eviction case "thrown out of court" because he thought he could prove one of the clauses were "illegal". Then I pointed out the Illegality clause which states that if any part of this lease is not legal according to local laws, the rest of the lease agreement will be unaffected. That shut him up and the eviction proceeded without further incident.
    
    
13. No Smoking
    Have you ever painted after smoking tenants? You probably know what I'm talking about. It's sometimes hard to find non-smoking tenants to rent a property where heavy smokers have been. The LPA No Smoking Notice & Reminder form can be used to inform tenants that they are in violation of their No Smoking clause in the lease agreement. It can also be used a new Notice to initiate a new No Smoking rule for your rental.
    That's why I'm thankful for the No Smoking clause.

There are many more important elements of The LPA Lease that you should be using! If you're not, you can easily implement them into your property management.

I hope you have a Happy Successful New Year!

Way to Increase Rental Cash Flow and Beef Up Your Bottom Line

Increase Cash Flow ASAP!

Make it easier to increase rent without an argument

Believe it or not, many landlords are afraid to increase the rent. The fear of confrontations or negative tenant contact is the leading cause for neglecting rent increases and other forms of lease enforcement.

The Rent Increase Letter is a form letter which tells the tenants the amount of their rent increase, when the increase takes effect, and the new payment amount. It is a polite notice that reaffirms that all the terms and notice periods agreed in their lease will remain in full force.

The Increase Letter comes in very handy on month to month rentalsor on annual leases.

People often ask us: "How much should we raise the rent?"

Well, that depends on a few things:

1. The market,
2. the quality of your tenant,
3. the availability of new tenants.

If a tenant is wonderful, we'll hold our increase down to an absolute minimum. If a tenant is lousy, he'll get a large increase. We don't want lousy tenants.

Related Forms that are proven to Increase Cash Flow:



• Rent Increase Letter is a simple form letter which tells the tenant of the amount of their rent increase, when the increase takes effect, and the new payment amount. It is a polite notice which reaffirms that all the terms and notice periods agreed on in their lease will remain in full force.
• Property Condition Report Checklist
  Protect yourself with a carefully documented Property Condition Inspection Checklist! I have found that when tenants sign the property condition report upon move-in, they take better care of the property leaving us with a noticeable savings in repairs and clean-up when they vacate.
• Notice of Renewal Option
  The renewal option is polite increase and renewal letter combined into one form. It assures the tenant that we value them and have kept any increases to an absolute minimum.
• Credit Reporting Disclosure to Tenant
  The Credit Reporting Disclosure Notice informs the tenants that you intend to report positive and negative payment history to the credit and tenant reporting bureaus. The form points out that the tenants' record will be affected by their rent payments, cleanliness and overall performance. This has made a tremendous difference with our tenants paying early, the last few years!
• Lease Obligations Reminder Letter
  The Lease Obligations Reminder Letter helps the landlord enforce the terms of the lease by politely bringing the tenant's attention to certain items and covenants in the lease agreement that may have been overlooked or forgotten about. It can be sent as a standard letter to all tenants or just make it look that way to a particular tenant, if you like.
• Security Settlement Statement
  This form alone has enabled us to make valid deductions (saving us tens of thousands of dollars in damages over the years) from security deposits without a hassle from the tenants.

My Pictures from the Oreia's National Real Estate Strategies Summit

Jeanne and I were at the Ohio OREIA National Real Estate Strategies Summit last week helping landlords and introducing them to The LPA! We've met a lot of great folks and were happy to see people taking control of their financial futures!
One of the questions I kept hearing was, "How did the Landlord Protection Agency get started?"

During an eviction in the early 1990's, a judge accusingly asked me "Where'd you get this lease?"
I was worried because he was yelling at everyone that day.
So, I meekly said, "I made that lease."
He said, "This is the best lease I've seen. You oughta market this thing to landlords."
I left the courtroom that day about 20 years ago, with a bounce in my step! Jeanne then bugged me for a few years to make a website to share our forms with other landlords, but I must confess, I didn't yet know what a website was!

We've grown a lot since then, now offering landlords a complete toolbox of awesome Landlord Forms, low priced instant online credit checks, Credit Bureau Reporting and much more.
I feel it's my revenge against all those bad tenants that helped educate me!

One of the most important things I learned over the years is: "95% of tenant problems can be eliminated in the screening process!" - John@theLPA

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My Pics from the Ohio Real Estate Investors Association (OREIA)Summit

This was the first time as a vendor at ORIEA. Jeanne and I met a lot of nice people, including some of our LPA members, along with some of the top Real Estate speakers in the country, including Real Estate Attorney Bill Bronchick, Jeffrey "Mr Landlord" Taylor, Vena Jones Cox !And, Shark Tank's Kevin Harrington gave an excellent presentation.

It was such a treat, we would definitely be happy to see everyone again!

With Real Estate Goddess, Vena Jones-Cox

I enjoyed the chance to meet Real Estate Attorney & speaker Bill Bronchick and enjoyed his fantastic presentation, "The Ultimate Guide to Seller Financing".

It was such a pleasure to finally meet and chat with Jeffrey Taylor, (Mr Landlord)!

With my lovely bride of 31 years. Besides being a great cook, Jeanne is an excellent and knowledgeable salesperson for the LPA!

Jeanne and Don Lieby, a former president of multiple real estate associations and investment groups. One of the sweetest and most interesting people we've met!

Me with Anthony Chara. Anthony presented "How to get Massive Passive Income in Apartments

I enjoyed spending time with Brad Grayson, an experienced landlord, property manager and seminar speaker (& great guy).

With Chris Knoppe, Director of Autumnwood Funding (Also a Shark Tank panelist)

OREIA's Shark Tank panel.

Free Webinar TONIGHT: Collect Back Rent

If you have tenants who owe you money, this is the free webinar you will want to see. Pass along the link if you know someone who can benefit from this. Thanks!

Free Webinar TONIGHT: Collect Back Rent

Join us for a webinar on TONIGHT - WEDNESDAY Oct 29, 2014
8:00 PM EST, 7:00 PM CDT, 5:00 PM PST

Register For FREE Webinar Now!

If you're like me, it really bothers you when people take advantage of you and leave your rental property owing you rent money and other damages.
I hope you'll join me in a powerful, educational webinar with Cynthia Schmidt "Mrs Landlady". Cynthia and her husband, Gary, authors and teachers of the Collect Back Rent program.

The webinar will discuss the Eviction Notices, Evictions, Small Claims to the Post-Judgment Proceedings to collect. The Schmidts have collected 90 satisfied judgments and are showing regular landlords like you and me just HOW to get our money - even from ex- tenants who we thought were uncollectible! If you are serious about collecting your rent/unpaid judgments and want to learn more - this webinar is a must!

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
See you later!

The 6 Biggest Landlord Traps - Landlord Trap #1 Improper Tenant Screening

Even landlords who have been around for a long time have fallen into these common landlord traps.
1. Improper Screening
"95% of tenant problems can be eliminated in the screening process."