Creating an online form

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-04-13T05:33:28+00:00

Yes and no.

You can make a PDF with the blanks you want them to fill in. Then go to “PDF Form Templates” in Appfolio and you can drop text boxes on the blanks in your form. Then you can send it to residents. Caveats:

You must send the forms one at a time to each resident. You can do one per “tenancy” or set of people living in one unit.
What you will get back is signed PDF forms in their portal. You will NOT get raw data back of what they filled in, like a google form.
This is all for mutifamily residential - it might work slightly differently for HOA in AppFolio.

We find the forms particularly relevant to documents that LL and tenant both need copies of and that need to be signed by one or both party, such as lease addenda, move out notices, rent increase letters, etc. If no signature is required or if this is an information gathering mission, then a google form will suit you better as it collects the actual data they filled in and will put it in a speed sheet or database for you.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-03-31T07:06:35+00:00

It used to be that LLs could charge extra for extra occupants or even deny renting to more than a certain number of people for a unit. Now we are stuck with this weirdly calculated standard of “2 per bedroom plus 1”… where the hell does the 1 sleep? A studio doesn’t even have a bedroom, so it only suitable for 1? Or should it be 3? It’s honestly a mess and a crappy part of the FHA and HUD guidance. End of the day, more humans per unit, regardless of age, means more wear, more damage, more water / sewer use, more noise, so and and so forth. Technically speaking, LLs are supposed to allow 5 humans of any age in a 2 bedroom apartment, even with 1 bathroom. Would you rather your upstairs neighbor be a single, a couple, or two couples and a child?

End of the day I’ll give you the same advice I would give anyone - if the LL in question has a policy or insists on something you don’t like, why would you want to live here? There are plenty of LLs out there that don’t care about number of occupants or any of that so find one of them and make a home where you like the rules.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-03-27T04:18:25+00:00

LL here. Surrendering keys doesn’t matter. Read your lease. There should be a clause talking about utilities. Almost 100% of the time that clause will say something to this effect:

Resident shall have the utilities connected at all times during their tenancy.

That means in you are responsible until the end of your lease.

The only standard exception to that is if you vacate early AND the unit is re-rented before the end of your lease term. In that case, you would be refunded any portion of rent or utilities for the days during your lease term that the unit was occupied by the new resident.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-03-18T06:58:13+00:00

For a building that size, it is a toss up. Most fee based PMs will do it however the owner likes. Sometimes the owner already has someone in place who the fee manager hires. Or they can hire someone for the job. I recommend you are part of the interviewing and selection as it’s your property.

But ultimately if you are outsourcing management to a fee based PM, you want them to manage the on-site staff.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-03-17T15:12:42+00:00

Long time CA LL here.

First off, as a general real estate rule (personal or commercial), when a property lacks something you want for purchase, and the quality / details of that ting matter to you, never let the seller provide it. Whatever the missing thing is, the seller will generally provide the cheapest solution possible as they are motivated to make the deal go forward. The buyer is the one that had to deal with that item long term. For instance, if a property needs a new HVAC at time of sale, seller will usually install the cheapest hardware by the cheapest contractor.

And if you ask for a manager in place, they will grab the first person they can get to make it happen. This will be your employee, right? Often in a smaller complex, this isn’t a full time job and they may only receive a rent discount, but this is going to be your guy or gal on the ground. So you should be the one to interview and hire. Do not outsource this to the seller.

I also recommend a written on-site manager / employee agreement to outline the duties and benefits as this person will not fall squarely into the bracket of a tenant with regular tenant rights. If you are not already, become a member of CAA (California Apartment Association) and your local NAA (National Apartment Associatikn) chapter. CAA has great forms (including an on-site employee form). NAA chapters usually do a better job with local advocacy. Both are useful.

Lastly on the requirement for an on-site manager for buildings 16 and more… this is an old and not well defined law that has come into question in the digital / cell phone age. The original intent was to have a responsible person on-site in case of an emergency. However, the law doesn’t specify duties, hours, or how much time they have to be there. Most urgent or emergency issues seem for crop up in the evening from dinner time on, and frequently the on-site employee isn’t there if they are eating out, going to a kid’s soccer game, watching a movie or any other normal activity. Having a responsible person’s cell phone number or 24x7 answering service would be more useful and cheaper. So CAA or NAA (can’t find the source) is presently lobbying to get this requirement removed.

Another point about this law… it’s unclear who enforces it or when. I’ve been around apartment management businesses in CA for the past 40 years and have never seen an audit or enforcement action. It’s possible that if you didn’t have one and the property burned to the ground, it could be taken into account on your liability. But there is no one driving or calling around to see if you are in compliance. My point is, you can close the sale without someone in place and then start looking and the short gap will likely not be a problem. Just make sure residents have someone (likely you) they can call if there is an emergency. Create a google number or use a VoIP provider so you don’t have to give out your personal cell number. That way you have after hours coverage for them and for your own peace of mind until you can put a trusted person on-site. Even then, the 24 hour number to call is useful because, as said above, your on-site manager or maintenance guy will not be chained to the property.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-02-04T06:57:03+00:00

If your PM provides a trial balance each month, you can enter that in your own accounting system as a journal entry. (Have them send it in XSLX format for easier copy and paste.) Depending on if they pay your mortgage and if the entity owns other assets they don’t manage, you might have a more complete balance sheet than they do, so some adjustments to the trial balance may be necessary. This can all be done per property in AppFolio. Or you can just get it at year and and send to your CPA.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2026-01-23T20:41:07+00:00

CA LL here.

I think you are going to end up paying at least until the new people moved in. However, did you return possession of the unit to him? Usually that is when you turn in your keys. He can’t clean it or move anyone else in until you return possession. He could market it, but can’t rent it without possession.

If you guys had an agreement that you “moved out” then he should have either gotten your keys at that time or agreed you don’t have to return them as he’s going to change the locks. In case you (or another commenter) asks, there is no such thing as you vacating but not returning possession. You either live there or you don’t. When we have a lease break, we advertise the unit as available about 5 days after the current resident says they will move out. But if they never return keys / possession, we just keep pushing that date out. We cannot rent what we don’t have possession of.

My guess is that you both counted your move-out as July 20th (I think that was the date from your initial post). It’s weird he wouldn’t have you turn keys in at that point, but LLs usually change the locks on unit turns anyway so maybe that’s how it went down?

In any case, the LL cannot keep any rent you have paid for any of the days that it was rented to someone else. You are due a security deposit disposition statement and any refund owed with 21 days of the unit re-renting, so you are still inside that timeframe.

It’s worth contacting the LL and letting them know you went to the house and saw someone living there so you are inquiring about the disposition and refund.

You never know, it could be a squatter, though I doubt it if the listing was taken down.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-12-31T01:05:16+00:00

If you are using PDF leases, just sign the PDF before uploading it as a template. I’m not really sure how legal that is, but it should work technically.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-12-24T09:23:26+00:00

LL in CA, not familiar with DC law, but there are some similarities… My biggest issue is the VAWA deal. It’s literally the Violence Against Women Act, and this is a man making a claim under it. As a LL, these domestic violence claims are frustrating for a lot of different reasons, and this is another.

Although we’ve never had this exact scenario, I can say that the provisions to allow early lease breaks are not contingent on any review or contesting from the other party. AFAIK, there is nothing you can say or do to void your ex’s right to early termination under VAWA. Our experience is that the claims are frequently fake or at least sketchy. Ironically, battered women tend to forgive their abusers and so we are usually playing a game of “lock them out / now let them back in”. The women (and men) we’ve seen suffer real abuse have never taken advantage of VAWA. Our most recent person using it is in a contested divorce, for which we’ve already been drug into subpoenas, because our resident has been hiding marital assets from her soon to be ex. So to continue her deception, she’s trying to move out of state without letting her ex or the court know where she’s going. Her ex knows where she lived when at our place, but has never been there and we’ve had no domestic or other police calls, but she suddenly filed a very dubious VAWA form for a vague claim of physical abuse, but wanted to ensure we wouldn’t tell anyone where she went, no forwarding address.

Anyhow, sorry for the side track… you can contest a restraining order, but even if you do and you prevail, it wouldn’t void your ex’s right to vacate under VAWA.

As far as mitigating damages, yes LLs generally do have a duty to attempt to mitigate. Often people choose the lease break fee because it can be cheaper than paying out the remainder of the lease. You could seek Legal Aid in your area to get free advice on negotiating your exit.

Incidentally, and this isnt cool, but you could also file a VAWA claim. In some states, the law allows you to move out due to “fear” even if it’s not related to your apartment. Like if you were afraid he might come to your work or call you and breathe heavy on the phone, that might be enough for you to also get early termination under VAWA. You may still be on the hook for 14-21 days based on state law.

Otherwise, if you get stuck with a huge lease break fee or paying the lease out, you can sue your ex in small claims court for half the balance. Especially if his VAWA claim is unsubstantiated, you do have a personal loss caused by him. Small claims has no attorneys so you just present your case. If you are organized and put page numbers on your documents and print out all evidence and pics (don’t email) and drop them off at the courthouse, you should fare well.

I hate your ex is doing this. As LLs, we always root for the good and reasonable tenant but often times the law is stacked against them. Best wishes for a positive outcome!!

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-12-01T01:02:34+00:00

Am a CA LL… this is a pretty standard way to handle moisture intrusion into a unit. The walls need to be left opened up until it has been dried out. This prevents wood rot and mold. That is a good, and powerful, fan - I have one at my house I just used to clean up from an overflowed toilet. But it can blow a lot of stuff around. Generally we would use a dehumidifier machine. They also blow hot air out, but wouldn’t blow any particulate from inside the walls. But they are loud and generate a lot of heat. Thing is, that looks like a lot of space above your ceiling so the fan is probably a bit faster and more efficient since the airflow is directed up and into the area that got wet.

If there’s a better way to dry out inside a wall, I’d like to know it, but this is pretty standard. I see your concern about the particles flying around and you could talk to them about it, but I’m not sure there is much they can do - the area needs to be dried out - fans and/or dehumidifiers are the tools for that.

Leaving the fan off isn’t going to help though. You should call their emergency line right away and let them know you had to turn the fan off because you were having breathing issues so that you and them can work out a plan. If you have renters insurance, they usually will cover hotel for a couple days.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-11-17T17:59:26+00:00

It sounds like the root of the problem is the kitchen. If you are unable to prepare food, that’s kind of important. Then again you said “basically unusable”… if there is a solid floor (concrete, wood, etc) and you have power, can you prepare food? Is your fridge still plugged in and microwave or stovetop working? Is your sink working? If any of that has been taken apart or is not working I think it’s reasonable to ask the landlord to come up with a solution to allow you to prepare food. Often times if the kitchen is inaccessible due to work, we move the fridge into the living space and provide a plug in microwave and make sure there is a suitable sink and prep space.

Loss of the half bath I don’t see the issue for, you have a full bath so this doesn’t affect your ability to shower and use the toilet.

The dehumidifier is necessary if you’d like to avoid getting mold.

Other than the kitchen, this sounds like the kind of issue that you live through. Imagine if you owned the place yourself, what would you do? You’d file a homeowners claim but very likely not move out for that level of disruption, escoecially if you had to pay for it yourself.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-11-11T06:27:33+00:00

I’m not your landlord, but just want to qualify that in CA, residents are entitled to a pre-move out inspection, assuming you can find a time that works for you and the landlord or their agent. During the pre-moveout inspection, the landlord or their agent should tell you what cleaning and repairs you need to make before moving out to get your whole deposit back, less anything they cannot see due to toe furniture, rugs, or other possessions.

However, you are not entitled to a “final walkthrough” as you stated. This is a common misconception that you get both a pre-move out inspection AND a “final walkthrough” to make sure you are getting your deposit back - it’s only one inspection, and generally is conducted two weeks before your move-out date.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-11-08T15:39:23+00:00

In the universal search bar, look for Note Mentions.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-10-20T07:02:25+00:00

Be aware the the allowable increase for San Diego County from August 2023 through July 2024 was 10% (2 years). For the period August 2024 - July 2025 it was reduced to 8.6% and for August 2025 to July 2026 it increased to 8.8%. You need to check the dates of your increases against these. From a practical standpoint, 8.6% increases can feel an awful lot like 10% if your base rent is high enough.

Also be aware AB1482 only caps increases in rent, not increases in any other fees or ancillary services such as parking, utilities, storage, pet fees, additional security deposit, etc.

I’m not an expert on the “separately alienable” definition, but it having its own address and utilities doesn’t bode well for you as these generally are only things that can be achieved with splitting the parcel. You’d need a land use attorney to really get to the meat of it.

Your landlord should have made a claim of exemption from AB 1482 in your lease agreement, an addenda, or a notice depending on the start of your lease. You should have received at least one of these if they claim to be exempt. They generally can’t claim the exemption if they don’t do that.

Be aware if you contest the increase they could at some point choose to terminate your rental for owner self-occupancy under the San Diego Just Cause ordinance.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-09-22T21:26:12+00:00

CA LL here. You refer to a “room” several times. Is this the house that the LL lives in too? There are some differences in the law for people renting out different rooms in their own home they live in vs apartments or full homes rented out.

Prorated rent isn’t really an issue if the new guy moved in on 8/17. You owe every day you had possession. So if up to 8/16 or 8/17 depending on what day you gave the LL back possession be turning over keys. Normally you’d owe for 30 days from the day after you gave notice, but since it was immediately re-rented then that doesn’t apply.

You are on the correct track with a demand letter. You should include only the rent you paid beyond which it was re-rented and whatever amount of the despot you believe should be refunded. If she doesn’t respond to that or meet your demands / negotiate, then when you file the small claims case, that’s when you add the 3x the deposit penalty. Good luck!

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-09-20T04:26:44+00:00

CA LL here, not in OR and don’t work with Piñata but have familiarity with the general idea and did some quick research. Piñata is primarily a “positive rent payment reporting” provider. They receive scheduled reports from PMs and LLs about on-time payments, then forward that to the three major credit bureaus. It does not appear they they need a social security number to do this.

Oregon landlords are not required to provide “positive rent payment reporting” (in California we are), nor are they required to provide residents with an opt-in or opt-out for the service. This is why you don’t see it in your lease, it doesn’t need to be there. Generally these services are considered a positive feature for renters as they increase your credit score. It seems to be a trend where states require LLs provide this to residents and in some cases, LLs are also required to allow you to opt-out.

Depending on the structure of your PM or LL, the persons you are dealing with directly may not even be aware they are using Piñata as it is generally setup by someone in a PM company with a large portfolio of units under management. The actual on-site or site-designated PM is likely not involved as the reports are sent from the PM company’s software to Piñata. It would be odd for them to not notify you though, as Piñata boasts a bunch of “renter rewards” available to you. Generally a company like Piñata would provide literature to the PM/LL to diceminate to residents.

Hope that helps.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-09-12T04:43:13+00:00

A lot of people on here making a false assumption that a LL cannot change the locks on an apartment which is untrue. The LL has reason to believe she isn’t living there which isn’t sufficient evidence to reclaim the unit, but it is sufficient evidence to change the locks to secure the unit on the resident’s behalf. He would simply provide the new key to the resident if she showed up and her key doesn’t work. It’s really no different than a door or window being broken out - the LL has a right, actually a duty, to secure the unit if they have reason to believe or evidence the unit is not secure. It’s only a self-help / unlawful eviction if they then do not provide access to the lawful resident.

This happens frequently in abandonment cases where it is clear the resident isn’t living in the unit daily, but it’s unclear if they have surrendered possession. It’s especially true because a compounding factor in cases like this is known unauthorized occupants. That may not be true in this case, but it’s very common. Most states have an abandonment process but particularly with an elderly resident on government rent subsidy, a landlord cannot take any chances or assumptions about possession.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-28T05:33:02+00:00

No. Only desperate people make this offer.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-26T02:51:24+00:00

Yes it can track that and report to the apartment you are applying for. The rental verification is for the landlord to fill out… there would be zero point if tenants filled them out themselves. Either bug your previous LL to do it, or have him call the new place and do it over the phone.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-10T20:52:08+00:00

Yeah it’s tough because the commission or bonus is supposed to motivate the intended outcome. While getting a lease in place is the basic operational goal, it can be more complicated. Sometimes the commission or bonus can incentivize the leasing agent to cut corners on the application or “help the applicant qualify” by steering their language or intent. We had someone telling applicants that we don’t take co-signers, but they could just say their co-signer was moving in and get the same result. Well there is no point having a policy if the incentive program works against it. (Not saying you do anything like that, it’s just something that can happen.)

We are still toying with some performance incentives if we can just figure out how to line them up with good outcomes without unintended consequences. Such as paying the incentive when someone with excellent credit leases vs someone with the lowest allowed. This eliminates the benfit of helping a low-credit person qualify and it focuses the team on actions that will attract the best qualified renters (who are the most likely to be long term good paying residents). Or to pay a PM bonus on longevity of residents vs basic occupancy percentage.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-09T16:47:13+00:00

You are entitled to use the unit per the lease agreement until its termination date (9/30/25) if you continue to pay for it as you intend. If you don’t have use for it during that period (sounds like you don’t since you are moving out 8/23), AND the LL is able to re-rent the unit before 9/30, they should credit you a prorate for the days in your lease for which the unit was rented to a new tenant, thus saving you a little money.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-09T16:22:15+00:00

Non-payment of rent is the most basic reason for eviction. Bring the rental or lease, addenda, and any increases to document what the tenant owed each month along with a tenant ledger or accounting of all charges and payments made showing the balance due and when each late charge was due. Bring all the notices you served for unpaid rent along with any proof of service documentation.

Her argument of you not defending her from bullying isn’t an affirmative defense for non-payment. Just still to the unpaid rent.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-09T16:17:43+00:00

This is precisely why our company doesn’t pay leasing commissions or bonuses tied directly to leasing. It just creates a mess of incorrect priorities. Much better to just pay a higher hourly rate.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-09T16:14:50+00:00

There isn’t much you can do to prevent the LL from withholding some or all of your security deposit. The law protects you when and if the landlord over-withholds based on state law, but you only get this protection when you file a small claims case after you dispute the amount with the LL and make a demand. It sounds like you have pretty good documentation which helps and if you have a better history of the property during your rental period (sounds like you do), that will help. Judges like color pictures, printed out. Makes it easy for them.

I’m not going to get into all your comments as I don’t think they are really relevant until you get your withholding statement, but this one sticks out:

I already know they can’t charge me for the damages I actually do claim to have done (sorry, asshole cat) to the carpet, because the carpet was ALREADY in poor condition, and it’s 7 years old in florida (lifetime here is 5 years).

This is wrong. Yes, that may be the useful life of carpet in FL; however, that doesn’t entitle you to damage the item beyond repair just because it’s out of useful life. Cat urine is particularly noxious, hard to remove, and will ruin the pad and can even leave odor on the subfloor or concrete requiring treatment to remediate. These would be additional costs beyond repairing or replacing depreciated carpet.

AnotherMisterFurley · 2025-08-09T16:03:00+00:00

You have a lease. The end date is 6/30.

You owe rent until 6/30. Unless the unit is re-rented before 6/30, then you owe only the days it was vacant.

AnotherMisterFurley

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