All Forum Posts by: Tom Hejnas

Hello everyone. Me and my fiance Tina were always interested in real estate and were recently fortunate enough to acquire a rental property here in Chicago. After purchasing "The Book On Managing Rental Properties" we quickly learned about this site and are excited to learn and hear from all the great people on here. This is our rental first property and we're new to the word of real estate but we're excited for this new chapter in our lives and are hoping to built on it and eventually purchase more estate in the future. 

Can't wait to meet and talk with everyone on here!

Hello everyone, I'm new to the real estate business. My wonderful fiance and I were fortunate enough to recently acquire a multi family estate. The previous landlord passed away just this September and left some tenants behind. We've contacted the tenants to explain what has happened and to collect back rent which they had no problem paying.

I did some research and most people recommend filling out an Estoppel Agreement but the previous landlord passed away so what is keeping the tenants from lying about a security deposit or who owns the appliances? They were on a month to month lease and everything was done verbally to my knowledge. Do we just assume everything is ours and that there was no security deposit if they are unable to prove otherwise?

We are trying to protect ourselves in the case that they decide to move out and demand a lump sum of money and claim that all the appliances are theirs.

Any advice is much appreciated.