Bed Bugs - Heat Treatment vs. Pesticide Treatment

We are often asked about the difference between heat treatment and pesticide treatment. Here is a side by side comparison of a heat treatment, and a typical pesticide treatment for bed bugs:

Pesticide Treatment	Heat Treatment
30 Minute-2 hour process	6-8 hour process
Minuimum 2 services; potential 3 or more!	One Service
Bed Bug eggs not killed	100% eliminated
Bed Bugs in walls not killed	100% eliminated
Bed bugs in furniture not killed	100% eliminated
Bed Bugs in clutter not killed	100% eliminated
Intense preparation required by tenants	Minimal preparation required by tenants
Residual pesticides left in affected areas	No toxic chemicals used

 (Thank you to our friends at Assured Thermal Solutions of Vancouver for the statistics contained in this chart.)

 

The "H" Word; Is Your Tenant A Hoarder? - A Two Part Blog Series

Part Two

The Issue
In our industry, whether or not someone has this mental illness is not the issue; what landlords need to worry about is the potential for harm when someone accumulates a large amount of clutter in his or her rental unit.

If another tenant or neighbour complains and accuses one of your tenants of being a hoarder, how should you respond?  Your first step is to do a routine inspection of the rental unit. Once inside, answer two questions; a) would emergency responders be able to get into and move around in the rental unit, and/or does the clutter represent a fire hazard, and b) is there the potential for (or are there already) sanitary, hygiene and/or insect or rodent infestation issues?

If the door to the unit won't fully open without the assistance of someone on the other side, or there is no way to move from room to room once inside, then the tenant is jeopardizing his or her own safety and potentially the safety of other occupants of the property. As an example, a 79-year-old woman died in a fire at her Washington row house when her hoarding held back firefighters from reaching her in time.

If the rental unit could not be considered to meet reasonable health, cleanliness and sanitary standards, this is a breach of both a material term of the tenancy agreement and the Residential Tenancy Act by the tenant. A rental unit in this condition could also lead to a pest infestation, putting the interests of other occupants at risk as their units could also become infested - especially if the amount of possessions in the infested rental unit is such that a pest control operator could not successfully apply treatments.

In the end, the issue is not whether or not your tenant is a capital-H hoarder or has or doesn’t have a mental illness; what you need to establish is whether or not there is potential for the quiet enjoyment or safety of the tenant and other residents to be affected.

-- Carly Ludwar

The "H" Word; Is Your Tenant A Hoarder? - A Two Part Blog Series

Part One

The subject of ongoing curiosity, at least two reality TV shows, and the character of Oscar the Grouch, hoarders are again in the spotlight after a recent article in the Globe and Mail about a BC landlord who evicted a hoarding tenant.

Members often call into the office, identifying their tenants as hoarders. But, unless that landlord's day job is to diagnose mental illnesses, how does s/he know that the tenant has this disorder?    The term "hoarder" has become yet another word that is now commonplace in our industry, such as "renoviction" and "slumlord." So how do you assess whether or not your tenant is a real life hoarder, or a simple, every-day collector of stuff?

The Definition

While there is no clear definition of compulsive hoarding in diagnostic criteria, the most suitable description would be "the excessive acquisition of possessions (and failure to use or discard them), even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary." There is emerging evidence from mental health professionals that compulsive hoarding is, in fact, a mental illness. Having said that, it would still be difficult to establish whether your tenant could actually have this mental illness, or simply has a large amount of possessions. Dr. Front, a Smith College psychology professor, made a good observation: "When the accumulation of stuff interferes with their ability to live, or causes significant distress; that's the breaking point between hoarding as a [chosen] behavior, and hoarding as a disorder."

Quoted in the above article, Dr. Frost describes several varieties of hoarders: there’s the info junkie who stockpiles documents, the guilt-ridden collector who hates to waste anything, and another who feels an intense, emotional attachment to possessions. Objects are of great value to hoarders - even when they appear to be junk, and they fear losing a part of themselves along with a discarded item.

--Carly Ludwar

Fill Your Vacancies

Vacancy rates have gone up in many communities across the province, and landlords have had to deal with this in interesting ways. The easiest way to fill your empty units - with little effort - is to have your existing tenants refer their friends and colleagues. If you have a great building in a fantastic location, your vacancy should rent itself and your tenants should want to refer people they know.

But no matter how amazing your building is, in this market a little incentive can certainly help. Some landlords have incentive referral programs where the person who makes the referral receives something small like a gift card to a nearby coffee shop. Most buildings that have this kind of program have simple rules about what qualifies as a referral; for example, the referred applicant has to actually be accepted and move into the building.

A referral incentive program is not just a great way to fill your vacancies; it is a way to make your apartment building a community that people want to live in and stay in - further reducing your vacancies. Remember to make it fun!

 -- Carly Ludwar and Hunter Boucher

Interest Rates on Deposits

As we covered in our series on deposits there is interest on both pet damage deposits and security deposits and it is very easy to figure out how much the interest is using the Residential Tenancy Branch interest calculator on their site. The real question here is how do they figure out the percentage each year?

We have to search in the Residential Tenancy Regulations for this answer. Regulation 4 in part 1 states that the interest paid on deposits is 4.5% below the prime lending rate of the principal banker to the Province on the first day of each calendar year, compounded annually. What does this mean for you? Unless the prime rate exceeds 4.5%, there will continue to be no interest payable on security deposits for tenancies that began after January 1, 2009.


-- Hunter Boucher and Al Kemp

Friday, October 28th

This date needs to be marked in your calendar!

Why? Because it's the date of ROMS BC's Associate Members Trade Show, Annual General Meeting, and [the first ever] Trivia Night! Once again being held at the beautiful Crystal Garden in downtown Victoria, BC.

From 4:00 until 6:00, join us for our formal Associate members trade show. Nearly 30 exhibitors will be excited to tell you about new products and incentives. In addition, there are multiple Associate member product demonstrations and informative workshops. This portion of the event is free to attend for ROMS BC members and their guests.

At 6:30, we will have a gourmet dinner catered by the Fairmont Empress Hotel. This will be followed by our [brief!] Annual General Meeting. The early bird registration cost to attend dinner and the evening that follows is $54.95 per person for ROMS BC members and their guests.

Beginning at 8:00 will be Trivia Night. Replacing the Casino Night of the past three years, Trivia Night gives you the opportunity to reconnect with Associate members - while having a great time! Each booth will have questions from one of seven categories; geography, entertainment, history, arts and literature, science and nature, sports and leisure, or BC's residential rental industry. Each question will be timed, and in order to fill all the pieces of your "cake," you'll need to visit every booth. And if you get the answer correct at any booth, you'll win ROMS BUCKS!

At 9:45, Trivia Night will be over. At this point, all members and their guests will come down to the prize auction, where ROMS BUCKS are used to "purchase" fabulous prizes. And if you don't win any ROMS BUCKS? No worries; there will also be door prize draws.

If this sounds like your kind of evening, watch your mailbox and inbox for more information!

-- AdviserToTheAdvisers

HST Referendum

How do we get past the emotion and vote on the facts? Some things to consider:

> HST hurts the residential rental industry because we pay tax on more items than we did with the PST, and can claim no input credits.
> If HST is repealed, it will cost BC taxpayers $1.6 billion in repayments to the federal government.
> When HST was implemented, about 400 provincial government jobs transferred to the federal government. Will those positions return to the BC government and have to be paid for by BC taxpayers if HST is repealed?
> HST is a more efficient tax; it costs less for businesses to administer.

ROMS BC isn't advocating yes or no, but we do advocate that you exercise your right to vote. And because of Canada Post's lockout, voting deadlines have been extended; if you haven't received your voting package, you need to request it by midnight on July 22nd, and you must mail your voting card before 5:00 pm on August 5th.

Remember; "NO" means keep the HST and "YES" means repeal it.

ROMS BC's 3rd Annual Charity Golf Tournament

Join us Friday, June 24th at the Royal Oak Golf Club in Victoria to golf nine holes; either in a foursome package (to golf with whomever you choose), or individually or as a couple (with fellow members or Associate members). We will golf in a scramble format, taking the best ball each shot.

Then head inside for drinks, a gourmet buffet dinner and team and individual prizes - not to mention great company. Whether you've golfed once, twice, 100 times or never, we guarantee you'll have a good time - all for a good cause!

Sign up as:

An individual golfer: this includes green fees, one dinnerticket, and a $30 tax receipt for your donation.

- $89 per person

A foursome team: this includes green fees for four people,four dinner tickets, and four $30 tax receipts for donations.

- $329 per team of four

Registration: 11:30 - 12:45

Pre-round golf fitness: 12:00 & 12:30

Tee time: 1:00

Dinner and prizes: approximately 5:30

To sign up or make a donation to the Next Steps Transitional Shelter, call the ROMS BC office at 250.382.6324 or 1.888.330.6707, or go to golf2011.speedsurvey.com.

Lower Rent?

It’s not something you hear about in the news, but Landlords have hearts too! With the current economic downturn, people are facing a scary world that threatens our basic needs. People are forced to choose between shelter and food or paying the gas bill, and landlords are not immune to this either. Most have normal day jobs that are just as fragile as everyone else's, but some are in a position to help where they can. Tenants are asking for rent reductions, generally for a couple of months while they get back on their feet. It is not expected that every landlord should reduce their rents, but there are some who can and will. The question is not whether or not you should do this; it's up to each individual landlord. This is something that only you can decide, but how to properly help these people without permanently affecting your income is something to be cautious of.

Should you find that you are willing and able to do what you can to help, be sure to adhere to these rules. In a perfect world, you could just tell your tenant that they can pay $100 less for three months, shake hands, and in three months you would have your standard rent again, but unfortunately this isn’t the case. Its not a perfect world; it’s a paper world that has correct procedures and regulations, but its surprisingly easy and quick to help out your tenants. The easiest method is to offer a "rent rebate." In this case, the tenant pays you the whole amount of their rent, and you pay them back the amount you choose. By using this method the rent paid is still the original amount, thus eliminating you being stuck with low rent in the future.

-- Staff and AdviserToTheAdvisers

"Green" Apartment Living

Living an apartment does not always lend itself to a green lifestyle. Rules and regulation with large buildings often prevent people from making those decisions that might be beneficial to the environment, but landlords can do their part and make life a little bit easier without much strain on themselves and the building:

1. Many people like to bike to work, but most don’t have a place to store their bicycle. Bringing bikes into apartment units can track in dirt and take up space, and most buildings don’t want bikes left in the hallway or in patio areas. A simple solution is to have a designated bicycle storage area on the main floor or outside. Bikes don’t take up a lot of space and tenants are still responsible for the security of their own bike.

2. Most apartment buildings have at least one garbage can in the entry common area, but few make the effort to put in a recycling bin as well. If there is a recycling bin at the entrance to your building, it will hopefully encourage your tenants to be "green" as well as reduce the amount of garbage you have to deal with.

3. The Cancer Society, Saint Vincent De Paul and Big Brother Big Sister all pick up donations of clothes and household goods, making it simple to have your clothes re- used by people less fortunate. Living in an large building puts a bit of a "kink" in the system as bags of clothing in a common area will become unsightly. A way to solve this problem and promote donations is to designate one day every couple of months that is designated as a "donation day" for a specific cause.

4. Many apartment buildings don't have space for a standard composter, but that doesn't mean your tenants can't take part! The first option for composting in small units is called vermi composting, and yes - it is a bin of worms! This is becoming more and more popular as the bins don't take up much space and it is a very fast way to turn your organic waste into rich soil. The second option is simple; you need a bucket, soil and oxygen... All you will need to do is put two or three tablespoons of rich, moist soil into your bucket, and you are ready to compost! If you choose to compost only natural waste (vegetables, fruit and coffee and tea grinds), simply mix the contents of the bucket (gently) and you will eventually end up with a scent-free compost under your sink.

For more tips and ideas, watch for April/May's "Green" Top Storey.

-- Staff and AdviserToTheAdvisers

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog – information for and dialogue among BC’s residential landlords. What question do you have? What’s your pet peeve as a landlord? How do you find – and keep – good renters?

LandlordMentor and AdviserToTheAdvisers have many answers and – like any good mentors or advisors – are always learning more.

Who is LandlordMentor? He is CEO of the Rental Owners and Managers Society of BC for 11 years, previously corporate real estate executive, labour negotiator, human resources professional and – in the dark ages – RCMP Officer.

Who is AdviserToTheAdvisers? She is the Member Service Manager, in the service industry for nearly 10 years, who is in charge of all advice and service that leaves the ROMS BC office.

"Can I pay you on the 23rd? I just bought a new laptop and it cost a little more than I thought. Sorry."

"Man, is it a new month already? Wow."

Do you have to put up with these excuses – and the more creative ones? In a word, NO! Rent is due on the first of the month; that doesn’t mean the second! You can issue a Notice to End Tenancy on the second and your renter then has five calendar days to pay the full rent, or move out!

Want to learn more? Go to www.romsbc.com or post here.
Happy Day!

-- LandlordMentor