Should Landlords Accept Credit Card Payments

by SherRon Marcek | PayRent.com

Paper or plastic? It’s a term you’re used to hearing at the grocery store but it applies to rental payments as well. Will you accept only paper payments (cash or check) or can a tenant pay rent with their credit or debit card? There has been some hesitation around landlords accepting credit card payments as there is always a risk of a tenant disputing the charge. Could be the risk be worth it? Let’s look at the significant benefits you should also consider before making your decision. 

The most important reason landlords should accept credit card payments is that it gives their tenants more choice and flexibility. Your tenants are your customers so keeping them happy should be a top priority. There are a number of reasons tenants may wish to pay their rent with a credit card. Let’s look at a few:

Benefits to Tenants

• Cashflow Cushion- The first of the month doesn’t always line up with payday which can put a strain on your tenants to pay on time. Having the option of paying their rent with a credit card can give them some breathing room when it’s between paydays or if unexpected expenses popped up. 
• Credit Building- Tenants looking to increase their credit score may want to use a credit card as their payment method. Large charges that are paid in full will reflect positively on their credit and give them a boost. 
• Credit Card Rewards- Many credit card companies offer rewards to their users. In order to qualify for some of these bonuses, users must charge a certain amount to the card in a set period of time. It is common for housing to be a person’s largest expense so charging the amount would allow your tenants that extra push to bonus programs. 
• Avoid Late fees- Nearly all credit card payments come with a processing fee. For instance, PayRent charges 3.5% of the transaction plus $0.30 to process the transaction. However, these fees can be significantly cheaper than a 10% late fee or a bounced check and overdraft fees.

Benefits to Landlords

Your tenants aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits of credit card payments. Landlords who accept credit card payments are more likely to be paid on time because of the flexibility they are allowing their tenants. The transaction is simple and funds are available sooner than ACH transfers. There is also a clear record of the payment for reference.

What You Need to Know About Prison Home Confinements and Rental Housing

Becky Bower

Federal and state prisons are considering granting susceptible inmates early release in an effort to avoid major coronavirus outbreaks – and some already have. While many U.S. states were at the forefront of releasing nonviolent (often older) inmates early, the U.S. Attorney General issued his own order last Friday granting those eligible the option of home confinement.

But who will house these vulnerable federal prisoners? And how will state-wide early prison releases will affect the rental housing industry, leasing policies, and criminal background screening in the future?

While the industry’s future might seem like an uncertain, complex, legal-ridden mess, we’re here to help shed some light during potentially the darkest timeline.

The Federal Response: Home Confinement

On April 3rd, 2020, Attorney General Bill Barr ordered federal prison officials to prioritize releasing vulnerable inmates at facilities struggling to contain outbreaks of coronavirus. On the federal level, this presently speeds up the process in complexes in Danbury, Connecticut; Oakdale, Louisiana; and Elkton, Ohio. However, the migration to home confinement will increase as other facilities are impacted by the pandemic.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) update on April 5^th reports that home confinement has already increased “by over 40% since March” and the Attorney General’s emergency order will only further increase these numbers.

With this initiative, the criteria in which inmates are considered for home confinement have also changed. According to Politico, federal prisoners were previously eligible for home confinement after they completed 90% of their sentences, but AG Barr’s memo pushes for earlier releases.

In late March, the AG issued guidance detailing a non-exhaustive list of factors to consider when assessing which inmates should be granted home confinement during the pandemic. These factors are:

Wealthy tenants are SQUATTING in multi-million dollar homes in the Hamptons and refusing to pay rent after NY issued a non-eviction order due to the coronavirus crisis

• Hamptons landlords are losing money as tenants try to stay during peak season 
• One uses the summer rent to pay his son’s tuition and is out of pocket this year 
• NY Gov Andrew Cuomo issued a moratorium on rent payments until 20 August 
• Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19

By RYAN FAHEY FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 04:30 EDT, 20 May 2020 | UPDATED: 10:14 EDT, 20 May 2020

Some wealthy tenants in the Hamptons are using New York state’s non-eviction order to squat in luxury while weathering out the coronavirus crisis, local landlords have claimed. 

One homeowner, who chose to remain anonymous but identified as middle-class, said that short-term renters are overstaying at his property in Sag Harbor and refusing to pay rent. 

Properties in the Hamptons rent for much less in the winter and early spring months, when the coronavirus outbreak began, but can ask for thousands more in the summer months.  

‘We’re not talking about poor people,’ the anonymous told the NYPost. ‘[…]It’s a very modest Sag Harbor house. And we use our summer rental to pay our son’s school.’

The squatter was paying $3,600 a month between October and March but claimed he didn’t have rent for April and dismissed the homeowner’s requests to vacate the property.   

The landlord said he is now looking at huge losses for the year – $15,000 in May alone with an extra $55,000 between Memorial and Labor days.

READ MORE

Virus Fighting Germ Zero Team rolled out by Mold Zero!!

By Robert Tweed (Rusty Tweed) CEO MoldZero

Five years ago, local Glendale resident Rusty Tweed started Mold Zero, a company focused on eliminating mold from people’s homes and businesses.    Since then Mold Zero has grown quickly into a multi-million dollar operation, doing business around Southern California and the Tampa Bay area of Florida.  

The reason for this exceptional growth is Mold Zero’s unique patented process that is used to eradicate fungus in any indoor environment.   The process involves 2 steps.   The first is a unique “dry fog” that is pumped into the building.   The fog particles are as small as 6 microns, which is unusually tiny and allows the small nano particles to permeate every nook and cranny of the room or space that is being treated.   This non-toxic, environmentally friendly “dry fog” immediately destroys any single cell micro-organisms it comes into contact with.   Mold or Fungus is very hard to kill, as it is a living growing organism that shuns light and therefore thrives in dark, damp, hard to get at places.    Mold Zero’s technique will seek out and envelope the mold and it’s spores and render it inert in even the tiniest, tucked away locations.

Rent-Reduction Bill a Vast Abuse of Power

Assembly Bill 828 the “Gut and Re-Write” Former Human Trafficking Bill, Is Bad News

By Steven Greenhut, California Columnist

We’ve all accepted the need for some unusual public-policy measures to deal with coronavirus, but we should always look askance at proposals that are unnecessary, counterproductive and abusive of our rights.  Sadly, some legislators seem to be using the crisis to push the types of far-reaching legislation that could never get approved during normal times.

Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, recently introduced the most striking example of this phenomenon. Assembly Bill 828 purports to protect tenants during an emergency but poses a grave threat to property owners and established contracts – and could obliterate California’s already tight rental market even after the crisis passes.

March 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic and Governor Newsom’s “stay-at-home” order create challenges for businesses and landlords in California. As a result, parties to contracts could seek to delay or terminate their obligations. This article discusses some of the legal concepts with respect to delayed or excused contract performance.

Please note that federal, state, and local regulations, laws, and ordinances may override the common law and contractual principles discussed in the article.

Contract Provisions

Force Majeure

A “force majeure” provision in a contract allows a party certain rights if a given event arises. For example, a contract’s “force majeure” provision might allow a construction company to temporarily stop construction of or repairs to a building in the event of a hurricane, a riot, or governmental mandates in connection with a pandemic that impacts their work.

Generally, for a party to invoke “force majeure”rights under a contract, the contract must:

By Gary Ganchrow

There have been several layers of emergency executive orders and local ordinances affecting property ownership since the COVID-19 pandemic began.  These executive orders and local ordinances have seemingly come out at dizzying speeds but have not necessarily been fully consistent with each other. Some (many) have protected renters, while relatively few others were designed to benefit property owners.  The one constant has been that they are hard to keep track of.

Below I discuss a few of the rights and protections the government has provided, but I start with two disclaimers. First, I provide an overview only, and second, because of the speed at which ne rules are created, some of the dates and laws discussed below may have already changed by the time you read this.

• The CARES Act:  Relief for Property Owners

The Complexities of California’s Housing Crisis: Part I

By: Roderick Wright

Housing in California, particularly the lack of affordable housing is a complex issue. Like most complex social problems there are numerous causes and villains. The solutions are usually simple, but the political will is challenging. Why don’t we simply build more apartments and houses, simple enough right? Guess what? There are those who benefit from the current situation.

How Accidental Landlords Can Avoid Two Common Mistakes

by David Crown

Ownership of property might seem like something that can only happen through careful planning, but as a property manager in Los Angeles, I get calls all the time from folks who’ve become landlords through unplanned scenarios. Maybe a family member has passed away and willed them a property. Maybe they wanted to sell their home but couldn’t fetch the right price for it, so they had to rent it out until the market improved. Just today, we got a call from an owner whose property had been declared a historic landmark, so he couldn’t remodel it to sell at the price he had hoped. Regardless, what they share in common is that they’ve come into possession of rental property without having studied or prepared for becoming a landlord.     

It’s possible for a new rental owner to find a natural knack for management and decide to devote their time to managing their own properties. But for the uninitiated, this article will lay out the two most common mistakes accidental landlords make managing their own property — and how to avoid them.

Five Things To Remember When Deciding To Do A 1031 Exchange

BY Dwight Kay & The Kay Properties Team

A 1031 exchange is a legal way for investors to defer their capital gains taxes on the sale of real estate held for investment or business purposes. It allows one to defer taxes on a property sale as long as they follow specific 1031 rules and guidelines. In other words, you have the potential to keep all your profits working for you with the purchase of your next investment property, without the IRS coming after you looking for their share of the pie. Here are five things to remember before a 1031 exchange.