All Forum Posts by: Kia Zhu

Thanks Patrick. I need to mention that I appreciated their honesty on the material cost. 

Jim, I understand your statement. This seemed too easy and most likely it's not over. By visiting the property I will try to make sure the place is not falling apart. For sure I will not let them work on the rental.

Talking about repairs, I am constantly having difficulty finding good contractors and when I do find one, they move out of the area (or get big projects that they have no interest in residential projects). That's when I feel I have no choice and fix as much as I have the time for.

Great input. I appreciate everyone's suggestions and I apologize for my late response.

I need to mention that the contractor's English is not that good, so I communicated through his wife (Native speaker). 

As they were a bit behind on their rent 3 times and I didn't bring it up to them. I told her to pay by the 1st, as I can't forgive late payments anymore. Also I told her that the agreement between me and her husband was that I pay for the material. She told me that she will talk to her husband and get back to me.

A day after, she promised that she will pay on time to avoid late fees and that after talking to her husband she thinks there was a misunderstanding, but its all good and I don't need to pay anything. I insisted on giving me the material cost, which she didn't have the receipt but said it was less than $20. Originally her husband wanted $200.

A new tenant of mine, fixed and installed a few minor things in the rental. Our verbal agreement was that I will reimburse him for the material. Now he is asking for both material and labor. Unfortunately his price is very high. FYI, he works for a construction company. 

What's the best way to deal with this as I prefer to keep the good relationship we have and minimize any bad behavior and resentment from the tenant? Thank you

My property is in NJ. Per the bank's request, I need to ask tenants to fill in a W-9, so I can put their security deposit in an interest bearing security deposit account.

The tenant wouldn't fill one, so I put her security deposit in the same account my tenant deposit their rent.

This tenant broke the lease, and left 8 months prior to her lease ends (although she gave 30 days notice). I gave her the remainder of her security deposit (I was able to find a tenant after she moved out and only deducted half of April from her security deposit since the new tenant moved in the middle of the month).

Now she is not satisfied with returned deposit and requests proof that her security deposit was not commingled with personal. I am not sure If I did it ok here. How do you guys handle this kind of matter?