All Forum Posts by: Stacy Tring

Yeah, we do have a special early move out form for when one tenant wants to leave before everyone else. The problem is, this tenant truly ghosted everyone without saying a thing and won't respond to anyone. We aren't even 100% sure where they went.

 Thanks so much for taking to provide such a detailed reply. This situation is quite the doozy.

Three people signed the rental agreement, which states all tenants are joint and severally liable. 

One tenant has stopped contacting the roommates and us, and we are not sure they are planning to return. We do not suspect foul play because the tenant's relatives have reported to the remaining tenants that the MIA tenant has moved in with another relative (but did not give that MIA tenant's new contact information).

Our local statute specifically says: "the tenant shall not be considered to be absent from the dwelling unit without notice to the landlord during any period for which the landlord has received payment of rent." Since the remaining tenants have still been paying, I'm not sure that I can treat the MIA tenant as absent?

The remaining tenants are having trouble paying and I may have to evict them because they don't have enough money to put down a security deposit anywhere. There is also the matter of refunding their security deposit for our unit. The rental agreement says I will make the refund check payable to all tenants and including the MIA tenant can help me protect myself against claims from them, but the remaining tenants won't be able to cash it because they can't reach this third roommate.

Any recommendations on how to legally revoke the MIA tenant's rights under the rental agreement?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

@Cari Sweet Thanks for the detailed reply. I definitely knew that telling him something untrue was not the way to go. It was more a matter of wondering would I run awry of the law if I denied him before he formally submitted an application. My screening requirements include no prior evictions, no bankruptcy, no foreclosure, certain credit score.

Wouldn't work because no other qualified applicant has been found yet, and the person would be able to see that the listing is still up.

Someone responded to a rental listing and scheduled a showing. Landlord was looking up information on person's address, not intending to do a full background search yet, but the quick Google search revealed that the person was in foreclosure. 

Listing did not include address, and now person is asking for address in preparation for showing. Landlord is hesitant to give out address because 1) it is a waste of everyone's time, and 2) what if the potential applicant is desperate enough to do something like squat. How should landlord handle this? Are they obligated to do the showing, let the person apply, and then formally reject them? Can they just let the person know that they found the foreclosure notices and wouldn't approve the application anyway?

Thanks in advance for your advice and insights.

I am buying a property that has potted plants outside that I do not want to maintain. See attached picture for an idea of how extensive we are talking here. Not a ton, but this is on all four sides and in front, so all in all about 20 or so potted plants, and I simply don't want to deal with hauling all of it away.

Most of our sales contract is based on a standard template, which does say that the seller must remove their personal belongings, but there is disagreement as to whether the potted plants fall under that clause. I feel that since the plants are not planted into the ground and are freely movable, they do count as personal belongings that the seller is responsible for moving. Thoughts?

@Dave Foster Thanks so much for detailed reply. So it sounds like a seller credit isn't automatically treated as boot on either half of the transaction; it simply affects 1) the net proceeds you receive as a seller (and thus the amount you must buy), and 2) the replacement value that the new house will count as when determining if you fully spent the net proceeds? Nothing is evaluated as cash boot until the end, after you compare #1 to #2 to see which one is greater?

Hi all, 

Would like to check my understanding on how a 1031 exchange is affected by offering or receiving seller credits. 

More specifically, I am wondering about seller credits for closing costs and seller credits for repairs. I know that seller credits for security deposits, property taxes, and rent should be handled outside of escrow. In the below scenarios, let's assume that all relinquished properties are paid off in full, so we are only potentially dealing with cash boot and not mortgage boot.

WHEN SELLING MY RELINQUISHED PROPERTY:

1A) If I offer a seller credit, does that simply reduce the net proceeds I have to spend on my replacement property? For example, if my sale price plus standard closing costs is $300,000 and I offer a seller credit $10,000, does that simply mean I have to buy property valued at $290,000 to defer all tax and not have any boot? 

1B) Does the answer change if it is a credit for closing costs vs a credit for repairs?

WHEN BUYING MY REPLACEMENT PROPERTY:

2A) If I am offered a seller credit,does that simply reduce what "spend value" the replacement property will count as when checking to see if I spent all my 1031 proceeds? For example, assuming I have $290,000 that I have to spend from 1A above, let's say I put in an offer of $300,000 on a new place and end up getting a $15,000 seller's credit. Does this simply mean I am deemed to have "spent" $285,000 of my proceeds and thus have $5,000 in cash boot that I need to pay tax on?

2B) Does the answer change if it is a credit for closing costs vs a credit for repairs?

GENERALLY:

3A) Since your cash boot is basically what you still have left after buying your replacement property, you won't know your boot total until the whole exchange is done right?

Thanks in advance for any clarification you all can provide!

Thanks for pointing out my mistake!