Property Manager is threatening illegal actions over lease break

Property Manager is threatening illegal actions over lease break

Investor · Huntsville , AL · Member since 2015 · 17 posts · 1 vote

Help please!

 My mom is renting a home in Madison County, AL. She is in a one-year lease. However, the option to purchase a home was made unexpectedly available to her, and she jumped on it. So now we're dealing with a lease-break situation. The leased home is currently almost completely cleaned out and cleaned. 

There is nothing in her lease about breaking a lease. In the Alabama Uniform Landlord and Tenant Act, the lease break stipulations are that the renter is required to continue payment until the property is re-rented, and the landlord is required to put in a good faith effort to re-rent the property quickly. Her property manager is stating that she is required to give a 60-day notice and that she must pay 2 months additional rent as a lease-break fine. In a spirit of good faith, she agreed to pay the rent through December 12th (60 days), but has not and will not agree to pay the additional two months rent unless the property does not re-rent. We have stated this to her property manager repeatedly in e-mails that he is refusing to reply to, we have mailed him printed copies of those e-mails via certified mail and dropped them off at his office. He is refusing to communicate via anything but phone calls.

We have listed the home for rent on Craigslist, and her PM company has listed it as well. They have both had lots of interest and two filled out applications. However her Property manager is telling people that the home is unavailable until December 23rd (it could be ready in about 2 days from now), and he called my mom today and told her that he has an approved applicant, but if she doesn't pay the two months rent then he will "send them elsewhere" and reject future applicants, forcing her to pay the two month's rent because the home is unrented. 

Obviously, this is illegal, but we have no idea what to do. It's just her word against his, as he will only communicate via phone. She has kept detailed lists of all communication between them, but they're just her own lists of what he said via the phone. Nothing we can prove. 

Any suggestions on how to proceed? My mom has been exceedingly kind, trying to re-rent the home as quickly as possible, cleaning it thoroughly, apologizing for the inconvenience, etc.. The property owner would not be out any money if the Property Manager would just allow these applicants to move in. 

*I can post the e-mails we have sent, if it will help. 

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Dawn BrenengenBusiness Member
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Real Estate Broker · Raleigh, NC · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
9y

What a piece of work! How are the companies' online reviews?  If they are good, I'd go ahead and write a bad one.  If they are already bad, then they probably don't care.  

I don't ever say this lightly, but I would enlist a lawyer.  It sounds like your Landlord Tenant laws are similar to those in my state, and this would not fly at all.  

Also, if the PM firm is a licensed real estate agency, which they should be, then you can also file a complaint with the real estate commission.  Actually, this is the first thing I would do.  

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  • Investor · Huntsville , AL · Member since 2015 · 17 posts · 1 vote
    9y

    @Brad Sanford, yes, the power is still in my mom's name. Someone else went in and turned off the breakers (someone that did not have a legal right to be there, I might add). 

    @Denise Evans I would whole-heartedly agree if the home was in an area that would stay on the market for some time, or if he didn't have a renter ready to move in immediately. Per Alabama law, she is not required to continue to pay rent once the home is re-rented, and they are now moving in the new tenants this coming Monday (apparently, which we were just informed of). 

  • Investor · Marietta, GA · Member since 2014 · 226 posts · 97 votes
    9y
    I would also write all of the emails stating "I am writing to memorialize our phone conversation on". As I have agreed to this and you have stated this....Please only respond to this communication in written form.
  • Investor · New York City, NY · Member since 2015 · 388 posts · 563 votes
    9y

    @Brenna Sullivan, your mom is so nice, if all of my residents were like her, I'd be happy as a clam. But on to your problem- it seems you're concerned about legal action by the owner against your mom. I'm not a lawyer, so take this with a grain of salt(and don't consider it "legal advice",) but I wouldn't worry about it. It seems you have evidence that the owner went into a property which was occupied and took possessions from it(this is clearly against the law.) I assume even the interpersonal-relationships-challenged owner is aware of that- if he/she attempted legal action against your mom, your mom would have a great counterclaim. The owner, being aware of all of this, would be very stupid indeed to attempt legal action, as the owner is now clearly in the wrong. 

    So I don't think the owner will do a thing, and I'd recommend putting DNA in front of their number on your cellphone(stands for "Do Not Answer" - let it go to voicemail in case you need it in court) and filtering their emails to a folder entitled "Saved emails for future legal tomfoolery." That way you don't even have to listen to them or read their silly words unless it ever hits the courts. As far as the security deposit I assume your mom has with them- it is probably a lost cause, and not worth the effort of retrieval. Your mom could certainly take them to small claims, but it is such a waste of time and energy. Sorry for the bad news.

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