Multifamily Owners: How will you process rent break requests from tenants?
1)How do you decide if you should provide a rent break to a tenant or not?

2) How do you determine how much of a break to offer and appropriate repayment terms?  

3) What due diligence are you performing to confirm “hardship” and determine how much the tenant can afford to pay?
[{"id": "fmor2yu", "text": "We aren't providing \"breaks\", you're still bound to the terms of your lease, but we are offering payment plans. \n\n1) We offer hardship assistance to anyone who asks\n\n2) We are willing to defer the entire month. However, we're encouraging our tenants to pay as much as they can afford so that they don't end up owing huge payments down the line. We're using the NAA payment plan form.\n\n3) We're asking for layoff letters/unemployment filings. But in our state the UE system is so backed up it will take weeks to get the data. Generally, I'm trusting that my tenants understand that if they don't pay this debt back, I'm sending them to a collections agency and that those who can pay will because they don't want to wreck their credit or chances of leasing another apartment.", "replies": [{"id": "fmp7lp1", "text": "What is the NAA form?", "replies": [{"id": "fmp9tsh", "text": "NAA has an approved payment plan form available on their website.", "replies": [{"id": "fmpbw8u", "text": "This -- https://www.naahq.org/coronavirus-guidance/payment-plan-agreement-and-notice-temporary-waiver-late-fees", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "fmpddax", "text": "That\u2019s fucking lame, any landlord that has a heart would be giving you a break on this month, not just deferring, cheap fuckin landlords", "replies": [{"id": "fmpj1sg", "text": "Give me $1500 now. You can send me paypal.\n\nNo? Cheap fuckin person.\n\nSeriously, why do you feel entitled to other people's money? If you do, then please give me YOUR money cause I am entitled to it.\n\nLandlords still have expenses like mortgages, taxes, maintenance,  etc. So you really could be taking money out of their pocket just like I want you to send me any money you have.", "replies": [{"id": "fmpjl43", "text": "Fuckin cheapo, karma will come back and get you", "replies": [{"id": "fmtusb1", "text": "And creditkarma is gonna get you (with your bad credit).", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "fmpv8ue", "text": "Any employer that has a heart would still keep paying you even if you're not working.  Any customers that have hearts would still keep sending money to your employers even if you're not providing products or services.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "fmtprtj", "text": "not including any mortgage they may have, most landlords pay between 30%-70% depending on a lot of stuff, of your rent in just expenses.  \n\nSo pick a number in that range and multiply it by how many units your landlord has.  That number isn't how much hes out from the lost rent, its how much he has to come out of pocket just to keep things operating.  \n\nI'm sure they'd be glad to take your check and give everyone a free month if you are feeling that generous ;)", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fmow9iz", "text": "The apartment owners association has a podcast today addressing this exact question. Starts at 10 am pt\n\n\nhttps://aoausa.com/livestream/", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fmozr36", "text": "NMHC put out good guidance on this. \n\nFor our MF portfolio we are waiving all late fees, providing partial payment plans and rent deferal for people with a demonstrated need. We aren\u2019t allowing people to break leases / skip, and are explicit about the impact non-payment has on your credit score - just because you can\u2019t be evicted right now doesn\u2019t mean you can stop paying and get a free ride, that is going to get sent to collections and your credit score is hosed. Interestingly across our nearly portfolio of MF with tens of thousands of units our collections were ~90% in first 5 days which is inline with historic averages. \n\nOur approach generally has been to work with people if they come to us with their issue - we are looking to work with people and keep them in their apartments and appreciate that this is likely a short term issue. \n\nAlso rent break is bad - there\u2019s no velocity on new lease side so you need to do everything you can to keep people in place. Think 0% increases on renewals.", "replies": [{"id": "fmqow32", "text": "Do you have a template to share which you've used to lay out the rules of the road for your tenants?", "replies": [{"id": "fmr1px5", "text": "Sure, we\u2019ve sent letters to all of our tenants outlining the policies and procedures for (1) community / staff interaction (2) policies for rent workout. We\u2019ve also sent out letters to our residents explaining all of the benefits under CARES and how they can access the federal funds available. \n\nOur stuff is generally in-line with the policies put out by NMHC, I think off top of my head their landlord recommendations are available at NMHC.org/covid19 or something like that. They published a pretty solid best practices guideline with input from a ton of operators and PE funds; I\u2019m pretty sure you can get it even if you\u2019re not a member.\n\nEDIT - sorry just realized you asked for a template - sorry I can\u2019t share anything with you it\u2019s proprietary for our MF assets. Check NMHC for resources.", "replies": [{"id": "fmr4bhm", "text": "Thank you, even this additional insight is helpful! Stay safe", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "fmtpaov", "text": "&gt; Interestingly across our nearly portfolio of MF with tens of thousands of units our collections were ~90% in first 5 days which is inline with historic averages.\n\nDo you know about what % applied for deferal out of that 10%?", "replies": [{"id": "fmu9rwg", "text": "~5%", "replies": [{"id": "fmvzmjx", "text": "Thx", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fmp2tck", "text": "1. We work with people if they ask via email.\n\n2. We eliminated late fees up to 120 days if needing assistance .\n\n3.  Rent is attached to the last month if they cannot catch up.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "fmpv1lt", "text": "Very few rent increases right now.  \n\nTenant reaching out before they are late counts for a lot.  They need to have a plan - e.g. my job shut down, but I'll be able to pay as soon as unemployment comes in - OK.  \n\nFortunately no one has said they won't be able to pay at all or can only make partial payment, just a few delayed payments.  I think this could get a lot worse before it gets better, but we'll see.  None of our properties qualify for mortgage deferral, and I'm not sure if applying would have a negative impact/make us look like less stellar borrowers when we want to refinance or get a new loan for something else, so hoping not to have to ask.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]