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This Spring, Turn Your Kittens Into Rodent Patrol
Ah, spring. With it comes landscaping changeovers, from plowing to planting, and preparations for the high moving season in many areas. Spring also brings another season: kitten season, the time of year when kittens are born and a reminder to think about your approach to those “strays,” or community cats, on the properties you manage.
Much the same way that keeping existing residents is more valuable than recruiting new ones, keeping and stabilizing your existing community cat population is more beneficial than removing or exterminating it.
Understand Community Cats
First, a crash course on community cats. They are not fully owned by humans, if at all— … read more
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Animal Accommodation Law Update: Charging Pet Fees
Service and assistance animals aren’t pets—in a legal sense, they’re medical aids more akin to a wheelchair than Fido. This means that just as an individual who uses a wheelchair isn’t charged for accessible features in their housing complex, someone with a service or assistance animal cannot be charged pet fees.
The housing providers in two recent court cases have learned this lesson the hard way. Their example serves as an important reminder for community managers and landlords when handling animal accommodation requests.
1. Virginia residents receive $30,000 settlement for owner’s refusal to waive pet fees
Both the on-site property manager of a … read more
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4 Important Real Estate Insurance Policies
Real Estate Insurance can be complicated. Sometimes your real estate property or community association demands more options, coverage and expertise. It’s important to find a solution that works for your unique situations and exposures. Here are 4 Important Real Estate Insurance policies you should have in place:
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial Property for landlords is the primary coverage for insuring their risks. Commercial Property Insurance protects covered property from damages resulting from covered perils such as fire, theft and natural disaster.
Systems Breakdown Insurance
Real estate owners rely on technology and machinery every day to … read more
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LandlordsNY MemberLandlord "Watchlist" Published; Where's the "Worst Tenants" List?
The 2020 "Landlord Watchlist" was published this week by the Office of NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Let's preface by saying that while LandlordsNY, nor its members, certainly aren't condoning landlords that violate the law or endanger the health and well being of tenants, we do take umbrage at hardworking and honest landlords getting slandered publicly in this fashion. Are these landlords allowed to publish "100 Worst Tenants" Lists? What would the public outcry over that be? Out of curiosity, how many landlords on this list do not rightfully belong on it and have they been able to get their names removed? The list, often rife with … read more
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Protect Your Condo, Co-Op or Apartment Building With Commercial Umbrella Insurance
Protect Your Condo, Co-Op or Apartment Building With Commercial Umbrella Insurance
Commercial Umbrella Insurance provides liability coverage over and above the limits of your existing policies. It’s not a legal requirement, but the benefits of having it are substantial.
Commercial Umbrella Insurance in action
Commercial umbrella insurance can help protect your New York or New Jersey condo, co-op or apartment building in a range of scenarios. Below are two examples of real-life scenarios (source: LexisNexis) where Commercial Umbrella Insurance coverage was needed.
- A man suffered severe burns from hot water as a child when his … read more
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Three Things to Know About Cabinet Refinishing
Three Things to Know About Cabinet Refinishing
Your existing cabinets can have a new look with some affordable makeover techniques. If a full kitchen renovation is not possible, the cooking space can have an impressive new look when the existing cabinets are refaced.
It is a relatively non-invasive, affordable technique that involves replacing door and cabinet drawer fronts with high-quality veneers. Veneers are ultra-thin sheets of real wood. They are placed over the existing face frames and boxes.
Professional refacing takes old or basic cabinets to a new level in a few days. The cost is much less than replacing the cabinets. The materials, prices, and … read more
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Knowing Your Rights to Prevent Emotional Support Animal Fraud
It seems like service and emotional support animals (ESA) are everywhere these days and the ease in which someone can get “certified” raises eyebrows. Is there really an epidemic of people fraudulently using disability protections to bring Fido to the grocery store or avoid a pet fee? Let’s dig into the basics of animal accommodation laws and clarify common misconceptions.
(Note: We’ve addressed the access laws for airplanes in another blog.)
Why do people make requests for service and assistance animals?
An individual living with a disability is entitled to a reasonable accommodation, meaning that the property manager has to make an exception … read more
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How to Become a Low-Risk Landlord
If you’re a landlord, you face your share of risks. You may worry about protecting your investment from insurance claims, property damage and lawsuits with tenants. Here are some tips from our friends and LandlordsNY Insurance Expert @Mackoul Risk Solutions that can help you mitigate some of the risks that you face as a property landlord.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT INSURANCE COVERAGE
When becoming a landlord there are many different factors to consider. The most important, other than choosing a good tenant, would be making sure that you have the correct insurance coverage in place. Most tenant or landlord policies come with a higher rate since the home is not owner-occupied. The … read more
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Sidewalk Maintenance for your Commercial Building
Did you know that if there is a sidewalk related incident involving your commercial building, the responsibility would fall on the building owner? When it comes to preventing slip and fall-related claims, it is key to make sure sidewalks are in tip-top shape. Although the city owns most of the sidewalks, they aren’t responsible for the maintenance.
According to Local Law 49, the legislation states “It shall be the duty of the owner of real property abutting any sidewalk…to maintain such sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition. The property owner shall be liable for any injury to property or personal injury, including death, proximately caused by the failure of … read more
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4 Retargeting myths that keep you from advertising like big brand
If you’ve ever shopped online (like 69% of Americans) at a big brand store, you’ve probably found that they don’t leave you alone for a while. Everywhere you go, you find advertisements for the specific product you’ve been looking for. It’s an effective marketing technique known as ‘retargeting’. Websites remembers who visits them, and then target exactly those people. It makes sense; people who’ve looked at a product are qualified leads and the perfect audience for advertisements. this is even more true when it comes to local seo.
But don’t let big brand stores have all the fun. As a small business, you can use the exact same tactics. … read more
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(Why I Won’t) Stop Trying to Make “Assistance Animal” Happen
We need to stop using the term "emotional support animals." Read on to learn why.
https://www.pawsopeningdoors.com/assistance-animal...
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Updates on the Federal Eviction Moratorium
October 14, 2020
By Abby Volin
Published late Friday night on October 9, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued new clarification on the federal eviction moratorium. It contains several updates with important implications.
1. This revised guidance is coming from 4 federal agencies, meaning that we can expect this to be the official, coordinated government response.
2. The eviction moratorium will not prevent landlords from starting eviction proceedings.
This is different from the original moratorium, … read more
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What Causes Insurance Premiums to Increase?
There are many factors that contribute to the rise and fall of insurance premiums.
The marketplace of insurance is very reliant on the supply and demand of the market. Entering 2020, the insurance industry was in what we call a “hard market”. We’ve been in a soft market for several years. A soft market typically means insurance companies are focused on premium growth, as they are making money elsewhere, such as investment income. This allows them to charge lower premiums to grow their market share. In addition, they relax their guidelines. In turn, this means more carriers are willing to provide quotes resulting in lower insurance premiums for insureds.
Over the … read more
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It's In-concede-able! Confronting Rent Concessions
With the classic movie The Princess Bride grabbing headlines this week, it seems appropriate to discuss something in multifamily housing that is truly inconceivable: rent concessions. Recently published data shows that concessions of all types are growing fast in order to attract new residents in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and free rent leads the way in offerings. According to RHJ, “The rate of rental concessions can often be a leading indicator of a coming price drop, because landlords will often [sic] concessions first, before reducing rent.”It’s time to storm the castle using a new tactic: pets. Living in a pet-inclusive community is one of … read more
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Preparing for the COVID Eviction Crisis
It’s not a secret that we’re heading straight into a housing crisis as eviction moratoriums expire. But that doesn’t mean that animal welfare organizations are powerless in the quest to keep people and their pets together.
There are several tools you can put into place now to reduce the number of pets who lose their homes:
- Understand the eviction moratorium laws in your state and jurisdiction. These laws are complicated, but you need to know the answers to questions such as: When does the moratorium in your state end? Which housing providers are subject to the CARES Act and are thus still prohibited from evicting tenants? Are all renters protected or just ones who … read more
