All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Yes!!! you should use a lease agreement.

check with your CPA on the Taxes

What does your lease agreement say?

Our says  All request for repairs must be in writing and delivered to the landlord.

 Ordinarily a repair to the heating or air conditioning system is not an emergency.

 Also  our lease says tenant may not repair cause to be repaired any condition regardless  of the cause without landlord prior permission. All decisions regarding repairs, including  the compensation of any repairs with whether to  repair or replace the  item, and selection of contractors will be a landlord sole discretion.

Check and see what your lease agreement says. iIf you have a clause like this I would inform the tenant if they ordered any repairs in the future without your permission that they'll be responsible for the bill and in violation of their lease agreement.

First, they should be happy that they are being released from the lease agreement.

Now they do not have to worry about subletting.  When subletting the primary tenant is still responsible if the sublet tenants do not pay the rent, or did damage to the property.

Second, you may want to check for city and state codes for occupancy requirements.

Fair housing generally believes that an occupancy policy of two persons in a bedroom, as a general, is reasonable under the fair housing act.

Read what fair housing has to say about occupancy requirements. 

http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/library/occupancys...

Management contracts that property management companies use are limited power of attorney's and give authority for the management companies to perform certain acts for the owner, such as signing lease agreements.

I do not give legal advice, I am not in the an attorney.  You may want to consult the landlord tenant attorney in your area. I will share my opinion, I would only sign if I had a power of attorney from my wife authorizing me to sign.

You have to look at if you ever had to evict a tenant would there be a possibility that the court could thrown out your eviction case because you did not have the legal authority to sign the lease agreement.

Have to go through an eviction is bad enough, but to have an eviction case thrown out because you did not do the proper steps or did something wrong on the paperwork is even worse.

Hello Doron,

I recommend you Google property management Jacksonville, Florida, and look at reviews of property management companies.  The reviews can give you an idea of what their current owners and tenants think of them.

Also a great website for finding property managers is www.NARPM.org

I would strongly recommend you go with a member of the National Association of Residential Property Managers.  These are property managers that work on furthering their education and staying up with best practices and property management.

Also look at what designations the property managers may carry such as residential management professional (RMP) or Master property manager (MPM) is the highest designation and individual property manager can attain.  If you find a residential management company that has a CRMC designation, this is a management company that has been audited and certified by the National Association of Property Managers.  There are only about 50 certified property management companies in the US.

When going with the management company I strongly recommend that you get expert in the field.

If the sellers sign a lease agreement with the tenants he is now under contract with the tenants.  Now the seller will not be able to deliver the unit vacant.

Assume the worst that these are are going to be bad tenants and you may have to go through an eviction process.

Then the question comes is the deal for you good enough to proceed or not.

Owners should not leave items behind the tenants to use. If you have extra furniture, appliances or yard equipment sell them or donate them.

Minimize your exposure to litigation and lawsuits. We find many times owners want to leave things behind for the tenants to use without thinking about the possible consequences. If the tenants, their children or pets were to be injured by items that the owner left behind for the tenants to use, the owner can be exposing themselves to litigation and lawsuits. If the tenants child were to get poisoned by pesticides, or they were hurt on equipment – the swing set that was left behind by the owner of the property for the tenants to use – the first thing the tenants are most likely to do in this day and age is to get a personal injury attorney. Owners can find themselves having to defend themselves from a very costly lawsuit which could go on for a year or more, all because they left items behind for the tenants to use. A while back in San Antonio there was a young boy that was severely burned when he kicked a gas can at a water heater in the garage. This was tragic accident, but can you imagine the owner's liability if the owner had left the gas can behind for the tenants to use! Also if a child, even a neighbor's child were to break an arm or sustained a head injury while playing on playground equipment that was left behind by an owner, you can be sure that the parents would be looking towards the owner for compensation and restitution. In today's litigious society you want to do everything possible to help minimize your exposure to litigation and lawsuits.

Check your state laws as in some states you have to be licensed if you do property management for others and collect a fee and some states you do not.

A tenant placement fee varies from city to city.  The typical placement fee in San Antonio is 50% of one month's rent. The typical placement fee in Houston is 100% of one month's rent.

Management fees can vary greatly depending on service location, type and size of property.

The majority of companies in Texas have a release fee so not to have one is great.

The p.m. holding the security deposit and trust account and keeping any earned interest is standard in Texas.

Number 5) additional $25 per month is usually additional rent and not a fee.

If it is pet rent, then it would go to the property owner.   If it is a pet fee, it would most likely go to the P.M.  You should verify with your p.m. how they handle the $25.

Most leases I have seen usually calls this additional rent.

Our lease agreement says:

(2) The monthly rent in the lease is increased to $__________