All Forum Posts by: Marc Estepa

@Laren Eustace! Is Nancy a recommendation?  Thanks in advance!

@Doug Nordman, mahalo for your advice!  I will do that first thing tomorrow.  Everytime I’ve gone to JAG was over Commander type issues and work stuff.  Aside from notaries, I never thought to ping them about personal situations.  I’ll absolutely ask.  Again, thanks for the advice and it’s been a pleasure to chat!  Keep doing what you’re doing!  Surf’s up in North Shore around this time!  So jealous.  

@Doug Nordman!  Aloha!  Sorry for being a weird fanboy, but I just wanted to say hi!  I am about 3.5 months into BP and heard your podcast with your daughter a few weeks ago.  I’m military too, so your story caught my attention and I listened to it a few times.  Hope you are well over there.  I just PCS’d to JBLM Washington for my last two years in the Army and plan on hanging up the boots back in Hawaii!  

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations.  My case is interesting because, although I am a Landlord for 3 properties on the mainland, I am the tenant in this case.  I know how I run my properties, so I’m very upset with how this landlord is choosing to run his.  I don’t believe he is a bad guy, but he is uninformed as to how to run this as a business as he does it himself.  I posted a thread on this as it all started and have been working for a resolution for nearly two months now.  It is labeled, “Hawaii Landlord uses $4000 deposit to fund carpet remodel.” We agreed upon a solution to settle this matter in which I have met my end of the bargain.  Unfortunately, I feel like it’s not good enough and they continue to ask for more beyond what’s been agreed upon.  I do NOT want to take anything to court and simply want to move on with our lives, but this continues to drag on.  

@Clara E Discua-Cerrato.  Sorry for the late response.  My thoughts exactly.  They mentioned that they were going to be moving back to the home but needed the carpets cleaned as she has allergies.  That’s obviously understandable.  But reasonably, allergies to pet dander are a serious thing, so if that’s the case - why take chances with carpet installed in 2013?  

Carpet has a usable life of 3-7 years in a rental before it should be replaced.  As a landlord, you save for capital expenditures to replace major end items that require changing due to normal wear and tear.  That’s the landlord’s responsibility, NOT the tenant. There is a difference between damage from a tenant’s neglect versus normal wear and tear.  I think that’s where they are blurring the lines.  The carpet was apparently replaced in 2013 and was 3 years old before I had taken ownership of the home from 2016 - Sept 2020.  Just frustrated with this whole situation.

As of about 2 hours ago, I am now receiving angry emails from the Landlord’s wife saying that the entire upstairs carpet needed to be replaced after all and are now threatening to send us the invoices.  This is AFTER we have met our end of our gentlemen’s agreement to settle this and move on.  Incredibly stressful and frustrating.  

@John Teachout, yes - the language the landlord is using leads me to believe that they are going to hold us liable for issues that are not in our lane and threatening to send us various invoices that are well outside of our agreement.  

The landlord and I came to an agreement in which we have held up our end of the bargain.  They have repeatedly gone back against their word and have even waited 6 weeks to return half of our deposit with no line item list as to what was deducted.  The standard is 14 days after our move out as per tenant landlord laws in Hawaii. 

No one has outright stated they will sue the other, but I now feel that I need to start inquiring about lawyers to navigate the best way to deal with the landlord’s communication with us.  

Rather than wait for someone to outright say they will sue the other, what is the threshold in which I need to wait before I pull the trigger to hire representation?  

I guess I can outright ignore the threats, but I feel that this will cause the other party to continue to get aggravated and angry, leading us down this path to court anyway.  I just want to be proactive versus reactive to this, but don’t know the next reasonable course of action if the landlord continues to harass us well after meeting the terms of our agreement.  

Thoughts?

Not yet.  The language they are using is telling me that we are going on to elevate this.  I want to get ahead of it and begin protecting ourselves

Does anyone have a good recommendation for a top rated lawyer specializing in landlord tenant disputes on Oahu, Hawaii?  

Need assistance putting a landlord tenant dispute to bed.  Tried to work everything out amicably.  Unfortunately, we’re past that and need to lawyer up to protect ourselves.

@David M. thanks for making the time to chat and the education!  Wish I learned all this when I was an LT! I know these are basic questions!

@Account Closed, wow...thats creative!   I didn’t even think about that.  I’m still stuck thinking in the box with all the normal conventional options.  How would I cash them out?  How would I even reasonably price that out?  I feel like they want to get top dollar for their home.  From my understanding - the mother suffered from dementia, hoarded animals and is now being placed in a home for better treatment.  The home is a mess and I feel like they are trying to recoup as much as they can for their troubles by getting the most they can get for the home.  When approached by other investors and buyers previously with low ball offers, I understand that they wouldn’t even entertain them.  I think I’m going to explore this a bit.  Thanks!!!!!