All Forum Posts by: Nerissa Marbury

In case anyone is interested in knowing the Realtor's issues or want to offer input (with the full understanding I need to consult a licensed VA attorney before moving foward with any advice) please feel free to comment.

1. In my lease agreement, I state the first $XX of any repair is the tenant’s responsibility unless the damge or repair is required due to negligence....then the tenant is 100% responsible.
   1. The Realtor said if he was a tenant he would agree to it. From my experience, tenants have agreed to it for years now. However I also offer verbal examples of when the amount will be expected to be paid by the tenant and when it isn't expected to paid.
2. My lease gives an address where rent checks can be mailed. He uses direct deposit only.
   1. It’s been quite a number of years since anyone mailed me a check. I think 2011 was the last year. Most go directly to the bank (under 1/2 mile from the property) and deposit the funds or they do an electronic payment using my email address.
3. The Realtor felt my cleaning deposit is redundant and that I should, just raise the security deposit.
4. The Realtor wanted me to know that the application fee written in my lease agreement "goes to Agent, not landlord".
   1. Sure, not a problem. However he still voiced it as a concern when it shouldn't be....the Realtor is doing the screening so the Realtor gets the app fee.
5. The Realtor "REQUIRE and force-place insurance policies on tenants if they don’t provide – your lease “suggests” insurance."
   1. Yes, I "strongly suggest" the tenant gets insurance. Only recently have I better understood the protection that it offers the owner. Even so, as a Realtor who will not do on-going property management, this should not be a concern that would deter the Realtor from performing ala carte leasing services.
6. Anytime I have to write up a "rental charges statement" that requires the tenant to pay me money in addition to the monthly rent I add a 25% administrative fee.
   1. The Realtor said a judge won’t honor a 25% surcharge on deposit withholdings. Only actual damages / receipts.
   2. A rental charge could be from late rent, damage to the property, an unauthorized animal, etc. The charges are collected from the client during the year instead of waiting until the end of the lease.
   3. I will need to speak to an attorney on this one since the Realtor's opinion could be because of where the statement is written and perhaps there is a better location for it from a legal interpretation perspective.
   4. For the record, I have yet to go to court in the 10 years I've been a landlord.
7. My lease states security deposit will be refunded (less any deductions) within 60 days of lease end date.
   1. The Realtor believes "60 days is illegal – deposits need to be returned within 45 days in Virginia."
   2. Per fhe Code of Virginia: "...where the landlord is a natural person, an estate, or a legal entity that owns no more than two single-family residential dwelling units in its own name subject to a rental agreement, such landlord may opt out of the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act (§ 55-248.2 et seq.) by so stating in a rental agreement with a tenant."
   3. I own one single-family residential dwelling units in all of VA.
   4. I will consult an attorney (again - it has been a few years for this specific topic); however, I thought it was within my right to use a different number of days as long as it was clearly communicated to the tenant and within reason.

The Realtor believe "there are a lot of illegal and onerous terms" in my current lease agreement. Out of the 7 reasons the Relator gave for why "I can’t willingly recruit a tenant to sign into that agreement", #6 and #7 may be legitimate reasons. The other 5 reasons are personal opinion and nothing that goes against state law.

The short end of it:

I do plan to have the lease reviewed by a lawyer as it has been a while since the last review. I do not intend to move forward with this Realtor. I seek a Realtor who is open to new ideas, less focused on what a tenant might say about his company online and more focused on the owner who is footing the bill, AND willing to have an open dialogue to figure out how best to make all parties involved feel most comfortable.

@Matt Clark I spoke with him earlier today and his rationale is based on him having a property managers hat on versus an ala carte realtor hat on. He thought his company would sign the lease agreement. In addition he felt that if I took too long to sign the lease agreement or if I changed my mind and didn't want to lease to an approved applcant that the tenant would end up penalizing his company even if I was the hold up. I made it clear that wasn't how I operated.

He asked to see my lease agreement and I sent it to him. He responded rather quickly after skimming the document (his words). He brought up several items that was personal preference versus anything serious IMO. 

@Nicole Graves I was thinking of reaching out to an attorney. In fact I contacted one last week, but still have yet to hear from him several days later. If you are willing to refer someone to me, I would be appreciative. 

Thank you @Huy N.

@Brett Alphin Given the number of properties/units I own, it is not required for me to follow the state's laws and regulations to a T. Even so, my lease agreement does closely follow the Landlord & Tenant act for the state. I have had an attorney review my lease years ago and have made little changes to it sense. I do try and keep abreast of changes to the Landlord & Tenant act.

Huy/Brett I need to reach back out to the realtor to be sure I understood his rationale, but it sounded more like he was concerned about whatever risk he may bring onto himself and not what risks the leaseholder / property owner will have to accept. 

I would like to use a realtor to help lease out my rental property in Richmond, VA. At this time, I am not wanting on-going property management services.

If a realtor helps a property owner rent out a property (i.e., marketing, showings, overseeing signing of the lease, delivery of keys, and move-in inspection), is there a Virginia law or regulation that requires the realtor to use his lease agreement instead of the lease agreement the property owner provides?

If there isn't a Virginia law or regulation, why would a realtor insist on using the realtor's lease agreement and "not budge"
 on using the lease agreement used by the property owner for 7+ years counting?

As a property owner, what risks do I open myself up to by having to adhere to and govern a realtor's lease agreement that was not written specifically for my property?

Two other realtors have agreed to use my own lease since I am not utilizing on-going property management services. However the realtor I wish to use, insists his lease agreement must be used so he doesn't open himself up to risk. He isn't doing a good job in explaining his point of view, which why I am here. I hope someone else can explain it to me so I understand.

thanks @Matt K for the tío and plastiq description. 

Let me know if you were able to get a paint referral. Need someone for exterior work.

@James Wise I'm talking about something much more costly. The renters in the property were friends and not family. In all of my advertisements and application fee there is a rental fee price differential when there is more than 3 tenants. The maximum allowed to live in the house is 4 tenants. All of this was explained during the application process and even later on when renewing tenants asked if they could bring on a 4th person. I told them it is possible, but the rental fee would increase. So if the house was always advertised as being a higher rate when more than 3 people are in the house, I doubt a discriminatory case would hold.

@Jack B. What are the steps to getting something placed on a person's credit report? In 10 years of renting I haven't had any type of real trouble with tenants until now.

@Patrick L. Thanks for the advice. I completely missed your comment last night. I'm working on getting a final estimate so time and I will have to find out what equates to a class A property. My property is much better than most property rentals from what interested people / applicants have stated over the years. 

@Terrell Garren the tenants don't necessarily have money, but I do have guarantors. One guarantor does contract work for the government and from what I understand if he has a bad mark on his credit then he will have a harder time getting work. So for the time being I'm working on getting an amount of charges so I can communicate it to the tenants and guarantors and see what they are willing to pay (or not pay). 

@Daren H. I typically check 3x a year at minimum, but due to family health issues and work, it wasn't possible to keep to my routine. My handyman stopped by a couple of times for repairs and gave me updates on what he saw; however, with me needing to notify the tenants before being able to enter the house the tenants were able to conceal what I suspected but couldn't find any hard core proof. Not to mention there were three tenants in the house. Two have lived in the house for 2 years and the other one was new. I think my mistake was I had mentioned to a tenant my family health issues and so they took advantage and hedge their bets that I wouldn't be around as often.

@Account Closed absolutely agree on live and learn. This is one reason why I'm asking the questions.

@David Dachtera I haven't spoken to one yet, but it's on my list of to dos. In the 10 years of being a landlord I have only need the services of an attorney once so I do not have one waiting on retainer.

Thanks LINDA D. there is some proof, but I honestly don't know (first time in this situation) if the proof is good enough or would even make a difference. Same thing when it comes to the pet. The pet is pretty obvious because of the urine stains / smells that I haven't been able to get out yet and the house has been a pet free zone. The lease doesn't allow for any pets.....even visiting pets. I've cleaned up the house (excluding the urine soaked carpet). I'm now working on getting repairs or replacements for the big ticket items that were damaged by the former tenants as well. I so appreciate your offer to help. I will post a couple of other questions about getting nonpayment added to credit reports  and going to court for unpaid amounts (if I can't find them after searching some) so you may be able to provide some context given you're local to me.

Thanks RYAN for your comment as well. If the damage wasn't something that is now costing me thousands of dollars that will not be covered by the security and cleaning deposits, I wouldn't have even bothered to post this question. But since I may have to go to court to get the money not covered by the deposits, I figured I mind as well go after anything that is realistic for me to go after if I have to go to court any way.