Spring/Summer Checklist

Keep your Rentals and your own Home) running smoothly and looking grat with this simple checklist. Making these repairs an/or additions may also attract possible Tenants to that vacancy you have been trying to Rent out!

• Handout different colored stickers to each Tenant to place on anything in any basements or storage areas that they’d like to “SAVE”. Otherwise in two weeks it’s gone! Cleanout time.
• Repair window screens and check screening on porches before bug season arrives. Save old screens for patches.
• Build or repair fences and arbors so they will be ready for planting season.
• Aerate lawns, de-thatch, rake and bag your first cut. Then you can mulch each week with no leaves or branches.
• Repair deck boards as needed, remove protruding nails and replace with coated or galvanized screws. Be sure to check and tighten bolts in deck supports.
• Tighten all the screws, nuts, bolts in any garage doors.
• Clean and seal wood deck as necessary. Deck stains with at least some pigment lasts longer than clear sealers.
• Reverse ceiling fans – they should have been blowing upward in the Winter and clean the tops of the fan blades.
• Check that Winter wind hasn’t lifted vinyl or aluminum siding then repair it.
• Wash black streaks from the roof. Use prepared cleaner or save some extra money  and mix your own: Combine one part chlorine bleach with three parts water and a handful of trisodium phosphate. Apply to small section of roof with a garden sprayer, let soak 20 minutes, then rinse lightly with a hose. Rain will finish the rinse. This mixture is extremely slippery, use caution if you have to a walk on any of these areas after you’ve sprayed them!
• Wash siding and gutters with a similar solution. You’ll have fewer streaks if you start form the bottom. Always spray on the horizontal or down, spraying upwards can penetrate between windows or under the siding lap. Always be careful with ladders around power poles.
• Scrape and touch up exterior paint, paying special attention to window sills, gable vents and garage doors.
• Complete large exterior painting jobs. Follow the shade – don’t paint in direct sun – and quit before dusk so the paint can dry before dew forms. Cheap paint is not a bargain. For most exterior jobs, look for 100% acrylic and buy at least the “better” quality.
• Clean gas grill and replace any rusted or damaged parts.
• Check crawl space for moisture and remove debris. If you spot signs of carpenter ants or termites, call a professional.
• Clean concrete drives, walk-ways and patios.

Thanks to the Chicago Area REIA

You have to Rent to Criminals?

HUD’s new guidance on Criminal Background checks places Housing Providers and Municipalities in conflict over the recognition of Arrests!

 For the ten page HUD Guide –  https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=HUD_OGCGuidAppFHAStandCR.pdf

HUD’s guidance includes the banning of arrests from consideration for housing.  While this may seem legitimate, it places housing providers in a very awkward position, as many municipalities have laws and regulations on the books regarding drug users, and justify eviction for drug-related arrests.    HUD states, “As the Supreme Court has recognized, “[t]he mere fact that a man has been arrested has very little, if any, probative value in showing that he has engaged in any misconduct. An arrest shows nothing more than that someone probably suspected the person apprehended of an offense.”  While this harkens back to a better understanding of “innocent until proven guilty,” until the municipal nuisance conflict is resolved, housing providers will face aggressive city enforcement on one side, and assertive housing advocates on the other.  National REIA suggests working with your local housing advocates to address this concerns with municipalities.

National Real Estate Group: HUD goes too far!

NREIA Says Guidelines Will Have Chilling Effect on Criminal Background Checks

(Cincinnati, OH) The National Real Estate Investors Association (NREIA) said today that new guidelines issued Monday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development go too far and will have a chilling effect on criminal background checks used to screen potential tenants. According to HUD, because a disproportionate number of African Americans & Hispanics have criminal records, they face potential discrimination in housing options based on race, in violation of the Fair Housing Act. National REIA believes this would severely restrict a landlord’s ability to protect residents from predictable harm & violence.

From every Congressman who rents an apartment in DC, to the poorest of their constituents in every district, has just been made less safe with HUD’s pronouncement that makes criminal background checks tantamount to discrimination.

Fair Housing Discrimination is a serious issue. No person should be discriminated based upon race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or familial status. For HUD to claim that an individual’s criminal behavior should somehow be protected is a gross violation of the Fair Housing Act, and undermines the First Amendment protection of Free Association.

HUD’s flawed argument on “Discriminatory Effects Liability” makes the case that Safety, is neither a substantial nor a legitimate concern. In fact, according to HUD’s theory, until a property has residents raped, rapist shouldn’t be banned. Similarly, unless there have been murders at the property or community, murderers shouldn’t be banned. Ironically, HUD recognizes that convicted drug manufacturers and distributors can be banned, because of specific federal language, only to make exceptions for those who use drugs, or are convicted of any other criminal act!

The approach recommended by HUD, to individually consider each applicant flies directly in the face of HUD’s stated policy and directive from Congress, to treat each person equally. Today’s guidance does little more than try to make the criminal class a protected class – beyond the scope of congressional authority granted by the Fair Housing Act.

Charles Tassell, Chief Operating Officer of NREIA said “While we agree that an arrest is not a justifiable reason to deny housing, after all a person is innocent until proven guilty, the banning of convicted criminals is an entirely separate issue.”

Tassell further stated that “the safety of the renting public should not be sacrificed.”