Hey landlords and property managers. I am connected with the AAOA (American Apartment Owners Association). They are hosting a huge conference on October 16th in California. Lots of great content that is relevant across many boarders, especially Canada & USA.

I have the opportunity to offer all my readers free access to the livestream.

If you would like to livestream the event for free click HERE and use code MCURRIEFREE.

Here is what the conference is all about:

Grow Your Knowledge

This is your chance to transform your rental business and boost your confidence. Stay updated on legal trends, meet fellow investors, and take home actionable insights to improve your operations.

Experience a phenomenal day packed with rental industry updates and tips from the country’s top experts. You’ll walk away with new business building ideas, critical legal updates, and risk mitigation strategies you can put to work immediately.

Agenda

Times shown are PT

8:30am PT

Doors open for exhibit hall, networking, light bites, and coffee plus free lunch served later in the day

9:00am PT

Defer Taxes WITH or WITHOUT a 1031 Exchange

Speaker: Scott Varney, Tax Strategist, SV Consultants

10:00am PT

How to Combat the Multifamily Insurance Crisis

Speaker: Lauren Lieb, Sr. Commercial Risk Advisor, InsuranceHub

10:40am PT

CA Eviction Notices: Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid them

Speaker: Tracey Merrell, Esq., Managing Partner of Education, Kimball, Tirey, St. John LLP

11:40am PT

Complying with California’s Balcony Laws SB 721 and SB 326

Speaker: David Atkins, Senior Account Manager, DrBalcony

12:00pm-1:30pm PT

Lunch provided for in-person attendees

12:30pm PT

The Future for Landlords in California: Legal Shifts and Survival Strategies

Speakers:

Kenny Lim, Managing Partner, California Property Law Group

Rafael Azizian, Managing Partner, California Property Law Group</p

Zachary Miller, Managing Partner, California Property Law Group

Christian Walsh, Owner and Broker, WIRE Associates

1:20pm PT

Multifamily State of The Industry Roundtable

Moderator:

Julie Anne Peterson, Senior Director, Old Capital

Speakers:

Gary Lipsky, President/CEO, Break of Day Capital

Taylor Avakian, Multifamily Broker/Founder, The Group CRE

Ryan Patap, Sr. Director/Market Analytics, CoStar

2:30pm PT

Squatter Prevention and Tips from the Squatter Hunter

Speaker: Flash Shelton, The Squatter Hunter, SquatterHunters.com

3:00pm PT

Navigating Emotional Support Animal Requests

Speakers:

Kelly Stanaway, Co-President, Fertig & Gordon

Kristen Smith,  Co-President, Fertig & Gordon

4:00pm PT

Closing Remarks

Enjoy the conference,

Until next time,

Design your landlord experience,

Michael P Currie

Landlord by Design

Oh, and of course if you do not have a copy of my latest book, you can grab it here!

The post Free Rental Housing Conference October 16, 2024 appeared first on Landlord by Design.

The post Big Changes To Nova Scotia Residential Tenancy appeared first on Landlord by Design.

I started a blog as a form of therapy for what I was going through on the property management side of the business. I found it hard to find many stories about this important, however, perhaps less glamorous part of the business.

My top 3 blogs / websites (other than my own) are as follows (in no particular order) – Bigger pockets – Happy Place Property Management – Book Launchers

https://www.biggerpockets.com

That being said there are countless others. Recently I had a company reach out that builds lists of blogs. They made a top 20, but have lots more and not just about real estate.

You can check them out here:

20 Best Canadian Landlord Blogs and Websites

Until next time,

Design your landlord experience,

Michael P Currie

Landlord by Design

If you do not have a copy of my latest book, make sure to grab a copy HERE!

Photo Credit goes to Pixabay

The post 20 Best Canadian Landlord Blogs and Websites appeared first on Landlord by Design.

Landlords in Nova Scotia received some news that will work well for both tenants and landlords. The rent cap has been extended to the end of 2025, it has been increased from 2.5% – 5% per year. New leases will be signed at market rent.

Lots of news articles on the topic have been written in the past week.

Here are some excerpts and links.

The Nova Scotia government is extending the cap on rent increases until the end of 2025, but raising the cap from two per cent to five per cent beginning next year.

Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services Minister Colton LeBlanc introduced the legislation on Wednesday. During a briefing, he said the move is a recognition that renters are struggling financially while also nodding to the challenges some landlords face with the cost of maintaining their properties.

“We chose five per cent to allow landlords to catch up to inflation, while avoiding any large rent increases for tenants,” he said.

LeBlanc noted that when the former Liberal government introduced the rent cap, it was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and at a time when many people were unable to work due to public health measures.

“Two per cent today doesn’t work.”

The goal, said LeBlanc, is to balance the rights and needs of tenants and landlords in the province until enough new housing stock can be added to the market. The government estimates about a third of Nova Scotians are renters and the province has about 6,000 landlords.

Inflation raises landlord’s costs

Polley’s company, Polycorp Properties Inc., manages 500 units in the Halifax area and Annapolis Valley. He said the limits on rent increases mean landlords can’t keep up with higher costs from inflation.

Polley sees little change ahead until more housing is available.

“It’s not good for anybody, but to the degree that the government is limiting what’s happening in the rental market, it’s long-term negative for the housing industry.”

Landlord Amanda Knight said she wanted to see some recognition by the government of the different challenges rural landlords experience.

Knight said her leases include the cost of utilities and their rising cost, combined with the rent cap, has her contemplating selling units.

“As anyone knows in the province and across the country, utilities have gone up exponentially and when they’re included in rent, I’m basically paying for them,” she told reporters.

Fixed-term leases ignored

Joanne Hussey, a community legal worker with Dalhousie Legal Aid, said she was relieved to see the government extend the rent cap and listen to the concerns renters have expressed through protests, petitions and calls to MLAs.

But Hussey said she was disappointed the government is not taking steps to limit the use of fixed-term leases. Many renters have reported landlords making the switch to fixed-term leases because they are not subject to the rent cap.

• What Nova Scotia’s residential tenancy changes mean for you

That, in turn, is increasing demand for affordable units that were already scarce, she said.

“We’re actually seeing increasing pressure on that affordable housing stock from people who are middle-income earners because we know that it is just disappearing so quickly.”

LeBlanc said “it’s fair to acknowledge” that some landlords are using fixed-term leases for unintended uses, but he said he did not want to “create another problem by addressing one problem.”

There is a role for fixed-term leases when used appropriately, said LeBlanc. He said he hopes increasing the rent cap to five per cent will reduce instances of landlords using fixed-term leases to get around it.

This article was written by CBC reporter Michael Gorman – he can be contacted for story ideas @ michael.gorman@cbc.ca

Tenants Hail N.S. Rent Cap Extension, While Landlords Flail

This article was written by MONTAGUE, DEREK of Huddle

HALIFAX — Tenants in Nova Scotia will continue to be protected by a rent cap for at least another two years. On March 22, The provincial government announced it was extending the cap until the end of 2025. But there is an important change happening next year.

Starting January 1, 2024, the cap will increase from two per cent to five per cent per year. The two percent marker has been in place since November of 2020, originally as an emergency measure during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The cap protects long-term tenants who are renewing their annual lease, or a fixed-term tenant signing a new agreement for the same unit. It does not apply to new tenants moving into a unit for the first time.

According to the provincial government, one in three Nova Scotians are renters.

In a press release, Colton Leblanc, Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Internal Services, said by keeping the cap in place, and by raising it to five per cent, the government struck a balance for landlords and tenants.

“Nova Scotians are facing challenging financial times, and that factors greatly in every decision we make,” said Leblanc. “We are always working to balance the rights and needs of tenants and landlords. Extending the rent cap by two years will protect renters while adjusting the amount rent can increase will support landlords.”

Kevin Russell, the director of IPOANS, which is a provincial organization representing landlords, disagrees with Leblanc. He said the extension of the rent cap marks an imbalance that doesn’t favour landlords.

Russell says since 2020, landlords have faced two-digit increases in insurance, energy, and other ongoing expenses. He argues a five per cent cap won’t cover the inflation felt by these property owners.

“This does nothing for the smaller landlords who have been under a rent cap since 2020,” Russell told Huddle. “The fact of the matter is, the smaller landlords are well under market rents, and the rent increases under 5 per cent, are not going to cover the expenses. So they’re falling further and further behind.

“At the end of the day, this is just going to result in more landlords, smaller landlords, most commonly called Mom and Pop landlords, to exit the business, because it does not make economic sense for them to remain in the industry.”

ACORN, the prominent tenants’ rights organization, applauded the decision to keep a cap in place. But the organization is still looking for more protections, such as a ban on renovictions and fixed-term leases. Renovictions were banned for a time during the pandemic but the ban was lifted a year ago. The government did introduce new rules around compensation for people displaced by renovictions, however.

Pat Donovan, the co-chair for Spryfield ACORN, called the rent cap extension a victory.

“It gives us two years to contemplate it, to continue working with the government, and hopefully get (permanent) rent cap, which is what we want,” Donovan told Huddle.

“I have no problem with (raising the cap to five percent) at the moment. Hopefully down the road we can get it lowered a little bit. But for right now, it is a good victory.”

Derek Montague is a Huddle reporter in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: montagued@huddle.today. 

Province leaves rent cap loophole open for landlords Plus Nova Scotia’s 2% limit on rent increases is going up to 5% next year.

By Matt Stickland – The Coast

In a press conference Wednesday about proposed legislative changes, Colton LeBlanc, the provincial cabinet minister responsible for the Residential Tenancies Act, said his government will extend Nova Scotia’s current rent cap through the end of 2025, and raise the cap on rent increases from 2% to 5% starting Jan. 1, 2024. When asked about landlords exploiting fixed-term leases to get around the rent cap, LeBlanc told the gathered reporters that the extra 3% landlords could charge starting in January should fix the fixed-term loophole. The problem, according to LeBlanc, was that the cap was too low.

Read more at: https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/province-leaves-rent-cap-loophole-open-for-landlords-30472929

However, if a landlord wants to make as much money as possible on a rental unit, they are still able to sign a fixed-term lease with a tenant, and then jack up the rent on the next person who rents that unit—even if that’s the current tenant. When The Coast reported this on Oct. 17, 2022 a residential property manager told The Coast: “Due to changes in the Tenancy Act, the industry has moved away from month-to-month leases and moved to fixed term so that both tenants and owners are on equal footing in regards to the terms and options of the lease.” Did you catch that? The appeal of fixed-term leases isn’t money, it’s power. A fixed-term lease in Nova Scotia has a lot of benefits for a landlord. Not only do fixed-term leases allow landlords to circumvent the rent cap, but it means tenants have no legal right to stay in a unit at the end of a lease. Periodic leases, the ones that typically last for a year and then roll over into month-by-month, provide tenants with legal protection under the Residential Tenancy Act. Fixed-term leases have no such tenant protections. So on top of fixed-term leases allowing landlords to bypass the rent cap, it also means landlords are less likely to have a prolonged legal battle with a tenant they are trying to evict. Essentially the problem with this legislation is the complete lack of incentive for landlords to stop using fixed-term leases and adhere to the rent cap. Can you imagine a military operation being planned assuming the enemy would just voluntarily not exploit a glaring, publicly known critical weakness? This is the legislative equivalent of that type of naive planning. LeBlanc told reporters fixed-term leases have a role when used appropriately, and that he hopes increasing the rent cap to 5% will stop landlords from exploiting the loophole his government left open, which will continue to allow landlords to use fixed-term leases with little to no consequence. The good news for residents of Halifax is that unlike provincial ministers, the city’s director of housing and homelessness, Max Chauvin, lives in the real world. And he warned council that if the province gets rid of the rent cap, a COVID policy which had been due to expire at the end of 2023, the city would have to figure out how refugee camps work. Today’s announcement doesn’t eliminate the rent cap until 2026, but it also does nothing to make landlords adhere to it. We should start planning for refugee camps.

Read more at: https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/province-leaves-rent-cap-loophole-open-for-landlords-30472929

Until next time,

Design your landlord experience,

Michael P Currie

Landlord by Design

Don’t have a copy of my latest book? Get it here!

Photo Credit Goes to Ivan Samkov

The post Rent Cap Gets Extended & Increased To 5% appeared first on Landlord by Design.

I wrote this piece for the AAOA (American Apartment Owners Association). If you are not familiar with them make sure to check them out HERE

They had asked me to write a short article about student housing. This is something that is near and dear to my heart. Although as with all types of investing there are challenges, this is one area that both my wife and I find very rewarding and perhaps even live a little vicariously through the lives of some of these well travelled students (most are international). We love hearing their stories.

Hope you enjoy the read and will check out many of the other articles on the AAOA website.

My friend received a call, it was a Friday night at around 9:00 p.m. He had just set up his tenants in a student rental property the day before. The caller was a young woman attending a university in the area. She asked if he could bring over some toilet paper because they were almost out. He was a bit taken aback by the question. He let her know that she and the other tenants were responsible for their own toilet paper. The caller was a bit frustrated and said, “You told me this was an all-inclusive rental.”  

If you live near any postsecondary institutions, you will have demand for student housing. It can be a great way to maximize revenue from a property. 

Student housing is a broad topic, for the intent of this article, I am going to stick to the rooming house type model.  

When you rent a house by the room you can use spaces such as the living room or dining room and block them off as separate rooms, also if the house has a dry basement, it can be rented as a room. 

A regular 4 – bedroom house that might rent for $2500 per month could end up being a 7-room student housing rental, renting for $700 per room for a total of $4900/mo. 

In addition, revenue can come from coin-operated laundry (approx. $200 /mo.), Parking spaces $75 X 2 = $150/mo.), and storage in the form of a garage, attic, or basement (approx. $200/mo). 

That all adds up to $5450 per month VS $2500 (more than double). 

So, why wouldn’t you do this with all your rentals?   

Before you start chopping your rentals up into individual rooms, you are going to need to consider some of following: 

Additional Expenses  

Increased cost of Property management  

Increased and likely all-inclusive Utilities  

Cleaner – Best practice to have a cleaner to clean bathrooms, kitchens, & common areas. 

Snow and lawn Care 

Increased Insurance Cost 

Higher Interest rates – Often lenders charge higher rates for these types of properties.  

Writing Complex Leases – you may need to hire an expert 

You will also need to make sure your student rental is local code & by-law compliant 

Student rooming houses are not popular in many jurisdictions.  Most student-rooming houses are required to follow a special set of rules & requirements that are different from single-family dwellings.  

You will need to know about any restrictions on renting by the room in your area before you purchase or set up a student rooming house rental. 

I recently saw an ad for a student rooming house that said they rented 8 rooms.  In this particular area the maximum room rentals allowed would be 5, so if purchased based on an 8-room revenue model and a by-law enforcement officer got involved, it would turn into a 5-room house, which may make it cash flow negative.   

Bylaw change in my city  

I give credit to an acquaintance who at the very least influenced the implementation of a restrictive by-law in my home city regarding the amount of students that can occupy an apartment or house.  

He was buying two-unit properties.  He then jacked them up and put a new basement with rooms and a bathroom, then added another floor to the property.  He called them super duplexes and each floor had 4 rooms, so after construction, he turned two 3-bedroom apartments into a two-unit property with 16 rooms.  

The neighbors of these super duplex’s started to complain about noise, garbage, rodents, etc.  As is often the case in a university and hospital district you have professionals and their families living side by side with students.   

Long story short a by-law that does not allow more than 5 unrelated people to live in a single unit was put in place.  This by-law reduced the capacity of these super duplex’s down to 10 rooms per building.  Which dramatically negatively impacted the cash flow of these properties.  

Communication is King when it comes to renting to students 

I reviewed the previous room agreements from the seller of a property we were buying.  I said to my wife, wow, the list of rules almost sounds rude.   I was so young and naïve back then.  Most tenant issues are caused by the tenant pushing boundaries due to grey areas, this is amplified when you get into student housing.   You need to be 110% clear on your building rules and if you are dealing with co-signers as parents you need to be clear with them as well. 

A best practice can be to require a credit card number from the parental co-signer to be kept on file in the event their child does any damage. 

Some student damage you should expect in a student property would be burnt countertops, window screens, water damage in bathrooms or from windows being left open, broken door handles, and prepare for clogged toilets. 

You will also need to be clear on rules around guests, sometimes a “guest” could be perceived by the other tenants as a freeloader. 

Quiet time guidelines are important as well, we like to use 11 pm – 6 am.   

Smoking can also be a problem, especially weed.  For some reason, many people who smoke weed do not realize how bad it smells or how far the smell travels.  If your property is smoke-free, make sure you are clear on what that means.  

It is important to have all the rules laid out super clear and signed off on at the lease signing.  Go over them with each tenant. 

To sum it up 

Providing housing to students can be a great way to increase the revenue of a property.  You just need to have awareness of all listed above and a great property management plan.  

Until next time,

Design your landlord experience,

Michael P Currie

Landlord by Design – Get a copy of my latest book HERE!

Here is a little more about the American Apartment Owners Association

From the About Us section of their website:

In 2004, a team of professional property managers joined together to form the American Apartment Owners Association. Our goal was simple – to provide an online network of resources and benefits for landlords and property managers. Since then, AAOA has steadily grown and is now the largest landlord association in the country with more than 140,000 members nationwide.

As our association has grown, so have our member benefits and resources. We’ve consistently introduced new benefits to membership every year to address the growing needs of the property management community.

Whether you own a single rental unit or manage numerous rental units, we offer a variety of services including extensive tenant screening, credit checks, landlord forms, rental applications, and relevant real estate updates.

Our Mission

To provide superior property management services that will equip landlords to better manage their investment properties.

We understand on a personal level the challenges you face as a property manager or landlord, so we’ve made it our mission to make your job easier. We strive to equip you with the necessary tools to more effectively serve your tenants. We believe that educated landlords make happier tenants and in turn better-quality rental communities. By maintaining professionalism, utilizing our expertise, and investing into our commitment to you, we are able to work towards our mission successfully.

Our Resources

Landlord Forms:

The American Apartment Association offers over 150 essential state-specific landlord forms that are easy to download and print straight from your account. Additionally, many forms like our residential lease agreement offers an easy online guide to create and customize your document. Our members find that our forms have made their rental process much more efficient and thorough. We’ve taken out the guesswork for you by providing accurate and reliable forms that are legally compliant and easy to use, helping you to confidently rent and manage your property. We encourage you to review our full list of landlord legal forms to ensure you are using the right forms for your business.

Tenant Screening:

Perhaps the most beneficial resource we offer is comprehensive and instant tenant background screening services. If you’ve ever managed a rental property you know the importance of running a thorough tenant background check before you make a tenancy decision. Our tenant credit checks for landlords is solution-oriented and efficient, including reports such as credit checks, criminal history, and SSN verifications. Our FCRA compliant reports help you to drastically minimize your risk and find tenants that are reliable.

We understand that time is valuable for busy landlords and property managers. By simply entering in an applicant’s details, you’ll instantly learn whether your applicant has had evictions, criminal convictions, or financial hardships. Ultimately, the decision of who to rent to is yours, but our reports bring clarity and reveal red flags.

Our online service is simple to use for beginners, yet comprehensive enough to serve members with a high volume of units. If you’re new to our association or to property management, there is no need to worry. Our customer service is always available during business hours to answer your questions, so you’ll never have to wonder how to order or read a report.

We know your goal as a property manager is to find a tenant who will pay rent punctually and have a solid background, so we’ve incorporated tenant screening as a benefit for all our members. Select from four affordable tenant screening packages or order a standalone credit report.

Vendor Directory:

Landlords and property owners owning rental properties have to remain in touch with various kinds of vendors that deal with home improvement, apartment repairs, remodeling, and other essential services. The American Apartment Owners Association makes it easy for you to source the best of vendors for maintenance of your property by providing you with a state-based vendor directory that gives you access to countless approved vendors.

Updates and News:

We make every effort to keep landlords informed with the latest real estate news so that you can continue to improve your property management services and decision making. Subscribe to our free e-newsletter for weekly updates or browse our site for the latest news. We aim to educate and equip our members with relevant information from trustworthy sources. Our online archive is accessible to the public and includes thousands of approved articles on topics relevant to landlords.

Our Values

Integrity: We strive to act with honesty and integrity to build trust with our members. We do so by keeping our promises, acting in a fair and considerate way, and always placing our members first.

Solution-Oriented Approach: This value is reflected in our efficient customer service and our useful member benefits. Every service we provide is designed to provide valuable solutions to the challenges you face as a landlord or property manager.

Pursue Growth and Learning: It is our belief that as an association we must constantly evolve to better serve our members. Our goal is to improve our association every day and in turn help you improve as a landlord.

We’d like to thank you for taking the time to get to know us. We offer free as well as upgraded memberships, so select your preferred membership today to start taking advantage of the assistance, education, and resources the American Apartment Owners Association has to offer.

Photo Credit Goes To “Nothing Ahead” on Pexels

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