All Forum Posts by: Richard Balsam

Take this advise from someone who has done evictions on Georgia for 15 years. Always have separate agreements for each tenant. Here's why: The four tenants most likely, are depending on others ( their parents) to cover the rent. Each parent expects to only pay for their own student's expenses. They are not related, and do not share information between parents. They just pay the rent until their lease is done. They will not agree to, nor did they ever agree to, cover any other portion of rent when they signed the lease ( i would never do that...would you?). They are not required by law. I've had two daughters lease rooms in houses in Athens in the past. I now have my son about to do the same in another college town next year. It helps when I do this for a living - I've seen most if not everything that can be tossed at me. Here's your likely scenerio:

You issue the Demand letter - which you did. You start the eviction AFTER the tenant had sufficient time to answer - usually a minimum of 48 hours later. Then, you fill out the eviction paperwork at the courthouse. The Sheriff will post the notice on the door for the tenant, as well as mail it to the house. This takes anywhere from 2-7 days, depending on how busy they are. They have 7 days to respond. They will respond after 6 days and 7 hours into the 7th day...at 4pm. Ask me how I know, after 25+ evictions that I've done. It's uncanny - but true. If you get lucky, and they do not respond, or respond late - you go to the courthouse on the 8th day, pick up your Writ Of Possession signed by the judge, and if the tenant did not leave you the keys, and vacate willingly, you MUST hand the Writ to the county Sheriff to be put on their waiting list for eviction. Each county is different. Some allow eviction companies to handle the situation. They cost a few hundred dollars, mostly to cover the manpower to evict. Some counties require two people PER bedroom - in this case, one bedroom = two adults- even if the room is empty...I know- sounds ridiculous, but true in a lot of counties- mine included. Once things are tossed out, and tenant removed, sheriff signs off on eviction, and it's all yours. Total time: 4-8 weeks. No rent, only expenses. Now...you have an empty room, with no income. You must fill the vacancy during a school year - not so easy. 

Now...imagine if you signed all 4 to one lease. ALL four must be evicted. You will be sued by the three that had nothing to do with the 4th tenant not paying. This will take time- even if you prevail in court. It will take 1-2 months to hear the case in Magistrate court, then, if everything goes your way, you must evict those that did not give you the keys back and move out( giving you possession back). Now- you need multiple adults and the eviction company to do the eviction. Costs multiply, things get messy. Time is much longer due to the court case. Now...no rent for the whole house, for months, and an empty house during a school year...Good luck filling it quickly...

Things that sound like good ideas to protect yourself actually hurt you in the long run. My guesstimate for four evictions and no rent- would easily top $3-4-5K - maybe much more, if you must go to court against all four tenants and not receive rent for months + the costs of evicting everyone. Remember- chances are while waiting for the court case, you will not be paid by the remaining tenants fighting eviction. At best, they will pay in to the court as instructed in the Sheriff's notice of eviction. Keep everyone separate. You're investing in a college town - adapt to the way things are run in a college town - separate leases. Also expect that this will happen again - maybe in another property. Chances are- it will eventually. That's the reality of renting. Good luck with this. It shouldn't be too bad with only one room affected.

@James Sun- regarding your post...you cannot go to a collections agency regarding a broken lease. That is what Magistrate court is for - all landlord/tenants issues. Once a judge reviews your case and determines that the tenant does owe the funds, he/she approves the order and you are then able to hire a collections attorney...an attorney, not a collections agency. You can garnish wages up to a set amount- I believe it is 25% of the monthly wage until the amount is paid in full. The attorney has to involve the employer, who must answer the garnishment to the court, and pay into the court- each month. The court then waits for the attorney to petition for payment - monthly. Then, the attorney keeps a portion for their fee ( usually around 18-25% - my last garnishment was 25% of the paid-in amount). Yes- you can add the fee to the amount that is owed, but that is how it works in Georgia. It takes a lot of time to do this. I've done it three times...all for those that stopped paying and moved out with damage to the house. Now for the bad news: the judge determines the outcome. If the judge wakes up in a bad mood- watch out...they can dismiss the case, allow two months to be paid to you, or anything else they feel is fair. This is the part I don't like...you did everything right, the judge can see it differently. I've never heard of a landlord collecting until the end of the lease- month after month - just because a tenant breaks the lease. As for reporting to their credit...sorry to give you more bad news: you cannot report directly to the three big credit agencies to affect their credit. You can post on their credit that they owe funds - I used a service in the past to do this. It worked one time...the tenant was trying to get a mortgage, and my amount due was sitting on their credit- preventing the bank from moving forward until paid in full and removed by me. The credit agencies - want you to belong as a member. Equifax has a minimum of 1500 accounts you must report on monthly basis - leaving only the largest landlords to be able to do this. I've inquired in the past. Good luck!

I’ll be there.

It's hard to guesstimate repairs without seeing a home. The only advise I have is to use the quick method- which may not always be accurate: A nice home with just minor upgrades: $10-15/ft, if more work is needed: $20/ft. A really older home with tons of repairs can range between 25-30-40/ft. Of course- these are US prices- I see you're from Calgary, so add at least 10% for currency difference. For example, my average 2000 ft home needs on average $20,000 in upgrades to be ready - so $10/ft has been my average ( carpet/paint/granite kitchen/wood & tile floors, plumbing fixtures, landscape, hot water tank, HVAC repairs, $1-2K in Home Depot items as well). If my homes needed a new HVAC, roof, new garage doors, etc - it would average closer to $15/ft.

What if the absent tenant decides to live there and not sign your lease. You start to lose control - since they didn't agree to your terms. Do you know who it is - and did you perform a background check- including criminal? Here's an example of what could go wrong: What if the signed tenant agreed to no smoking in the house- but the travelling one didn't sign...and does smoke inside. Who would you evict...the unsigned tenant (where you have no lease- and is a "tenant in sufferance"- or the paying tenant that isn't smoking? Remember- in this example, only one signed the lease. You may have to evict both in this case- it gets complicated - if the travelling tenant was invited by the other one to live there, who also pays the rent. I would mail both copies of the lease - to have the travelling tenant sign and send back BEFORE the signed one can move in. You must have leverage in this situation. If the traveler doesn't sign, that tells you something. Refuse both and find someone else in that happens. Never take someone's word that they will or won't do something. In writing only.

It depends on what's what upgrades and repairs are needed. If you find a house that has a decent layout but is "tired" and in need of all upgrades to make it look great - you don't really need one. If you need to upgrade the mechanicals ( electric panel and/or wiring, HVAC, rough plumbing, etc)- I would hire the specialists to do their trade, then a drywall company to close up the walls. A GC may cost more like you said - if you can find one that actually does the work and not sub out it may make sense - or if he/she employs their own specialists and can do the work cheaper than individually farm out the work. But...I haven't used one yet in 14 years of investing. All subs I hire as needed, along with my trusty handyman that is a licensed HVAC guy that also does all my plumbing installs, wood rot, door replacements, electrical outlets, plumbing, lights, etc. I do all the small detail work myself- my own trim work, cut the wood while my handyman installs for wood rot outside, all caulking, install the new locks, buy the materials needed, etc, while everyone else works on the house. This schedule works for me, and the details are where the buyer/client notices how well the house looks. The nicer it is, the more I can ask for it- either in rent or sales price. Unfortunately, I've heard of issues where a GC was left alone for days, and either did something wrong, or didn't finish on time  and expects payment. Just run the numbers to see if you can afford a GC - after getting a few quotes. And...show up to make sure everything is done to your requirements a few times per week!

 My opinion is that since small claims court is designed for individuals to sue each other under $15,000, and you’re an individual representing your single member company - it should be fine. What I would do in your case, is call around to different attorneys, ask them the same question, and ask them what they would charge to represent you in small claims court. My guess is $500. This was the cost one of my attorneys said would charge me to represent me in Magistrate court for an eviction.  If you find this to be true, I would hire the attorney. They would know the legal avenue to help you collect the funds, assuming the other side claims they have no funds. This could include possibly attaching liens  if they own real property, etc.  Only an attorney would be able to answer this specifically.  You might be able to add their cost to the original amount. I was able to do this twice using a collections attorney on two different tenants. 

So, you go to HD and buy just enough paint to cover a small area? OK...we can argue all day who is at fault here- but your issue still remains. Since the paint doesn't match, you see a wall with two different shades... Right? There are only a few fixes here: 1. Did you peel off the EXACT wall area you need to match? Paint fades over time. Did you peel off a piece of drywall that the sun always hits? Or, was it from a dark area - like a closet, where there is never any sun- and you put it on the wall that the sun hits and faded over time? 2. Is the base of the paint the same as the base on the wall? This is HUGE. A pastel base will never match a flat, which will never match a semi-gloss, satin, etc - even if the paint tint is perfect. Want to hear a REAL problem I had? I used Porter paints on a house. When the tenants moved out, I used the actual gallon paint still in the house to touch up the wall. It didn't match at all. No sample size- this was a gallon size. Back to the store, and I had them match a new gallon size for me. It still didn't match. Why? Get ready for this one...Their gallon size paints are made in a different factory than their 5 gallon paints, and they told me the walls had the 5 gallon paints on them, while the touch up can I used was a single gallon... Even with the same paint tint done at the same time at the same store. So - your small HD mismatch is no big deal vs this one! I had to repaint entire walls where I touched up - all over the house. Also- I moved to HD Behr paints or Valspar. Always available in most towns, always consistent regardless of container size. And I use eggshell finish - to be able to wipe away some of the small stains, vs a flat where you can't clean the walls easily. In your situation - just paint the wall needed - as long as the base is the same and tint color is "close", the eye will not pick up the difference, as long as you are careful not to get any on the adjacent walls.

 The best way to research if a company is incorporated in the state, is to google “secretary of state division of corporations, Georgia”. All active companies are listed there.  If you cannot find them, or if their annual fee is not current, they are not a real corporation.  To answer your question, third-party companies can file evections such as management companies, or Lawyers on behalf of the landlord. However, nothing can be done until they mail you a Demand Letter specifying what is owed, and giving you a certain amount of time to pay the balance owed as detailed in the letter. No eviction can happen without proper notice first. if they go ahead and file for the eviction, without giving you proper notice, the judge will dismiss the case. Final result of that, would be no rent received during this time, while waiting for the court date. You should continue accumulating the rent due during this period, as it will be owed. It doesn’t sound like you’re Landlord knows the laws, or what to do, and is looking for an excuse to either bully you, or remove you. Either way, the result will be a temporary reduction in rent received, or an empty house that they must advertise to get someone else, who usually doesn’t have to move until the following month anyway. Not a very good business decision on the part of your landlord over half a months rent due.  Don’t forget, even if the eviction does not happen, the landlord can give you notice that she will not renew your lease, a minimum of 30 days in advance, whenever the expiration date is. If you’re planning on moving at that time, I highly suggest to start looking around 1-2 months before hand and give  your landlord written notice that you are not going to renew the lease.   

@Brittany Scott - Regarding payment of half rent and your landlord: I am a full time landlord in Georgia for 14 years, and I speak the real truth - there has been some half-truths being tossed around here. I typically have one eviction and/or one owner finance foreclosure per year ( we do lease-options and owner financing) - so I know what I am talking about. First, if your landlord accepted payment - partial or otherwise, they cannot bring an eviction during the month you paid. Period. End of story. She may fill out the forms starting next month, to include what you are behind in the previous month, but cannot accept any payment and continue the eviction during the same month. It will be tossed out of Magistrate court. Second, If you paid for air conditioners - and can prove you paid for them with receipts, etc, this is illegal in Georgia for the landlord. If you accepted the condition of the property when you signed the lease, and the home came equipped with working AC, the landlord must accommodate the repairs or replacement within a "reasonable" amount of time. The judge may in fact toss any eviction out based on you improving the home. This is a huge no-no in the law. Your landlord should have known this before she threatened eviction. She will have to meet the nice judge and explain herself there...I wouldn't want to be in her shoes. Third, just because she threatens you with eviction, if you mailed in your payment before month end- and she accepts the payment, eviction threat is gone. Even if late, if she accepts, it's a moot point. Next month is a new month to receive rent on time. Fourth, even if the case has been filed, there are no guarantees the judge will side with the landlord, especially if you tried to pay her, and if she refused, she still has to answer for the AC that you paid for  - which she owes you for improving the building, and it's not your responsibility. Finally, does your landlord understand the costs of eviction? Each county is different, but I have paid $95 for each adult occupant on the lease, while not having any rent coming in while the courts arrange for a date 2-3 weeks out ( in my county). Then, the judge makes everyone go in the hallway to try and work it out, payments made, etc. Not a slam dunk for landlords unless a serious amount is owed - then almost an automatic win. Also an automatic win for the side that doesn't show up. I wish I had tenants behind by a half month...I'll easily swap with your landlord! I've had tenants break dishwashers, stoves, faucets ( how- I still don't know). Replaced NEXT DAY - even when I was out of town for the dishwasher. And..all appliances were only 3-4 years old when stopped working. So- I do not feel for any landlord that does nothing but expect rent always on time...especially if the tenant improved the home. Homes always need upkeep - there's wood rot, AC low freon issues, appliances - I drive our homes 2x per year looking for "things".