All Forum Posts by: Jessica H.

Hi guys,

I'm working on my lease agreement for my rental property in California and I'm stuck in the legal clause regarding payment of attorney's fees in a lawsuit. I've purchased NOLO's California Landlord's Law Book: Rights & Responsibilities which came with the lease agreement example. In there, Clause 22, states:

However, they recommend against including the attorney fees clause in the lease for various reasons (in CA, courts don't recognize the one-way attorneys' fees contract provision, tenant's lawyers can take advantage of included attorney's clauses in contract to get paid, etc). So now I'm looking into alternative clauses that I can use such arbitrations/meditations. What do you think of this one I found in an agreement on the web? I like it, but I'm confused about this language: "Each party shall bear their own respective fees and cost relative to the arbitration process and attorneys' fees, if awarded shall not exceed $500." How do you understand it?

Thanks so much in advance! Legal language always gives me a headache. :)

Jessica

Thanks, @Ryan H! The good news is that my existing tenant agreed to paying online! Yay! However, I may have to deal with tenants that don't have a bank account in the future. After all the great feedback received here, I think opening a bank account at a local branch is the easiest solution. However, that may be a problem later on since banks are starting not to allow deposits by anyone by the account holder (i.e. most recently Bank of America).

Another option is to get them to use prepaid card (VISA or MC) and use that to pay online.

FYI - PayNearMe is not available to small investors like myself. :(

Jessica

Hi @Andrew Jones,

Are you happy with Portfolio Properties? I'm looking for a PM in Bakersfield. Thanks in advance!

Jessica

Thank you, @Account Closed. Good points. I will work with the tenant to give her a chance to move her stuff within the next two months. :)

Jessica

Hi dear all,

I’ve inherited a tenant from a recent property purchase and they are storing belongings in the back of the building resting against the wall and no roof protection. The tenant is probably doing this because the home doesn’t have extra storage space and there is no garage. Even though the items are not visible from the street (one has to walk all the way to the back of the building to see them), I am concerned about damage to the building from the rain. Also, anyone could potentially steal their belongings.

Shall I be the bad cop and ask them to remove them and store them inside the home or an storage place? Or, since they seem to be good tenants, let them continue to store for a couple of months to allow them time to find a solution?

What are your thoughts! Thank you in advance!

Jessica 

Update! I just discovered a new way to deal with cash-only tenants today.

First an update to deposit cash to bank accounts:

I talked to Chase Bank today and they don't allow cash deposits from anyone other than the account holder. However, Wells Fargo does. 

While talking with the Wells Fargo rep, they mentioned that for security purposes, they don't recommend providing a person the account number and routing number. They also recommended Zelle and GreenDot (greendot.com). I looked it up. From their website, it says "Green Dot is far more than a family of reloadable debit cards. Green Dot is a bank that believes it’s your money. So we work hard every day to create products and innovations that provide easy, straightforward access to your money, simplify your life and save you time". This debit card can be reloaded with cash at Walmart and many other stores (7-Eleven, Family Dollar, CVS, Dollar Tree, Rite Aid, etc, etc). 

Is anyone familiar with GreenDot? I did a search on the forums and got no results.

Jessica

Yes, very good point, @Michaela G. and @James Wise! All we can do is our best and continue improving our systems. :)

@Eddie Lehwald - Hope you find your new tenants soon! 

@Steve Davis - I am leaning towards giving them the savings account # versus checking account. Plus I plan to withdraw the money (move it to my regular bank account) as soon as the money is deposited. Thanks for the feedback!

@Jenifer Levini - Interesting read about the banking system. Thanks! Btw, I *love* Santa Cruz. What a beautiful city! \w/

Jessica

Thanks all! Wow, this community is AWESOME! :) A lot of great feedback. I thank each and every one of you!

Thank you, @Mindy Jensen. You're the first one to acknowledge my milestone! (my first rental) :) I will stay away from PayPal unless it is just for a small transaction or just do Venmo or Zelle. 

So far it looks like opening a bank account near the property is the best way to go when you accept (or are stuck) with cash-only tenants and you don't live near the property or have a property manager. However, it sounds like there are the following challenges:

- Check with the bank if they accept cash-only deposits from people other than the account holder.

- Cash doesn't leave a paper trail as @Greg Scott mentioned, so he suggests a money order that it is deposited to the bank (@Jeff Bridges, this answers your question about money order vs cash deposit)

@Eddie Lehwald - I'm happy to hear this is working out for you! Do they deposit cash or money order? I'm wondering about how you ensure you're getting a paper trail of the deposit from a specific tenant.

Much appreciated!

Jessica :)

@Bart H., the inherited tentant's lease says they are to pay in person to a local address. That's not an option for me since I'm not hiring a property manager. But yes, I will talk to them to encourage them to open a bank account and pay me electronically. I just want to have an option if they insist to pay in cash.

Jessica 

@Jean H., @Scott L., and @Jeff Bridges - thanks for the additional info on opening a business checking account in order for the deposit-only ATM cards to work.

@Michaela G. - I agree with you. I would also just use the account for receiving rent and move the money to my regular account asap.

@Bart H. and @Joe Splitrock - I will talk to them and see if I can persuade them to open a bank account. I'm stuck with the tenant I've inherited. 

Thank you all!

Jessica