All Forum Posts by: Braden Hobbs

@Mindy Jensen  

I did connect with the tenants. They paid all utilities in full within hours of me calling. Sounds like a miscommunication between wife/husband, but...who knows. Now I'm just hoping I still get rent tomorrow.

@Deanna McCormick - I would be a little wary with your statement "the Bill is between the tenant and utility company". In Greeley, and I'm guessing most places, the water/sewer utility is tied to the house, so tenants bill = your problem as the owner. Also, the gas company told me they will not start a new service until they deal with the past tenant depending on amount owed. That obviously won't affect your credit or property's title, but new tenants won't be able to get gas service in some scenarios (if the customer service rep I spoke to knows what they're talking about).

@Michele Fischer

Thanks for the great advice!

For those who stumble on this in future here is what I have done so far from the recommendations of BPers and legal advisors (though this is not legal advice). 

1. Don't pay the utilities yet! And only pay the ones tied to the house if it gets to that point (ask utility company they'll tell you if you're liable). 

2. Call tenant and see what's going on? Be firm in explaining they are in violation of their lease and have x amount of time to correct the situation. I did one day because service was getting shut off. If they don't correct situation, begin steps to evict or get them leave. You could offer them to leave peacefully, keys for cash, or evict. If they do correct the situation, verify first and then continue your current lease.

If they do correct the situation use your judgement to decide if it was a one time thing, and whether you'd renew their lease when time comes. Most people would say don't renew it.

Okay thanks everyone. It appears to me that water is only utility attached to the house. I'm worried if they pay all utilities then I won't get rent!

I will call tenant see what's going on, then talk to a lawyer as this could be our first eviction.

Hey all,

We have a property in Greeley, CO and found out the tenant has not paid their utilities for the past 3 months and gas will be shut off today if they don't pay at least half of the bill today.

This is our first experience with this so I'm wondering what the best path to take is? 

I'm not sure if we should use the security deposit to pay the bills for them, because then after they leave we have no cash to deal with what they leave? Should we pay the fees ourselves and add the cost onto what they owe us plus a fee (and how do you even do this)? In our lease, we say "Tenants shall be responsible for arranging for and paying for all utility services required on the Premises", but we never explicitly say which utilities are "required". We also say we will charge a 25% fee for any notice of non-payment, but I'm not sure how we even go about doing this? Plus, I'd rather get rent still and if we add a bunch of fees I don't think we will.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Keep up the good fight Jeff!

Where at in Cheyenne is this? Judging by the plaster and lath walls I'm guessing near downtown or 8th avenue vicinity? 

If you don't mind me asking what will these rehabs cost?

@Seth Borman

According to the extraction company, there will never be disruption because they are drilling outside of the city and pulling oil and gas from under our houses...

The extraction company stated the prior lease allowed for the auto-renewal and that it transferred to me automatically as the new owner.

Looking for some general advice (non-legal) about the situation we've found ourselves in. 

We bought a property at the end of last year and noticed on the title commitment it had an existing lease on the mineral rights which were set to expire at the end of the year. We asked the seller who said she didn't even know about it, so we moved on thinking no biggie, and it may still be no biggie but I'm curious.

Well fast-forward and we got notice the company has extended the lease for 5 years for $100 a year per acre. No notice, no confirmation from us, they said the original lease allowed for this extension and they did it.

My question is, do I even worry about this? If so, do I call a lawyer, a local representative, the tooth fairy?

Thanks all!

@Peter Schuyler

U+2 is yourself and 2 unrelated people in a single family home.

We're holding open houses this week. Doing one on Sunday as well.

We dropped the price today and the leads starting pouring in. Was being a little aggressive on pricing and it didn't work out in December:)

@Ralph Pena  

I've quickly realized, even with help who can go show on a moments notice, that trying to schedule showings for every interested person is a nightmare. I LOVE your idea of a few open houses each week.

We got lots of interest this weekend off of FB, but no one followed through with an application. We left our price where it was just to see, and now I'm pretty confident we're just a bit too high. Going to price the property more competitively tomorrow and see what happens. Need to get some actual applications rolling on this place!