All Forum Posts by: Burt L.

Apologies for the typos of the last post - BP doesn't allow modifications anymore.  The missing words are pretty intuitive though. 

@Matt Devincenzo posted while I was posting and of course adds good points. I'm obviously and pretty rightly eby the ROW agents approach. Thats a good reason to bring in no longer help myself in person to person negotiations on it.

When I mention a revocable license agreement to continue use of the are in back, that is what the agent offered of his own accord and it and was explained to mean that if they were to need to do work there  I would not be compensated. Everything was volunteered and not extracted from the agent. 

There seems to be a belief throughout this thread that its alright for a city employee to come onto your property and simply lie about item after item and then send a written agreement in direct contrast expecting you to sign and return it. The city can do whatever they want I I have to lean forward and take it. 

At time of purchase I had a couple of engineers over to look at a couple of things. My side of the street has no curb and gutter, the other side of the street has gutter only while only  that side of the street is getting sidewalks as part of this project. All the water from the crown of the road floods onto my property and I was informed its illegal to discharge water onto anothers property and that the engineers could apply pressure to the city to have curb and gutter installed. As part of the project, the only existing drain on my side of the street is being sealed over with concrete and even that will be lost. I had to do an elaborate french drain system with multiple pumps as the lower level units would get water with hard rains. 

Perhaps the land attorney can use this lack of curb and gutter as incentive in negotiations, which the engineers were quite confident they would be successful with. Of course I was aware there was no curb and gutter at time of purchase and that there was an easement in place, and which hadn't been exercised since year the properties construction in year 1960. 

The ROW agent volunteered everything - I didn't ask for any of it and just let the meetings topics go where they went. If nothing else I'd like his supervisor to hear the audio and understand how his agent is conducting himself in representing the city. The important issue is the revocable license agreement to continue my fencing of the back yard that keeps the homeless campers out of the back yard. I put it up 4 years ago and there was part of old fencing in the same place. 

Thank you so far! I should clarify a couple of things - the city is abandoning their current drain line as its undersized and installing larger pipe next to it so can't be a trenchless pipe but would have been nice. 

I would be happy to have them move the large storage shed and its whatever contractor provides an acceptable bid rather than city employees doing the work. As there is only a one lane asphalt driveway that goes between the building and the east property line the contractor will have to operate his heavy equipment there and will hurt tenant access and definitely damage the asphalt. This reduction in access is what the compensation was to be for and tenant complaints will be many and with creative language. 

I have a Colorado fourplex and met with both a city ROW agent and the project engineer at the property as they need to replace a 60 year old street drainage pipe that runs along the easement at the east edge of the property. To do that they need to remove my 6 ft fencing on that edge and will replace it, which isn’t in question. A larger storage building (10X 12 tall barn style) is in the easement and I was told they would move it and move it back, at their cost.

The access to the two rear units will be obstructed and damaged by the heavy equipment and the tenants will be upset and don't have another place to park their 4 cars. It may effect lease renewals.  The Construction Agreement says they have access for 6 months and can extend up to 12 months. I was told when we met at the property that I would receive monetary compensation. I was told they would have a surveyor place surveyor pins that show where the property line is but there still are none. As its a metes and bounds area, the best quote I’ve received to have it surveyed myself is $4K.

Most importantly, the property backs to a city greenbelt and homeless people will camp out there and scare the daylights out of my tenants. A creek runs through it and so I extended my north fencing up to that creek and there is still old fencing there, where it has been done before. The ROW agent said he would give me a revocable license agreement to continue this use but that if they ever need to do work back there that I wouldn’t receive compensation as it is their property. I had the sense to record the conversation with himself and the project engineer and the audio quality is quite good.

When I received the Construction Agreement they want me to sign, none of this is included. There is no compensation, I am responsible for moving the storage building, there is no mention of repairing my asphalt driveway, and most importantly they state the north fencing will be taken down and not replaced as it is encroaching on their property. He had specifically said he’s okay with the north fencing and knows its to keep the homeless campers out, and who the police are very slow to remove.

I have absolutely no intention of signing this document though know they will have some recourse to enforce the easement if need be. As said, I have the entire meeting on audio tape. I”m sure the ROW agent is evaluated/promoted on how much he can get done for the city at the lowest cost. To stand on a person’s property and blatantly misrepresent to gain access is most agitating. At first he wanted to do an informal Letter of Agreement, but I declined.

I have an appointment with a land attorney late this week and now will be getting a significant legal bill out of all this as it will turn into much more than the cost of a consultation.

What might BP Nation be able to suggest in this situation. I suspect I’m not the first person the ROW agent has sought to take advantage of. He acted like a used-care salesman - trying to be my best friend at the meeting. My apologies for the length of this!

I should clarify that during the time my security deposit check was '"stuck in the mail" as the certified mail had to be mailed to their old address is "when I received an initial demand for return of deposit" signed by each of them. They did not know that the payment had already been mailed as I had no forwarding address.  I have the certified mail receipt and there is a tracking number.

-this is what the initial paragraph of my previous post was supposed to say. That paragraph looks like something was missing and the above is it!

If the check was in anyone elses possession they would have been incensed and letting me know about it during that full month. This fact should be helpful with the polilce. 

I should clarify that during the time my security deposit check was '"stuck in the mail" as the certified mail had to be mailed to their old address  I have the certified mail receipt and there is a tracking number. 

The first fraudulent check was then deposited a full month later. If anyone else had that check besides the former tenants, those former tenants would have been screaming from the rooftops, so to speak as they took a month to deliberate on how to proceed with my check. 

This is defenitely a hurdle I will have in convincing the police as well, so glad it was brought up. When I spoke with a police phone representative about how to proceed I was told that this was a "civil matter" and that I would have to file in civil court. The police will likely try to pass this off as civil in nature when I go to file the report in person as its related to a tenancy,  and I"ll have to convince them otherwise. I don't know of anyone having to file in civil court for fraudulent check writing/forgery on their bank account but I"m sure I will face this resistance when filing the report. I'm certainly open to suggestion on how to convince the police otherwise. 

Something new (?) to be aware of for landlords. 

I had some tenants who had been with me 2.5 years without issue and were on MTM lease. One day I received a call from a property mgmt co that they had applied for a new property and I gave a good reference. I later learned that is was only for one person and that there was a restraining order between the two of them, though they were allowed to be be in contact. It specified one party could have no involvement with guns or alcohol. Learning this and not wanting anythig like it on the property to affect other tenants, I served a 30 day notice to vacate to much resistance as both parties wanted to remain together again now despite the restraining order. After much ugliness they both moved out. 

I then sent the security deposit check by certified mail to the former tenants. It was delivered by certified mail and no question who had received the check. There were damages such as a broken microwave door and control panel on an over-the-range micro, left 5 days late, and other damages that were all itemized, as required. 

The security deposit was sent to the prior address (my property) as no forwarding address was provided. In the time it was in the mail I received a demand for security deposit return, with their new address as the return address - the new  landlord's property had provided a good reference for. 

A second, unknown name was added as a payee- I learned to cross out any blank space after a payee's name through this. 

That check was then altered to increase the amount by $1,000 by changing "seven hundred to seventeen hundred" and the number was changed from 752 to 1,752. The check went through. I use duplicate checks and have a copy of the the originally written check. 

I called the bank and explained that the check had been fraudulently altered and they were able to reverse payment on it. I believe an  unsuccessful crime is still a crime. 

Last week another check was somehow created from scratch and an attempt was made to cash the check on the same account. As my account had been flagged the bank did not cash the check and called me saying someone was trying to cash a check claiming to have done work for me this past weekend. I do all my own work currently. That account is now closed and another opened. 

I was contacted by the sherrifs office today that they want to serve me papers from the the former tenants concerning their security deposit.  Of course, I'm not sending any new checks or otherwise now. 

I'm considering filing a police report for criminal check fraud and have their new address, employment, etc.. Not looking forward to getting caught up in all the time requirements. Would prefer to have them learn a lesson by forfeiting the rest of the deposit but it looks like i will be filing a criminal report and then they can decide if they want to pursue it further, as will I. Once I file the report and provide the document trail, its probably irreversible though. 

In the end, I gave a good landlord reference to persons who then engaged in check fraud and forgery against myself. I"m also considering contacting the new landlord/mgmt company and letting them know what they have, so they will be prepared- In addition to providing the string of documents to the police as part of a comprehensive police report. 

I'm also considering letting them know that I am proceeding with the above if they are proceeding, or just going ahead and file the detailed police report and notify the new landlord. Having such a thing on one's personal record certainly won't help with employment or housing, in the future. How might others choose to proceed on this matter? 

They are also attempting to serve me personally instead of the LLC the property is held in. Thought I should put this overall scenario out to BP Nation for any input! Thank you.

The windows are vinyl bypass-slider windows, which are common in the area here and are double-pane. 

With the proximity to the road at speeds of 40 mph or so any window would let noise through. So I'm considering buying another set of windows and putting them at the back of the window cavity with the sliding side lining up with the window in front  of it. 

It seems expensive but long vacancies between tenants are even more expensive. @Colleen F.Thank you for the tip on hedges vs trees also. 

Title says most of it- I have lots of interest but since the property faces a "main arterial route", which translates to road noise. The two units at the front of the property are hard to rent while the rear ones are not. Having an interest rate obtained after covid, it takes full occupancy  to cover the debt on the property. 

Having tried the smaller things like accoustical caulking and thicker door weatherstripping, I need to think of further methods. The windows are double pane and attach to the outer edge of the windowsill.  In looking at my own home which has single pane windows, I see that there are storm windows which attach to the inner edge of the windowsill. It seems I could buy another set of double-pane windows and attach them to the inner-edge of the windowsill. The windows in this area are commonly bypass slider type windows and the openings would line up, allowing them to be opened, just as my own storm and outer windows line up. The construction type is cinderblock with a brick exterior on the rental. I don't' think the cinderblocks are filled but would be hard to get to under the eaves and ceiling. 

There would be about a 3 inch gap between the inner and outer double-pane vinyl slider windows. It would be hard to clean the stationary section on the large living room window, which is 8 ft by 5 ft and has a slider on each end of about 2 ft in width. 

There is a company called "Indows" that will make a single pane that attaches to the inside with levers for removability but understand they are $500 to $1000 per window and I can get double-pane  vinyl sliders at $3-4 hundred each and probably $500 for the large one. It will be a long 3 weeks wait to have them made. They could also be spares if one gets broken, though the outer windows don't sit on the windowsill and are about 2 inches taller and wider. 

This is a low-frequency noise issue. There is a fence in front limited to 4 ft with 50% coverage as that is all the city allows. I've also thought of trees in front but that takes a lengthy time to grow to usefulness. 

Am I missing somethig here? This is an expensive problem with every turn-over on the front units and am sitting in an empty unit writing this now. Thank you for reading thru.