All Forum Posts by: Mark Forest

@Aaron K.  Aaron i just had a tenant who  was paying by check, but he got a  pit bull and had holes drilled into my roof for a satellite antenna, both of which were lease violations.  I evicted him without a problem, but if he was on Zelle this may have caused a problem since he wanted to stay in my house, and was quite upset by me evicting him. 

@Patrick M.  "If a tenant takes on a pet or is intentionally damaging my property a rent payment is not going to stop an eviction proceeding."

I think it will since you have "accepted" through Zelle your tenant's payment for another month. Another landlord I know was trying to evict a tenant because he was not keeping the apartment clean.  The landlord had set up automatic payments from the tenant's bank account, and before they went to court a payment to the landlord was made by the bank.  The judge dismissed the case, and the landlord had to wait another month to get eviction. 

I am not arguing that you are necessarily wrong, but I don't see what argument can be made since you have constructively received the rent, and according to Zelle the only one who can stop the payments is the tenant. 

After a discussion with other landlords I have discovered a potential problem with Zelle. What happens when you are actively trying to evict an uncooperative tenant? Let’s say the tenant is intentionally or carelessly damaging your property, or he has acquired a pet in violation of your lease, etc. If you go to court after filing your state’s required eviction paperwork, and the first of the month comes up there is no way to refuse your tenant’s payment. So the tenant can keep paying you, and the judge will say that since you have “accepted” the rent payment your case of eviction is dismissed. Sure you don’t want to take the payment, but Zelle is going to put it there anyway.

When I contacted Zelle about this they said I would have to “contact the sender.” Well the sender is my uncooperative tenant, so that won’t help me. The Zelle employee then suggested I contact my bank to see if they could somehow refuse to accept my payment from the uncooperative tenant. I will call my bank Monday to see if they can do this.

For me this is strictly a hypothetical problem now, but I could see this becoming an issue based upon my years of experience as a landlord. Once you enroll in Zelle it will be up to your bank to help you out from what I have learned.

After a discussion with other landlords I have discovered a potential problem with Zelle. What happens when you are actively trying to evict an uncooperative tenant? Let’s say the tenant is intentionally or carelessly damaging your property, or he has acquired a pet in violation of your lease, etc. If you go to court after filing your state’s required eviction paperwork, and the first of the month comes up there is no way to refuse your tenant’s payment. So the tenant can keep paying you, and the judge will say that since you have “accepted” the rent payment your case of eviction is dismissed. Sure you don’t want to take the payment, but Zelle is going to put it there anyway.

When I contacted Zelle about this they said I would have to “contact the sender.” Well the sender is my uncooperative tenant, so that won’t help me. The Zelle employee then suggested I contact my bank to see if they could somehow refuse to accept my payment from the uncooperative tenant. I will call my bank Monday to see if they can do this.

For me this is strictly a hypothetical problem now, but I could see this becoming an issue based upon my years of experience as a landlord. Once you enroll in Zelle it will be up to your bank to help you out from what I have learned.

@Peter J Turner  The  remaining tenants just send their checks to my PO box.  I will soon send a letter to all tenants to give them the option of using Zelle. 

@Peter J Turner  I have made Zelle available to some tenants.  One uses it every month, and it works great.  Another tenant said she could not get it to work.  She had people from Zelle and her bank trying to coach her, but she did not get it.  

First, where would I look to see who owns this fence?  It seems that most of the above posters disagree about liability.  

The neighbor's tree next to my rental property  fell on the fence separating our properties.  The fence  is damaged.  First, how do I know who owns that fence?  Secondly, does the neighbor have to pay to clear the tree remains on my side of yard and any damage if I own the fence?

@Ken Breeze yes use SDA all the time, but I always like to compare it to results I get from other spreadsheets.   There is always more to learn.

Omar, I prefer a one size fit all spreadsheet.  I am interested in syndicating deals, but if I come across a small building for which I can pay cash i want to analyze that too.