Tenant Eviction Messup

[Vinod Palle]

Hello Guys,

I have a duplex in Tampa,FL. owner pays for water for both units, and it is managed by a local property management company.

We recently had to evict on of the tenant.

During the eviction process the tenant did not allow the PM to enter the property.

At the end when the eviction process ended and the tenant is out of the property in Jan 2018, PM observed damage to the property.

Which costed me 3000$ to fix it, loss of rental for 6 months and eviction charges. a pretty bad experience for a new landlord/investor like me.

When i thought everything is settled down, my PM now came back with HUGE utility bill, they say i owe 7900$ to the water company.

When i talked to them, they see increase in water bill from the time when eviction started. looks like the tenant was running water.

I came to know the tenant has a previous eviction , how can a PM give rent to a person with eviction record.

Here are my questions:

1) is there a way i can look to get waiver for the water bill??

2) Can PM company do anything about this? can i ask them to pay the bill with their money? i believe it is their mistake to rent it for a person with eviction record and i believe they could not handle the situation properly.

3) Any suggestions to deal with the situation?

[Thomas S.]

The only suggestion I can make is in regards to the future. What is done is done, your PM did a terrible job and may need to be replaced. They did not properly screen, they did not stay on top of the tenants utility payments and they allowed the tenant to take control of the property..(a tenant can not prevent a inspection)

Regrettably the problems boil down to your responsibility to manage your PM. IN the future you must make clear your expectations, make sure you authorise the acceptance of any applicant and insure the PM is adiquitly managining th etennat.

Having a PM requires that you manage and stay on top of how they manage your property on a ongoing bases. This is not a passive business.