All Forum Posts by: Timmi Ryerson

Use the webflyers in your property management software.  It will allow you to post photos and descriptions as well as the basic info like rent and security deposit and whether you allow pets.  Once activated those webflyers are automatically posted to many different URLs.  You will start to get inquiries from  prospective renters via the contact data listed on the webflyer.  You can also post to Craigslist for free and my software has the copy and paste option to make that easy.

So far the answers given are good and correct.  Once again, I will recommend that you have wording in your lease that specifically states that if you are required to do work to restore the unit to a rent-able condition for items NOT considered to be wear and tear, that you charge  $XYZ per hour for labor and management (which includes time spent scheduling work and finding vendors, procuring materials etc.)  If it is not written in the lease, it is hard to get paid for labor you do yourself.  But you can charge for money spent for replacement items.  I like Wesley's list which can be added as an addendum to the lease itself.

People who ride motorcycles take a risk of injury much more that those who drive cars.  That being said, I admire your caring attitude but this person is your tenant, not your friend. Rent is  due when it is due and late fees will be attached. He needs to be prepared for the decisions he makes and you are not responsible for his problems.  I would do nothing except give him your condolences for his injury. 

You may want to look at Carbonic Heat for a solution.  They are an under floor heating film (electric) which you can put a carpet or area rug over.  It is very efficient, much less cost that traditional electric heat and is heats with far infared waves which heats objects not air.  It is a company in my town and we live at 6000 feet elevation and have lots of cold weather and snow from October to May..and the locals are loving this heating system.  It is run on thermostats which can be added  room by room so daytime temps in bedrooms and all rooms can be controlled when no one is home.  I am pretty sure that the web site is CarbonicHeat.com.   It would be the least invasive of the other alternatives you mentioned.   I have it and love it...

I use Smart Property Systems.  You will pay much less per month for the software and the customer service is excellent.  It also has integrated double entry accounting, rent collection and a very nice tenant portal.  I have been using this software for 8 years now and really like it.

I see this requirement to sign as a huge red flag.  I would imagine that something like this was developed as a result of problems that have happened with other owners.  Property Management companies need to build a trust with owners for whom they manage. This would not grab my trust right off...I say pass and thank that beautiful waving red flag for the warning.

I hear you about a different LLC for each property but really it is one business. If you have a good property management software you can put the properties in as separate entities and pull reports for them as separate entities. You can also compare your profit margins for each property with reports pulled from your software. I suggest that you consider only one LLC and maybe ask an accountant about sub entities for each property. If you are trying to protect each property from risk of problems from another property then you need to be sure you are educated about property management and the ways to protect tenants from suing you and attaching other properties. I have owned properties for over 32 years and have never been sued by a tenant. So if you use best practices in property management, you probably do not need to protect the other properties individually against each other. Good luck.

Part of the answer to your question will be found in the lease agreement that you signed.  If you signed a lease that told you that you are responsible for repairs if damage occurs, then you landlord may have a case for the toilet repair.  However if you can get a statement from the person living below you that the leaking into her ceiling was happening before you moved in then you have a case.  However, you mentioned that your daughter spilled a mug of water on the floor and that would not cause any leakage to the floor below unless this is a very low rent property or it was a very big mug.  So be sure of your facts if you want to go to court, because the judge will question you about your story. For leaks caused by plumbing fixtures, I have not seen it charged to the tenant unless the tenant broke the fixture.  If you did not break that toilet, you need to state that in your presentation if you decide to go to court.  By the way, it sounds more like a leak under the toilet in the wax ring than from lack of caulk around the toilet.  There would have to be lots of water on your bathroom floor regularly (like not using a shower curtain when taking a shower) for faulty caulk around the toilet to leak enough to get into the ceiling of the apartment below.  You should not be responsible for caulk around a toilet as a tenant.  However, it is the tenant's responsibility to notify a landlord of leaks right away.  You will need to be very clear that the bathroom floor was not often wet with water from a shower or tub usage to have a chance at getting your deposit back.

So now let me tell you what you may have in your favor and what you will need to be effective in court:  

1. You must have a receipt for cleaning the carpets or having them cleaned if you did this yourself.  That receipt would have the date, name of company you hired or name of rental place you rented the carpet cleaner from.  If you did this yourself be sure to put the receipt for the amount you paid for the soap as well.  Put those receipts in your Evidence folder as evidence that you did have the carpet cleaned.  If you paid with a check provide a copy of both sides of the check to show it was cashed.  If you paid with a credit card copy the record in your credit card statement.  Having that evidence will help you get out of the carpet cleaning charge.  Also include the statement from the property manager that stated that the condition of the carpet was not good when you moved in.

2.  At the time of check out, if you have a reasonably good property management company who managed the property, you would have been given a  Move Out Inspection sheet and it should be signed by you and the person who checked you out.  Put that in your Evidence folder.  You said that you were told that the place was clean and in good order at check out.  So that being said, no judge is going to look very kindly on a company who takes your security deposit with this kind of documentation.  If you have not documentation of these events you need to request them from the property manager or you will most likely not prevail in court.

3.  You will need a copy of your rent payments or rent roll history.  You need to show that you paid rent on time every month you were in residence.  If you did not and were charged late fees they must be paid before you get a full security deposit back.

4.  Landlord communication dated Sept 6:  This is confusing to me.  If there is a leak in the toilet that was let go for a long time, there can be a lot of damage, like rotten wood, cracked tile, need to replace a floor and floor covering, mold amelioration etc.  But spilling a mug of water on the floor would not cause this kind of damage ever.

5. The fact that the landlord did not respond is good for you for your case but you need to have documentation. That means you need copies of the emails sent, memorandums of phone calls hopefully signed by Coldwell Management,
a letter from Coldwell Management stating that they attempted to reach the landlord and there was no response.

6. If you have any photos of the damage area and the repair with documentation of that repair including the costs and the name of the person doing the repair put all items in your evidence file. 

7. Now go to your local magistrate court and file the lawsuit in small claims court.  You will have to pay a court fee to open the case, a fee for service of the lawsuit to the landlord.  If there was an active property manager that person or company  should also be named as a party in the lawsuit.  Keep track of all of your court costs and be sure to include them in the total amount you are seeking.  If there is any penalty available to you in your county, for this kind of behavior on part of the landlord or property manager add that penalty to the paperwork you fill out.  (You will find that information in the landlord tenant laws for your state and county.  You can act as your own lawyer in this case but you will need to be able to stand up in court and present your case to the magistrate judge.  NO there is not likely to be an audience, just you and the defendants and whomever has interest in seeing this case.

I have had the same experience, many years ago.  I had a contract and brought an accountant in to audit the books for my account because the expenses for repairs and turns were so high.  My units were 2 and three bedrooms with about 8 windows which had blinds.  He was caught ordering 48 blinds on my dime for properties that were not mine. Also found that they replaced area vinyl under at kitchen table with a completely different style and color of vinyl...looked horrible and I ended up redoing the whole unit.  So I cancelled the contract and he sued me.  I presented the facts to the judge and lost the case.  

So first, I am going to recommend that you read your contract very carefully.  If there is no weasel clause for you, can you take over and supervise all of the repairs until your contract is up for renewal?   If so,  I suggest that you do all repairs until your contract is up and then I would fire them summarily.  Second, in the contract is there wording about them marking up the repairs to cover their time?  If so, they can do as they wish.  If not, you have a case for approving any repair ordered by them and I would carefully watch the cost and length of time they take to do turns and get a new tenant in.  Should not be more that a few days at the most.  

Your dilemma is exactly why I took my properties back and developed a software to simplify management so I can do it myself.  Good Luck

We are in the process of a refi for cash out now, and I guarantee you that the appraiser/bank etc will walk through the units.  My 2 cents worth is as follows:  Notify the tenants that you are going to do an inspection.  Take a real inspector who can take samples for presence of mold, bugs etc.  I have had a hoarder once who forgot about the cats they owned and we found the cats and kittens dead in a cupboard. They had been there for quite awhile...Yuk!!.  (These tenants were asked to leave because they refused to clean up the property.  It was big bill for the cleanup. )

After the inspection, give them notice to clean up with specific detail and tell them when you will be reinspecting the property.  I recommend that you also include in the notice that eviction is possible if the refuse to cooperate. Now  hold them to the time line for this notice and show up for the followup inspection.  If they clean up, raise the rent as you wish and put them on month to month with monthly inspections to be sure that they maintain the unit as needed.  And the incentive can be that inspection frequency goes down if they have good inspections every time.   If they do not comply either give them notice to move out or raise the rent so high that they will not stay.  If you find mold and bugs, rotten floors, ruined carpets, broken walls etc, it is justifiably tenant caused.  I would order it cleaned and debugged and charge them for the repairs.  They may need to vacate for mold amelioration.  In my opinion, you would not be responsible for their housing in this case because the damage was caused by the hoarder.  If you acquiesce and allow them to violate cleanliness terms in the lease, you will be seen by any judge as being complicit with their uncleanliness.  I would also make them sign a new month to month lease that specifically states that hoarding (or however you wish to describe the condition where things pile up so that there are only trails from the kitchen to the arm chair toilet and bed) will not be tolerated.  

All landlords have the right to require regular inspections and should give notices to comply if this kind of problem starts or restarts.  In my opinion it is part of good property management.  By doing this you can have a win win.  You get the units cleaned up and you get to keep tenants who pay regularly and do not call for repairs. Who knows, they may even thank you for the push to live in a clean home.   Good luck!!