All Forum Posts by: Bruce L.

Yes Jon Holdman, I will hire a handyman for all repairs from now on.

As far as the judge, it really depends on which judge I get in front of, that's what my property manager friend tells me. So, it could go either way. Some would say $50/hr, you signed, you agreed. One judge she tells me always favors the tenant regardless of what the issue is.

I know it's going to cost the tenants about $150 to file, if they went through with going to small claims. I'm still not sure they would risk that because I have so much documents stating the conditional of the property and items they agreed for repair.

They called me before this all happened and wanted to settle, but wanted more than I was winning to give.

I'm most likely going to settle, but I'm going to think about it this over the weekend.

What would you guys say is fair?
Half their security deposit?
On their demand letter, they want $1100, which I feel is unfair.

And as far as my credit goes, I was told by multiple people in the business that if I lose in court AND I don't pay. The tenant would have to record it, then it would affect my credit. If the tenant doesn't record, then it doesn't go on your credit.

If I lose, I plan on paying immediately.

Another twist I'll add to this story, is that I'm selling the house, and I should be closing escrow next week.

Let me explain and I defend myself, the drain pop-up is the entire assembly, not just the pop-up. My repair guy went to both Lowe's & Home Depot to get all of the different size pop-up's and none of them fit as the assembly was either too long or the pop-up was too short or wide.

Also, like I stated before, the place was already professional carpet cleaned by the tenant when they moved out. That 'L' shape is from their shoes in front of the sectional "Couch".

As for the battery, there are five throughout the entire house, two of which are on 20' foot ceilings.

As far the light bulb, one was stuck inside a recessed can and the tenant had even wrote me and said they didn't want to touch it in fear that it would break so they gave me the flood light bulb instead.

My friend who is a property manager told me that I could revise the refund and add the tore carpet, but is kinda a pain, but I could explain if I went in front of the judge.

As it stand right now, the tenant wrote me a certified "Demand" letter. I have 10 days to respond, which I plan on doing.

So, the carpets for the entire house was brand new when they moved in on 9/2011, I do have receipts which I plan on bringing with me. There were a lot of thing I even overlooked in regards of the carpet. The only one that I charged them for was the one in the family room. There a big 'L' shape stain that couldn't have been removed, so instead of charging them to replace the carpet, I just tried to spot clean it, which helped a little, but you can still see the stain. The tenant seems to think that's normal wear and tear.

Note that these pictures were taken after the place was steam cleaned.

Photo 1 : Wall that needed to be painted

Photo 2: ‘L’ Shape stain

Photo 3: Broken Kitchen Countertop Tile

Photo 4: Tore Carpet in Bedroom 2 (Did not charge)

Photo 5: Tore Carpet in Bedroom 2 (Did not charge)

Photo 6: Stains in Master Bed room (Did not charge)

Photo 7: Broken Kitchen Blinds and handle.

Photo 8: Missing Bathroom Drain Popup

Photo 9: Missing Door Latch to lock sliding glass door.

Photo 10: Landscape Trimming

Here’s the list of items I charged them for.

Thanks for the tip Jon Holdman, I will hire someone for repairs from now on.

Also, I looked at Phillip Dwyer link to the NRS and do not see double damages charges, could you point me to where you see that?

Ya, I will do some research and also think about settling.

Another thing I'm concern is that when the tenant moves in, I have them sign a minimum turnover charge. Things like how much it would cost to replace a floor tile, shower head, etc. that has minimum fixed price.

Well on that form, I have a general hourly charge of things not covered which is $50/hr. I'm concern that the judge wouldn't allow that charge as it is high and some of the simple repairs was done by me.

Thanks guys!!

Phillip Dwyer, great link to the NRS, as other mentioned about triple damages, I did a quick search and did not see anything about triple damages here in Nevada.

Section 6B of NRS 118A.242 says "For a sum to be fixed by the court of not more than the amount of the entire deposit."

But Ryan M. brings up a good point that I'm not aware of in that if I lose, it may show as a judgement on my public record, similar to like foreclosures do? So, does that show up on my credit report under public record?

So, my tenant serve me with paperwork that he wants me take me to small claims court over his $1200 security deposit, after all repairs were made, I gave him back $250, but he wanted pretty much all of it.

Could anyone tell me what to expect as I have never gone to small claims court before?

One thing that I'm concern is that I have the tenant the move-in inspection checklist and instead of having him sign the original with ink, I had him fax it to me. Not sure if that matter or not since he could just write all over it after he moved out, stating an item was already broken and basically lying in court.

I do have documentation and pictures as well and kept a pretty good log as to what happened.

Any information I could get would be greatly appreciated.

As much as I would love to change the purchase price and make it easy, the problem is that the buyer doesn't have the $3k and needs to get it from the buyer's agent, which is great since she is even willing to give that up.

Maybe I could do something like.
Purchase price to be $153k, buyer's agent to pay $3k towards buyers closing cost with buyer's agent commission.

That way, I'm out of taking the commission.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Wayne Brooks So, should I get the buyer's agent broker to sign off on that credit?