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Landlord and Nevada Laws
14 Plays2 months ago
🎧 Welcome to Thoughts For Rent — the podcast where real estate gets real (and local)!
Hosted by Jenni McKenna, a Las Vegas born and raised seasoned broker, and Owner of McKenna Property Management, this show is your inside look at what’s really happening in the Vegas property management and real estate world. With over 20 years of experience herself - Jenni brings not just knowledge, but heart to the conversation.
Whether we’re talking market trends, property tips, community happenings, or just the everyday quirks of Vegas living, this podcast is all about keeping you in the know.
💬 Real talk. Local stories. Professional insight – provided from a company who has their boots on the ground and hearts in the community.
In this episode, we’re covering some pieces of advice that Jenni and Irelynn have for landlords. It's never fun to talk about worst case scenario but it's always important to be prepared. We provide insight on some of the best ways to stay ahead of the situation.
McKenna Property Management, proudly managing Las Vegas homes since 2005 (and loving every minute of it).
Hit subscribe and comment down below to join the conversation! 💛
✨ Stay connected with us!
Instagram: @mckennapropertymanagement
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Website: McKennaPropertyManagement.com
Phone: 702-434-HOME (4663)
Owner/Broker: Jenni McKenna B.29819
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Weather Discussion
00:00:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hi everyone. Welcome back and happy May. This is Thoughts for Rent. Realtors keeping it real. I'm sure you know by now, but I am Ireland and this is Jenny McKenna.
00:00:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. Right here in the flesh. And we are staying cool, turning on the fans, and staying hydrated. The good thing is that this weekend it's supposed to be A little colder, like only like 65 and windy. We hate the wind though sometimes.
00:00:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
But yeah, I think that ah after this cold spell this weekend, we're going to be turning on our ACs and paying that bill. Usually in Nevada, you don't necessarily get like April showers, bring me flowers. You more get April- Major windstorms give you May 100 degree heat.
00:01:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
And a little bit of sinus headaches because of the dust. Give you allergic reactions. So yeah no rain over here, but lots of wind. And then hopefully we'll start to see a little bit more where we can tan and land at the beach and take the boat out.
00:01:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. Take the boat out and start looking at that beautiful Colorado River that I love so much. So we're looking forward
Wealth-Building through Property Ownership
00:01:30
Irelynn Zurflueh
to it. So today, Ireland, I thought it would be fun do a little informative podcast.
00:01:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
I know that there's a lot of people out there that are building their wealth through owning properties. so And in Nevada, especially las Vegas, that is absolutely a great way to do it.
00:01:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
You're not only going to get your rent, but you're also going to get the appreciation. in And Las Vegas over the course of the history has always seen great appreciation. Even when we dipped during the recession, we popped right back up.
00:02:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
Last to be affected, first to recover. So as long as you didn't sell during that time, you made great. Everything would have been great on yourself. So what I thought we would do is just the experiences that we've that we go through that maybe the general public thinks is logical, but is absolutely against the law.
00:02:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they could end up in a lot of trouble if they do it, because the judge will rule in favor of the resident or the tenant. And um I just want to keep them out of trouble, keep them out of court.
00:02:32
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. Owners have laws that protect them, but so do residents. So it's important for both parties to know, know the laws and know how to protect themselves. And it's good because if you ever want to do a really big deep dive after kind of hearing our tips and tricks, the, at least Nevada, because everything we're going to talk about is Nevada law, because there's national laws and then there's state laws. So there's some laws that apply to every single state, but there are going to be state laws that only apply to Nevada. So we'll touch on those. So make sure if you're listening from out of state, do your own
Understanding Property Laws and Procedures
00:03:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
research. And if you're listening in state and you want to do more research, those Nevada real estate laws are pretty readily available. so you just got to Google them and you'll be able to look at all of them. The key is you go NRS and NRS and most of the rental NRS laws are somewhere around 116 and 118. Those are your your hot buttons for when you're diving into it.
00:03:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
The first one is the one that I get the most. When I have an owner that calls me and they're so frustrated because their tenant hasn't paid rent. And in this case, sometimes three or four months. That would never happen if it was with McKenna Property Management. These are all self-managed properties.
00:03:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
But for whatever reason, they believe the resident's story. ah They've waited another month. They've waited another month. You know, whatever. Now they are, as an owner, ah frustrated. They want them out.
00:03:57
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they call me up and they're like, hey, why can't I just go change the locks? They didn't honor their lease. They haven't paid their rent. That is my property. I own that property.
00:04:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
I want to go change the locks. Don't do that. Wee woo, wee woo, wee woo. Big, big red flag. Because you don't, as an owner, have the right. I know that sounds so weird, right? Because it's your own house.
00:04:24
Irelynn Zurflueh
But you don't have the right to change the locks. And you will get into a lot of trouble if you do. Yeah. There is always... There is a court-based proceeding when it comes to an owner requesting to regain possession back of their property because what a lease is or what an agreement for a rental is, is you're agreeing to give possession to that resident.
00:04:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
And so if they're not honoring the contract, then you then have to follow the proper proceedings to get possession back. And that includes court notices and that includes receiving judgments from courts.
00:05:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yep. You can't change the locks. And if you're in a process where you do want to ask for possession back or work to gain possession back, you're going to want to make sure that you look into what your courts require you to do because it's about proper serving and proper notice that you have to give.
00:05:19
Irelynn Zurflueh
And that's if you've got a resident that is absolutely not going to cooperate with you. There is what's called like cash for keys. There is an agreement that you can make with that non-paying tenant.
00:05:32
Irelynn Zurflueh
And you can say, hey, look, I'll give you, and it doesn't this sound backwards, but hey, I'll give you Mr. Tenant or Mrs. Tenant $500 if you just give me back possession of the property.
00:05:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
That would be legal. If that's all agreed upon and signed, then, hey, no harm, no foul. But if you do not have the agreement between that tenant and you, you cannot go and do anything that would hinder their ability to live in the property.
00:06:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
And that also goes with this. This was a this was a fun one. couple years ago, I had somebody call up and... um i kind of got in at the end. They were calling me for for asking for advice and I'm always available for advice.
00:06:15
Irelynn Zurflueh
Even if you're not a client, I'm going to tell you what I know. He had already turned off the power and the water to the house. Uh-oh, where's that? yeah Yeah, so I said, oh my gosh, call right now, hang up the phone, call back and put that on immediately because you cannot do that either for the same reasons that Ireland has explained.
00:06:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
They have possession of the property and you cannot hinder that possession ah or the ability to live in that property while they're there, even though they're not paying
Legal Caution in Property Management
00:06:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
the rent.
00:06:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. It's kind of weird, but that's just the way the law is. We also have a lot of owners who will say, well, I want to, I want to go view the property. I want to view if they're actually moving out. I want to view if they've packed up anything, or I want to see how they've, if they've done damage to it.
00:07:04
Irelynn Zurflueh
And if you were to post a 24 hour notice, They could. So this isn't necessarily completely no sirens for this request, but it's not recommended because there's already a little bit of tension.
00:07:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
We're already at the point where they're not paying. We're already at the point where the owner's upset. I'm sure the resident's stressed out because they're on the path to removal. And embarrassed. And people do funny things when they're embarrassed.
00:07:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
So we usually try to tell the owner there's no benefit that's going to come out of seeing your house. before you have possession back. There's only going to be benefit being able to see what the house looks like once you have possession. Because once you have possession, then you can do something about it.
00:07:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
so That is, it's possible. It's not recommended. i would not recommend to ever post a 24 or to do any kind of walkthrough if you're in the middle of an eviction or a request for possession.
00:07:58
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I sat in a court case and we always do it in the lower courts because they call that the people courts. Whenever you're doing an eviction, it is always in the lower court system. In Nevada.
00:08:08
Irelynn Zurflueh
like That might not right be the same state. Again, in Nevada. And you do not even need an attorney to do evictions in Nevada because I actually go just as the representative of the owner when we go. I was sitting in a court case. I get to hear about 10 to 15 cases usually when I go, which is always super interesting. I learned so much just from that.
00:08:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
I was sitting there and the resident ah was explaining to the judge that They were being harassed. Now, granted, this resident slash tenant ah has not paid rent. It was like somewhere between six and eight months.
00:08:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
Okay. So they have not given any money for six or eight months. And they were they were explaining to the judge that the owner was driving by the property four or five times a day and stalking.
00:08:55
Irelynn Zurflueh
And the resident said that they felt like their safety was in jeopardy and especially their child's safety was in jeopardy. And you know what? The judge ruled in favor for the resident.
00:09:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
yeah I believe it. The owner had to start the entire eviction process over and he was reprimanded by the judge that he could not do anything that was deemed harassment.
00:09:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
And by driving by the property all the time, that's harassment. So it falls along the same line. Yes, you could post the 24 hour notice. Yes, you could gain access to the property. But why?
00:09:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
You're going to see something that's going to be upsetting to you. And then you're going to fester about it. Then you're going to drive by the property all the time to see if they're moving. No, it is what it is. It's done. Get them out, gain possession, fix then whatever needs to be done.
00:09:46
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, absolutely. yeah And then how she had mentioned that the judge made them start all over. Payment plans are absolutely a thing that you can do with your residence. It's something that if our owners approve it, we'll make arrangements.
00:10:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
If you accept a single dollar, a single penny, any kind of funds, you have to restart the whole process over again. So even if they say, I'll give you a hundred now and then I'll give you ah thousand later and you take the hundred and they never give you the thousand and you think you can just count that as day 10 or day 11 of whatever court process you're in, you can't.
00:10:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
You're back to day one. You're re-signing all of those previous court notices that you did. And paying for those. And paying for those servings. So i my belief is that a payment pant plan should occur if it can be honored within the time that it takes for those processings to be held. So right now in Vegas, start to finish, it's right around 45 days for a removal or granting possession back of a property.
00:10:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
So if they're offering you a payment plan within 45 days, consider it. Anything more than that, you're potentially having to put more money into starting those court process is over again. And I, if an owner says to me, Jenny, should I accept a payment plan?
00:11:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'm going to say no They signed that lease. They knew what they were getting in for. They are probably paying their cellular bill. They're probably paying other bills that they deem are more important because they think that by being the good tenant slash resident, they can go ahead and um make some partial payments and we'll accept them and the owner will be fine with it.
00:11:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
No. And this is the reason why. If they're going to get behind one month, they're going to keep getting behind and you are going to be chasing that rent.
00:11:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
I have seen it way too many times. I actually have not seen very many successful payment plans, to be honest. When an owner really does say, Jenny, I listen to you. I understand. However, i feel like, you know, I'm a Christian and I want to help this person. That's a lot what they say. I want to help this person.
00:12:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
And let's do a payment plan. They don't work, guys. They really don't. Would you agree with that, Ireland? my My statement is that if their payment plan does not have them caught up by the following month, then I absolutely agree with that.
00:12:15
Irelynn Zurflueh
I have, and the payment plans we do accept are usually, um i took a new job and now my paychecks have lapped by an extra week or things like that. And so they're saying,
00:12:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
I can take care of this within 20 days. I just need those 20 days. Those kind of payment plans are usually the only ones that will process. Anything where they're saying, well, I'll pay this much this month and then I'll make another payment next month.
00:12:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then they're not even factoring in the rent that's due for the next month. That's when there's an issue. But if they say I can have everything done by May 20th, and then pay my rent again on time June 1st, usually there's a little bit more.
00:12:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. And I don't even look at that as a payment plan. I look at that as maybe a delayed rent. That's delayed rent. A payment plan to me is, Hey, I'll pay a hundred now. I'll pay 300 next week. I'll pay 400 on Friday.
00:13:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
No, I don't need to be your payment plan. You signed a contract and you need to honor that contract. Yeah. Because if my owner and and you guys, you know, that are listening, if you're self-managing, you feel this, you can't go to your bank if you have a mortgage and say, oh, you know what? I didn't get my rent. Or your HOA. Or my HOA. And so I need another week.
00:13:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
I need another three No, no, no, no. This is what it is, yeah you know? So I have no problem whatsoever looking in the eyes of a tenant or resident and saying, no, payment plan is not offered.
00:13:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
Figure it out. Maybe go get a ah ah hard money loan, which is, i mean, ridiculous on the interest rate. yeah But if you really are telling me you can catch up, then go get that, bring us your rent and then get caught up yourself. I don't need to be the one that helps you get caught up.
00:14:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
And we know that we know that when we speak to owners like this who have found themselves in that position where they're months behind or they're chasing that money, most of the time it's because they have empathy.
00:14:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
And everyone in the universe universe, everyone in the world has empathy, we hope. And a lot of those owners, it's very possible for two people to sit and have a conversation and one to feel empathy for the other and and makeup you know, reasons or excuses, it's much harder to do that when you're speaking to ah company that's honoring a contract.
00:14:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
So it can be a little harsher, but that is truly what's going to benefit you is you as the owner don't have to have those conversations of I'm going through a really hard time and getting your ethos affected and and kind of used to their advantage because those phone calls are coming to a company instead. And the the one thing that is the big sentence that we always say does it honor the contract?
00:15:04
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because if it doesn't honor the contract, then it's unallowed. Yep. Because both parties signed that contract and said, we'll honor that contract, but it's both ways. It's us and it's you.
00:15:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
And that the properties we have taken on that have been self-managed, the worst ones are the ones that are the nicest owners, honestly. They listened to the excuses. They tried to help.
00:15:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
I even had an owner that literally helped somebody like a roommate or something move out of that house. I'm sure they were trying to do it to gain possession. And then as soon as that person moved out of the house, still nothing was honored that was agreed upon.
00:15:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
So yeah, I think it's just, if you are hearing the stories and you're, you're getting the excuses, just go back to the contract, the contracts, a contract and you know, you don't have to be the mean guy. You just have to be the person that says, look, we have to live by what you agree to. And then just stick to that.
00:15:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then I wanted to talk about which is the big issue that I find when we're in court and judges are listening to cases, the general public does not realize that when you finally get possession of the property,
00:16:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
If the resident has left anything in the property, even if you deem it as trash, like a couch that has been clawed by a cat and it's, it's nobody's going to want this couch, right?
00:16:29
Irelynn Zurflueh
But that couch is in the living room because the last resident left it there. You cannot get rid of it. You have to store it for 30 days. Right? days And you can store it inside the house and leave it there for the 30 days.
00:16:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
Or you can store it in the garage and leave it in the garage for 30 days if you want to do work on the interior of the house. Or... You can pay for a storage unit so the house can be completely vacant and you can do work on the entire house, but the cost of that storage unit, you you will have to pay for it.
00:17:04
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, so what we like to do if possible is we will put it in the garage if there is a garage and then we have to lock it. You have to make sure that's part of Nevada law. So Nevada law says that it has to be in a safe and locked environment. That's why a lot of people use a storage unit um If you have to keep it in the interior, then you can lock the house, but then you are limited to doing any of the rent ready stuff on the interior.
00:17:30
Irelynn Zurflueh
If you decide to do a storage unit, Nevada does allow you to charge the resident when they come to pick up their stuff, whatever the cost of the moving into the storage unit and the cost of the storage unit.
00:17:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
Now, the odds are if there's really nice furniture, nice things that they just, you know, got evicted by the constable really fast and they're going to want to come back for it, then that might be worth it.
00:17:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because you know that you're going to get them and they're going to pay whatever that amount is. But what I see more than anything is they're already in a hardship. That's why they didn't pay the rent. they're leaving the stuff they don't care about.
00:18:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
And they're letting you as the landlord pay for the disposal of it. And in Nevada, you must remember it is 30 days and there's something you have to do to prove the timeline.
00:18:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
You have to send out an actual letter that starts the timeline. So the day that letter is is is on there and postmarked, that is the start of your 30 days.
00:18:34
Irelynn Zurflueh
So like, let's take say today is the second, right? And I sent out that letter certified mail. And it's on the second. Now I can say 30 days from the second is when I have the ability to remove all of that personal belongings. I can just get rid of it, sell it, dispose it, garbage, whatever.
00:18:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
So just remember there are some specific actions that need to take place and specific timelines when it comes to that. Yeah. And it's a lot of, it's a lot of paperwork. It's a lot of admin work and it's knowing the ins and outs.
Navigating Property Management Expertise
00:19:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
And that's, That is knowledge that hopefully you can gain from a property management company because we're also speaking with people who sit on the board for the housing division.
00:19:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
We're talking to our servers who are in communication with the constable, who's in communication with the courts. Some of these laws that we're sharing weren't laws 10, 15 years ago. Not even four years ago. Not even four. There were a lot of things that changed during COVID because it was ah changing time.
00:19:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
And so it's important that if you're not going to have the resources of someone who's in the business daily, giving you that new knowledge that you keep up with that knowledge. And that's kind of where we go back to our pitch of, is this knowledge worth our monthly percentage?
00:19:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because when you start thinking about it, it I would say it is. Well, and I absolutely agree that when things are going right in a rental, it's easy, right?
00:20:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
You just, the you have a great resident, they pay the rent, the rent's on time, they call you if something is wrong, you get it fixed. I mean, most of the time, It's easy, but boy, when it's, when it goes off the rails, it goes off the rails fast.
00:20:28
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I have seen that the resident tenant doesn't get as damaged when it goes off the rails as the owner. The owner is the one who gets extremely damaged.
Real Estate as a Wealth Legacy
00:20:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I hate to see that because i am a believer that you build wealth by buying real estate.
00:20:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
I really do. It's in my heart. I have believed it since I was 18 years old. I have been a property owner since I'm 18 years old. So I do think that real estate is the way to leave a legacy and to build your wealth.
00:21:00
Irelynn Zurflueh
And when things go off the rails, that's usually when more emotions show up. oh And when more when more emotions show up, that's when more... mistakes or errors or conflicts happen.
00:21:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
Or knee-jerk reactionjerk reactions. Knee-jerk reactions. Decision making that was abrupt and quick. So there's definitely something to be said. Yes, a lot of what we've shared has been worst case scenario. And even with us, we're only dealing with maybe 1% of our portfolio falling into this category of us taking them to the courts and having to deal with this.
00:21:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
But that is still 1%. That's still, it's still happening monthly and you don't want to have to, you don't want to find yourself relying on your emotions to make your decisions when something like that happens.
00:21:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
occurs. And especially when our median home price right now in in Nevada is about $480,000. So that property is possibly worth $480,000 or more, maybe just a little less depending on what it is.
00:22:03
Irelynn Zurflueh
That's a lot of money and that's going to that's gonna spark a lot of emotion. That's going to spark a lot of emotion when somebody's doing damage to your $480,000 property.
00:22:14
Irelynn Zurflueh
yeah so But those are some of the things that I just wanted the general public to kind of think about. We're always available to answer questions. i I am one of those that I've been in the business so long. I don't want anyone to get hurt.
00:22:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
If you want, if you're in a so situation and you want um my opinion on it, happy to give it. ah You don't have to be part of McKenna Property Management for me to to give you my advice.
00:22:38
Irelynn Zurflueh
So always feel free to call the office and we're here to help. But I just really wanted to make sure that if you are self-managing, these are a couple of things that you want to watch out for.
00:22:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. So yeah, if you do have any questions, feel free to give us a call. And if you like the advice that you hear and you're learning something you want to keep learning, then follow and listen along next week.
00:23:01
Irelynn Zurflueh
And subscribe so you never miss Ireland and Jenny. yeah Thoughts for Rent. Realtors keeping it real. Bye guys.