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	<title>Houston &#8211; HOA ALLIANCE</title>
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	<title>Houston &#8211; HOA ALLIANCE</title>
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		<title>How to Handle These 4 Strange Ways Houston Tenants Might Damage Your Property</title>
		<link>https://www.hoaalliance.org/how-to-handle-these-4-strange-ways-houston-tenants-might-damage-your-property/</link>
					<comments>https://www.hoaalliance.org/how-to-handle-these-4-strange-ways-houston-tenants-might-damage-your-property/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[HOA Alliance]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2021 21:05:45 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[US News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas HOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Property Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HOA Learning Library]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hoaalliance.org/?p=19724</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Property damage is unavoidable. If you haven’t had to deal with destruction yet, you will at some point in your career. Some tenants simple aren’t able to avoid harming walls, screens, closet doors, and ceilings. Small holes, scuffs, and scratches beyond normal wear and tear are often caused by carelessness. For example, a tenant might not watch the walls as he or she moves furniture in and out of the house, and an edge might scrape the wall. Holes in the drywall often result from tenants roughhousing with their kids or in a mishap when swinging a bat or golf club. It doesn’t really matter why or how a tenant harms your property. Damage is damage, and it can be annoying and costly to address. You should be aware of the potential for tenants to damage your Houston property in the following strange ways. 1. Installing a zipline on the ceiling It sounds bizarre, but some tenants have installed ziplines inside an apartment they didn’t own. Really, who wouldn’t want a personal zipline? It’s a fun way to work off some energy and take a break from working or studying hard. It’s also an effective way to damage the ceiling, even if you install one correctly. Indoor ziplines are popular It’s not uncommon for wealthy people to install indoor ziplines in their apartments and homes. In 2019, Insider.com published an article that featured a $7 million apartment in New York City that contained a huge slide, a rock wall, and a zipline, among other cool playground toys for the homeowners’ kids. That sort of thing is not common for renters, fortunately, because it’s not allowed. Unfortunately, some landlords have inspected vacant units and discovered the damaged remains of a zipline installed in (and removed from) the ceiling. Sometimes, neighbors get tenants evicted after continually reporting strange noises that turn out to be a zipline in use. If you discover a tenant has installed a zipline in your rental unit, don’t hesitate to use their security deposit to fix any damage. One hopes you collected a high enough deposit to cover all of the repairs. 2. Building a secret room under the floor Another strange way tenants might damage your rental is by building a secret room under the floor. This usually happens in bedrooms, but it’s been done in kitchens and living rooms, too. Sometimes it sort of makes sense, even though it’s illegal. Certain tenants feel safer with a place to hide that can’t be readily seen or accessed from within the standard living spaces. However, certain tenants may build such rooms to conduct illegal activities. If you discover a tenant has built a secret room, you may not want to know why. But if you find such a space, you’ll have to deal with the damage to the floor in order to restore your property to its original condition. Worst-case scenario would be that you’ll have to advertise the secret room as a perk. Secret rooms are more common than you think People all over the world find secret rooms and hidden passageways in their homes that they were never told about when they bought the property. Some of these rooms turn out to be creepy, but most are fairly normal. Secret rooms in older buildings might actually be old hiding spaces where entire families would hide during World War II. A New York woman found a secret room that was almost an entire, separate apartment hidden behind her bathroom mirror. She felt a draft and traced it back to the mirror. When she investigated the source of the airflow, the mirror moved and she removed it from the wall to reveal a small passageway. She was brave enough to climb through and film the entire adventure, which she posted to TikTok. We trust your tenants won’t create a hidden room for illegal purposes. But if you happen to encounter this strange situation, you may want to call the police to conduct a formal investigation … just in case. 3. Human waste on the carpet No landlord likes to deal with animal urine in the carpet. Although dog urine is problematic, cat pee is worse: it can continue to smell terrible even after the area has been professionally cleaned. It almost never comes out of carpet padding. However, if you discover urine in the carpet, it may not necessarily be from a cat or dog. Sometimes, tenants leave their own bodily fluids (and excrement) behind when they move out. Elderly people may have accidents on the carpet that can’t be cleaned completely, but that’s typically a small issue. On the other hand, certain tenants have been known to leave their own urine and/or feces on the carpet intentionally before leaving. This usually happens in an eviction scenario, after the tenant has violated the lease, refused to leave, and compelled the landlord to file a lawsuit. One tenant in New Zealand left black trash bags full of human waste in the house for the landlord to find. That tenant was ordered to pay the landlord $4,684.80 in cleaning-related costs. It’s a horrific possibility to contemplate, but if it should happen to you, you’ll likely have to replace the entire carpet and padding. The chances of cleaning a carpet fully after such an event are slim. As with other damage, make sure you pass along to your tenant the full cost to remedy the problem. You may need to attempt a carpet cleaning first, in case your former tenant tries to sue you for the deposit. Once a judge hears what your former tenant did, however, the court is not likely to rule in that person’s favor. 4. A messy hobby or job When a tenant pursues a messy hobby or job on the premises and doesn’t protect the carpet or hardwood floors, you could face a big mess to have to clean up. For example, someone might screen print T-shirts in the living room and spill the paints]]></description>
		
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		<title>How and Why Houston Landlords Should Help Tenants Avoid Eviction During the Pandemic</title>
		<link>https://www.hoaalliance.org/how-and-why-houston-landlords-should-help-tenants-avoid-eviction-during-the-pandemic/</link>
					<comments>https://www.hoaalliance.org/how-and-why-houston-landlords-should-help-tenants-avoid-eviction-during-the-pandemic/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[HOA Alliance]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2021 21:00:52 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[US News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas HOA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Property Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eviction]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hoaalliance.org/?p=19722</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Renters all over the world are in major financial trouble and can’t afford to pay rent. Millions of people across the U.S. have lost their jobs. The 2020 stay-at-home orders and economic shutdowns have forced tens of thousands of small businesses to close their doors permanently. Houston is no exception. Normally, you’d evict tenants for non-payment of rent. However, the CDC has issued a nationwide moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent when the tenant can’t cover the obligation because of the pandemic. This means you can’t evict a tenant for not paying rent if they lost their job because the employer had to close the business. In theory, an eviction would free up your property to rent to another person, but in reality, you might not be able to find another renter for a while. People aren’t generally looking to move right now. Your unit might sit vacant for several months. By that time, the pandemic could clear up and society might possibly start to return to normal. It’s not your job to help your tenants avoid eviction, but if you choose to do so, you might well benefit along with your tenant. Evictions involve lawsuits and they’re often expensive, time-consuming, and messy even in the best of times. Here’s what you can do to help your tenants avoid eviction during the pandemic, and keep things under control until the economy starts to reemerge. 1. Play by the national rules The CDC’s moratorium rules are cut and dried: You can’t evict a tenant for not paying rent if their non-payment is caused by coronavirus-related circumstances. However, the situation became a little more complicated in Texas this year. In February, a federal judge ruled that the eviction moratorium is unconstitutional because it interferes with private property rights. Although this might sound like good news, you probably shouldn’t read this as a free pass to start evictions. You might still end up in legal trouble if you evict a tenant while the CDC’s moratorium remains in place. A tenant could sue you and it would be up to a judge to determine whether you broke the law. Even if the judge were likely to rule in your favor, you still might not be able to get your eviction lawsuit heard because the court system is backed up. You could waste a lot of time, money, and energy. It’s safer to hold off on evictions until we all know for certain that they’re worth pursuing. The ruling is relatively new and it may not have the real-world impact you’d expect. 2. Inform renters of Texas’s new rental assistance program Tell your tenants about the new state-sponsored rental assistance program. They might not be aware of it. A state-sponsored rental assistance program was launched in 2020, but tenants could get relief only if their landlord signed up for the program. Unfortunately, many landlords refused to participate. Others didn’t know they had to sign up and tenants didn’t know how to apply. In an effort to help tenants pay rent and avoid eviction, the state of Texas just launched another program, this time with stricter requirements. This program doesn’t require landlords to participate in order for tenants to get help, however. The program began February 15, 2021 and will provide $1.3 billion in rental assistance to tenants who make no more than 80% of their county’s median income. It offers the following benefits to tenants: Assistance to pay rent all the way back to March 13, 2020 Assistance to pay up to 3 months’ rent, current or future The ability to reapply for more assistance in the future Assistance will cover up to 15 months of rent Although this new program will help tenants without requiring landlords to sign up, it’s not easy to qualify under the income requirements. For example, the income cap for a family of four in Houston is $63,000. Officials estimate around 80,000 households may qualify for assistance. Tell your tenants about this program and send them directly to the Texas Rent Relief Program’s website, where they can find out whether they qualify and how to apply. 3. Don’t evict tenants for petty lease violations One might argue that every lease violation is technically a big deal because it represents a broken agreement, in all honesty many of them are not that major from the perspective of the bigger picture. For example, if your tenant isn’t allowed to have pets and you’ve just discovered they have a dog, you might consider modifying their lease. People are going through some rough times right now and your renter might find comfort in having a dog or cat for companionship. Pets have been proven to reduce stress and improve a person’s mood. If you discover your tenant has violated the lease by getting a dog or a cat, why not go easy on them? Consider adjusting the lease to accommodate for a well-behaved animal. If the person can’t afford to pay a pet deposit, you might consider waiving that as well. If you choose to allow the pet, make sure you create an addendum to the lease and provide a copy to the tenant so he or she knows for sure you’re not going to seek eviction over their new pet. 4. Offer some kind of help There are valid reasons not to help your tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic. But many other reasons could make helping your tenants a win-win situation. For example, offering discounted rent could get your tenant to start making payments. Some tenants have avoided paying partial rent because they didn’t think their landlord would accept incomplete payments. Communicate with your non-paying tenants to find out whether they can pay a reasonable portion of their rent. You may never manage to collect all the back rent anyway, so you might as well offer a discount to generate some income. 5. Work with a property management company One of the best ways to avoid non-pandemic-related evictions is to screen]]></description>
		
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