All Forum Posts by: Vicki K.

@Nathan - Their deposit was over 1800 and I gave them back 80 and change. They are disputing 1200. (300 for cleaning, 800 for the carpet and 100 for damage to the garage door). I was definitely generous overall.

I have not gone to court yet. I really wanted to know if I had a case considering they never gave me back the property condition report. My logic is, if there were pre-existing damages and they had no form to record them on (as they claim), take pictures.

Btw, we have before and after pictures.

@Chris Martin - Thanks so much for your response. This is one of my first properties. I never put carpet anymore.

I am curious what you make out of this guidance then:

https://rpoaonline.org/kb/can-charge-damaged-carpe...

The property was absolutely filthy. They are even disputing cleaning charges saying cleaning is not "damages". They were given a clean home but left a filthy mess. I have a website with 20+ homes showing the condition of our homes and the pride we take in our business. Wouldn't that count for something in front of a judge. By the way, I've heard from a friend of mine who is a lawyer that the judges in my city are rather landlord friendly.

Hello everyone. I was hoping I could find an answer to my question by reviewing prior posts, but so far no luck, so I figured I would just go ahead and ask.

I have a tenant who left a pig sty upon his departure. The property is absolutely filthy and there are some damages. I had a year old carpet in the house prior to them moving in which looked like new. Now after 3 years of occupancy (2 adults, 3 kids and 3 dogs), the carper was totally trashed. I am withholding money for that and they are claiming that's normal wear and tear because of the number of occupants and lease duration. My thinking is I should've been able to clean it, but it was unsalvegable.

I sent a refund check for the deposit minus all damages assessed on the propery. I have followed all security deposit rules in the state of Michigan and so far they have as well by sending me a dispute letter.

I want to take them to court as I think I have a pretty good case for holding on to the deposit.

My challenge is I never got a move in condition report completed by them and they are referencing that in their letter. I do have pictures of before and after though. Michigan law requires the report to be completed but does not describe what happens if you don't. My standard procedure is to provide a copy to the tenant upon move in. I am pretty sure I did that but have no way of proving and I think they simply never send it back.

So my questions are:

1. Could not having a completed Move In/Move Out Property Condition Report pose an issue for me in small claims court or as long as I have a good evidence of the damages (pictues) I will be okay?

2. What are your thoughts on the carpet situation. Normal wear and tear is a sticky subject. How do you make that call?

Thanks in advance for your help.

@Guy Gimenez - Guy, that's one of the principles we have been sticking by since we got started in this business. We always buy our materials, we GC our projects, we don't pay up front for labor... @Account Closed , those were some of the principles (rather practices) we have been sticking to up until this project.

@Cole Walker - At this point, I also don't have $2,500 worth of materials (windows and doors) he paid for with my deposit. He is ignoring my communications completely, so since I don't have the $1,600 I estimate is left over + $2,500 in undelivered material, I am in $4,000. In the grand scheme of things, not a huge amount but the whole situation and his non-responsiveness bugs me a lot. It's unprofessional to say the least.

@Account Closed - Art, the relationship didn't really start off on the right foot from the beginning - he was nickeling and diming me any chance he got. He did only two things for me and somehow there were $600 extra charges. I got this bad feeling that I will be in a lot of money before all this was done. I wanted to get out of a bad situation before it got worse and used my pending line of credit as the reason to terminate the contract before we both invest more money and time in this transaction. I wanted to be fair and cover the expenses he has incurred for labor and materials so far + his 20% markup as a GC. 

I do realize what I did is not ideal and yes, there are many lessons to be learned here.

Sorry @Larry Turowski I wrote the post quickly and didn't proofread. My apologies. I agree, I didn't explain well.

Total job was $12K for labor and materials to do the following:

- tuck pointing throughout the house

- install 6 basement windows and replace 2 window sills

- install windows and 3 exterior doors

- install blown-in insulation in attic + baffles

- install siding on garage

- install gutters on garage and house

- install gutters and trim on house

I paid $6K as a deposit to get started.

What he did before I pulled the plug on the project was:

- tuck pointing

- basement windows

He said he has ordered and paid for the windows and doors but he never delivered them to me or made arrangements for me to pick them up. So even though he says he has incurred expenses for them, I don't have the product. Windows are about $2,400.

I told him that I am stopping the remaining work and want to get the unused portion of my deposit back. 

He sent me the following:

Windows and Doors: $3,454

7 Replace glass blocks windows, all vented - $700

Install two new basement window sills (200), glass block the milk shoot (100): $300

Tuck Pointing, along with the agreed extra for the back slab - $707

Total toward agreed contract: $5,161

Credit back to you: $839.00

I responded to this by saying that I only have 6 basement windows and that since I gave him the window/door supplier I know the windows are no more than $2,400. Tuck  pointing is grossly overestimated (we have done this many times). 

I expected his cost breakdown to look more like this:

• Doors & Windows - $2,500
• Basement Windows - $450
• Milk shoot -$50
• Window sills - $200
• Tuck Pointing - $275
• Baffles - $50 (I am adding those + the time of your guy, etc.)

Total Cost to him so far: $3,525

• 20% mark up

Total  toward agreed contract: $4,230

$1,770 remains from the $6,000. I told him that since he came few times to meet with me and quote the work, he can keep another $100 for his time. I asked him to send me a check for $1,600 and tell me how I can get my windows and doors. I never heard back.

I hope this is more clear. My apologies again for the long but confusing post above.

Hi everyone and Happy New Year to you all! I wish you all great business success, prosperity and few headaches.

Speaking of headaches, let me share with you my current debacle in hopes of getting some reassurance that I haven't made a big mistake and if so getting some ideas for softening the impact.

So here it goes...

For one reason or another and against some of our core principles, we engaged the services of a GC for our latest rehab. I signed a flaky agreement that I will pay a 50% deposit and the rest in 2 installments of 25%.

I have been trying to finalize a commercial loan with a line of credit and was relying on that line to pay for a large portion of this rehab. I still haven't closed on that loan so I told him that don't have it and need to stop the work. I asked him to provide me with an account of what he has spent to date. The amount he gave me is about 1/2 of what I am estimating is left over. Besides, part of the money was to be used to purchase doors and windows from MY supplier (I know exactly what they cost). I confronted the contractor that he is overcharging me and since he has been ignoring me completely. I don't have the doors and windows either and he is not responding to anything. 

Total for the job was $12,000.

I paid him $6,000 as a deposit.

He offered me $800 and didn't say what will happen to the windows. 

I told him I should be getting my windows and doors + $1,600. 

In my calculations I am accounting for a profit of 20% which he told me himself is the margin he operates under. I am also accounting for his time in quoting the job and meeting with me a few time (although I consider this the cost of doing business for him.)

His contract has no early termination clauses or any references to termination at will. Contract states that in case of a dispute, both parties will cooperate to resolve it informally. I have been trying to do that but he is blowing me off.

What course of action do I have? I am in almost $4,000. 

He is a GC. I find it hard to believe that he can pull the "I've lost thousands because I tied up my people to do your job." This was not a long-term project. We are talking - window/door installation, attic blown in insulation, garage siding, house gutters and trim.

What is he trying to accomplish by not responding to me or attempting to resolve the conflict among ourselves? Is he hoping I will engage a lawyer and he can then counter-sue for breach of contract (early termination)?

Thank you in advance for your invaluable advice.

@Brian P. - your post made me chuckle. I like your approach. A little bit of humor and you can calm them down even if they get excited and tell tell you that you have lost your mind. :o)

Awesome job, @Andy M. Love the photo book idea and the overall YouTube. Your kids are adorable.