To All Brownstone Owners & Brokers:
As a current tenant experiencing considerable difficulty with the owner of the family-owned brownstone I live in Park Slope, PLEASE be upfront and honest (or have your broker be) with your prospective tenants about “quirks” of family-owned brownstone living. Including, but not limited to: Mail going to the owner’s apartment only, who must then distribute…
As a current tenant experiencing considerable difficulty with the owner of the family-owned brownstone I live in Park Slope, PLEASE be upfront and honest (or have your broker be) with your prospective tenants about “quirks” of family-owned brownstone living. Including, but not limited to:
Mail going to the owner’s apartment only, who must then distribute the mail, at their own leisure. (And please make plans to have someone pick up the mail when the owner goes on vacation.)
Installation of cable that has to be done at the convenience of the owner (because the connection comes through his backyard) or in our case, the backyard of the building next door, so not only do you have to work around the owner’s schedule, but that of the people next door.
If you are not going to employ a super, or barely employ one, please be upfront with the tenants that they will be responsible for all upkeep, including common areas. (In fairness, all expenses are always deductible from rent, but it’s the time factor of finding repairman, etc.)
Please do NOT assume that everyone understands these things about family-owned brownstone living. If someone had explained this to my partner and I what we would have to deal with, we could have at least rented our place with our eyes wide open, instead of having to deal with this retroactively, and being told “well, that’s just the way it is in these brownstones.”
And renters, ask questions! Be persistent. Do just not be bowled over by the beauty of the brownstone, and your luck in finding one…
Thanks.
Well, I am a landlord that wrote about rodent problem. Your just completely perverted my own words. I said that my tenants complained about this problem after we raised rent. I said that we suggested to try to resolve this problem without poison because we successfully eliminated mise with mouthtraps years ago IN OUR OUTHER PLACE that is miles from our current house, not the “years ago in this house” as you wrote. I have no idea why you are trying to misrepresent something that you have read just to make landlord (that is not even your landlord) look bad. If this is your customary style I just pity your landlord.
It looks like it would be the best for everybody if you move out. You are not happy there, why you stay? Or even better: buy your own place, may be become a landlord and do whatever you think is right to make it a perfect place for your tenants!
BTW, I called my tenants and suggested that we call an exterminator ( based on information that brownstoners gave me on this forum about the extent of poison usage in this procedure). They told me that they do not think it is needed since they did not see any mise recently.
Yes the landlord tricked you. Yes you are a gullible sucker. I guess you deserve each other.
2:27, I stand by my post. Unless you rent a PO box, wouldn’t you want to know how you’ll receive your mail, especially in this age of identity theft. This isn’t rocket science. It’s common sense.
I am a LL and our tenants have been with us for a very, very, long time. There’s nothing to “address” here. Responsible LLs know that expecting tenants to clean common areas is not the way it’s done in brownstones. If you want to avoid nightmarish LL/tenant relationships, aggravation, or frequent visits to housing court, you have to communicate. Plain and simple.
Oh, go live in a building with a doorman!!
“but if these “ownership” costs are outstripping market rents and you are attempting to recoup some of these costs by denying basic services to your tenants, then no, the renter does not have to absorb these costs. the owner does.”
Of course I’m not talking about the basic services — that would be asburd. It would be criminal to charge a tenant more to have their own mailbox or doorbell, etc. This is just common sense. My previous posts were just addressing this particular tenant’s situation. I hope that this tenant and LL can come to a happy medium or the other alternative would be for him/her to look for a new place. Good Luck!!!
“So like everything else the cost has to be absorbed by someone and unfortunately, that would be the renter.”
if these forces are causing market rents to go up and therefore the renter is indirectly absorbing these costs, then yes.
but if these “ownership” costs are outstripping market rents and you are attempting to recoup some of these costs by denying basic services to your tenants, then no, the renter does not have to absorb these costs. the owner does.
I believe my comment regarding the mailbox issue was misunderstood. I didn’t mean to be blasé, but I was addressing the fact that the tenant was unhappy that he/she was not getting their mail in a timely fashion as well as not having their box. I do agree that each tenant should have their own mailbox, especially with the increase in stolen identities.
“As a LL, tenants are not REQUIRED or EXPECTED to clean common areas, regardless of the number of apartments in the building. That’s the LL’s responsibility. Period. That isn’t the way it is in these brownstones.”
Your absolutely right, but I’ve also been a tenant before and I believe you should take pride in where you live whether you’re the owner or tenant. If I felt, that the LL was not “light-sweeping” my common as much as I would like, I had no problem with do it.
Yes, rents are rising, but so is the upkeep on these 100+ brownstone, as well as property taxes, oil and gas to heat our homes etc. So, should I ask my mortgage company for a break because the cost to maintain my home has gone up? So like everything else the cost has to be absorbed by someone and unfortunately, that would be the renter.
2:09, are you suggesting that they should’ve realized there wasn’t a private mailbox upon viewing the apartment? That’s nuts and it needs to addressed. Sit down and talk to your LL about your concerns. If they are not unreasonable, I’m sure you can come to an agreement. Especially about the mail!
As a landlord, I disagree with poster above who wouldn’t point out the quirks of the rental, unless actually asked.
We ALWAYS point out as many quirks as we can think of. For example, we have an intercom system but disabled the buzzer for security reasons, so the tenant has to go to the door to let people in. We make sure to mention that right away when we show the apt. because we know people don’t think to ask that. We tell them about slanted floors, banging pipes, stuck closet doors and anything else we can think of.
We think we have a beautiful apartment that rents for a fair price. We have to live with the people who rent it. The LAST thing we want is unhappy tenants who are surprised about quirks.
We also mention that they should inform us if they want cable since the installers have to access our home.
Finally, we tell them we don’t want to be bothered by little stuff but of course they should inform us immediately of any leaks, plumbing issues, and clear repairs that are needed.
Our tenants seem happy, we rarely see or hear from them, but they stay a long time. And we probably weed out the complainers early.
Landlords, it is a 2-way street, and if you allow potential tenants to believe something that isn’t true, you have only yourself to blame when they whine.
Of course, you might get stuck with some horrible whiny complaining tenant anyway, but then it’s their fault, not yours!