Lease Final Walkthrough

[Kar Sun]

My tenant's lease is coming to a close and I am relieved she will be moving soon.

She has been paying on time but has been extremely unpleasant and rude.

While the money does not smell my mental sanity is more important than money in this case.

She sent me a registered letter stating that she feels "unsafe because we have not done the fixes the way she wanted it".

She requests to have her witness for a walkthrough.

In my state a walkthrough is required but I am not about to grant it to her to bring any witnesses as that is not in my contract.

If she feels unsafe she does not have t be present.

I also do not treat a final walkthrough with a tenant as a final sign off.

This walkthrough does not include a detailed inspection of the plumbing and the appliances that will be done after she departs.

This is simply for the visible cosmetic issues and should take less than 1 hr.  

I will treat a witness as a trespasser.

I want to really emphasize that this lady is a major headache and may have mental issues.

It is possible she has been fired from her job as well. 

Also want to add that she had multiple violations such as having a dog with her while her contract states no pets and she was contacting repair facilities and acting as my agent or pretending to be a property owner and interfering with repair process. 

She has been sending complaints to the city and to the HOA board.

Of course these complaints do absolutely nothing because we are within our rights and following a contract.

She was complaining that we did not have the right to fix our own property since we are not licensed.

She thinks she owns the place and we are merely room service.

[Laura Stayton]

I think we all understand this.  Is there a question here?  I agree a walk-through alone is not comprehensive enough to find all issues with the home.  We always send a contractor through to test everything and if broken, give estimates to repair and we can determine then if it is tenant damage and what charges to the security deposit should be.

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Kar Sun:

It appears the law requires you to allow them to attend, inspect together, and mutually agree to a list of damages: https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-66-property/tn-code-sect-...

Print that off and follow it.

Make it clear to her that she is not permitted to bring guests. If she wants to protect herself, tell her she can record the inspection with pictures, and you will give her a signed copy of the inspection sheet.

Honestly, if you anticipate the charges to be less than $500, I would refund the deposit and be done with her. If it's going to be more than that, make sure you have everything well documented because she will likely make your life hell over that money.

[Kar Sun]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Kar Sun:

It appears the law requires you to allow them to attend, inspect together, and mutually agree to a list of damages: https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-66-property/tn-code-sect-...

Print that off and follow it.

Make it clear to her that she is not permitted to bring guests. If she wants to protect herself, tell her she can record the inspection with pictures, and you will give her a signed copy of the inspection sheet.

Honestly, if you anticipate the charges to be less than $500, I would refund the deposit and be done with her. If it's going to be more than that, make sure you have everything well documented because she will likely make your life hell over that money.

 thank you for your valuable comment. 

[Adam Bartomeo]

My kids would say that you sound like an angry elf. You may want to remove yourself from the situation since you are emotional about the situation. Its business and you should conduct yourself in such a manner.

[John Reagan Johnson]

These situations are never any fun to deal with. Hopefully you have documentation of the property before this current tenant signed a lease. From the information you provided, she seems like a prime candidate to not leave the property the way she found it, and will pitch a fit over any deductions taken out of her security deposit. My advice would be to stick to the terms in your lease and try to have as little contact with the tenant as possible during her move out. Likely that she will not be in a good headspace upon leaving, and we don't want her taking her frustrations out on your property! 

[Kar Sun]

She is gone now. She was paying on time and left the place clean. However, she was highly demanding and I didn’t appreciate her negotiation method by intimidation. I really don’t need that. She was the type of person who thought that by paying rent she becomes an owner of the property. I specifically told her not to bring any witness to a final walk through , put it in writing, and sent her a text reminder. And she still brought someone else that I had to put outside while she was arguing with me that the laws support having a witness. The problem is she thinks she runs everything and she is very disrespectful. Multiple times she was talking about lawsuits. She had zero grounds for any lawsuit and she is the person I wouldn’t recommend to anyone even if she was paying on time. She has some bigger psychological issues and my rent is not high enough to deal with it. 

[Kar Sun]

Quote from @Adam Bartomeo:

My kids would say that you sound like an angry elf. You may want to remove yourself from the situation since you are emotional about the situation. Its business and you should conduct yourself in such a manner.

I really don’t care what your kids would say because I am the person that takes care of this property. If you have no value to add in your response there is no need to reply. 

[Jake Knight]

This is why being a landlord can be unpleasant because you are dealing with different personalities. The lease establishes the structure for how the tenancy should go so I would just keep my communication in line with that.

[John Williams]

Quote from @Kar Sun:

My tenant's lease is coming to a close and I am relieved she will be moving soon.

She has been paying on time but has been extremely unpleasant and rude.

While the money does not smell my mental sanity is more important than money in this case.

She sent me a registered letter stating that she feels "unsafe because we have not done the fixes the way she wanted it".

She requests to have her witness for a walkthrough.

In my state a walkthrough is required but I am not about to grant it to her to bring any witnesses as that is not in my contract.

If she feels unsafe she does not have t be present.

I also do not treat a final walkthrough with a tenant as a final sign off.

This walkthrough does not include a detailed inspection of the plumbing and the appliances that will be done after she departs.

This is simply for the visible cosmetic issues and should take less than 1 hr.  

I will treat a witness as a trespasser.

I want to really emphasize that this lady is a major headache and may have mental issues.

It is possible she has been fired from her job as well. 

Also want to add that she had multiple violations such as having a dog with her while her contract states no pets and she was contacting repair facilities and acting as my agent or pretending to be a property owner and interfering with repair process. 

She has been sending complaints to the city and to the HOA board.

Of course these complaints do absolutely nothing because we are within our rights and following a contract.

She was complaining that we did not have the right to fix our own property since we are not licensed.

She thinks she owns the place and we are merely room service.

 This is a great case study on reasons to hire a property manager - it's the headache part...

[Michael Smythe]

@Kar Sun recommend being nonconfrontational during walk-thru and bringing another person with you.

VIDEO record the walk-thru!

Do NOT commit to anything during walk-thru as tenant will try to pressure you to agree to waive repair issues. Tell tenant you will review the maintenance history and the video.

[Anthony Phillips]

Quote from @Kar Sun:

My tenant's lease is coming to a close and I am relieved she will be moving soon.

She has been paying on time but has been extremely unpleasant and rude.

While the money does not smell my mental sanity is more important than money in this case.

She sent me a registered letter stating that she feels "unsafe because we have not done the fixes the way she wanted it".

She requests to have her witness for a walkthrough.

In my state a walkthrough is required but I am not about to grant it to her to bring any witnesses as that is not in my contract.

If she feels unsafe she does not have t be present.

I also do not treat a final walkthrough with a tenant as a final sign off.

This walkthrough does not include a detailed inspection of the plumbing and the appliances that will be done after she departs.

This is simply for the visible cosmetic issues and should take less than 1 hr.  

I will treat a witness as a trespasser.

I want to really emphasize that this lady is a major headache and may have mental issues.

It is possible she has been fired from her job as well. 

Also want to add that she had multiple violations such as having a dog with her while her contract states no pets and she was contacting repair facilities and acting as my agent or pretending to be a property owner and interfering with repair process. 

She has been sending complaints to the city and to the HOA board.

Of course these complaints do absolutely nothing because we are within our rights and following a contract.

She was complaining that we did not have the right to fix our own property since we are not licensed.

She thinks she owns the place and we are merely room service.

That sounds horrible is the property in the city of Nashville or another city in Middle Tennessee?

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Kar Sun:

I'm glad you gave us an update. As others pointed out, this may be a situation where you want to record the inspection to document her odd behavior in case you have to defend yourself in court.