All Forum Posts by: Carey Branam

The lease does not have anything in it. We never thought we would want to sell but life circumstances change! And no, they are not great tenants.

We have decided to sell one of our rental properties. Is there any way we can list it while there are people living there? The lease runs until the end of April.

We had problems with he septic tank at our rental house. It took 2.5 weeks to fully repair. We found a problem, fixed it, happened again, fixed another problem, happened again, 3rd time is a charm and it appears to be fixed now. Because sewage got onto the carpet in basement from the bathroom we had to cut part of the carpet out. We want to wait a week or two to make sure it is fixed before we put in new flooring. Bathroom and basement are usable again, its just that part of the basement does not have carpet right now. Tenant just texted me and said she thinks they should get reduced rent because of all of the problems. She also added that the furnace has not been working. This is the first I’ve heard of the furnace but now she reports it hasn’t been working all week. (And they’ve been leaving the oven on to heat the house!!!). Should I reduce rent for this month?

And the plot thickens ... you are correct ^^^ I just left the bank and they confirmed that the tenant stopped the payment. It had nothing to do with the date it was cashed. It would have had he same results. On the 16th he should not have told me to use it for September rent. He had already stopped payment.

^^This was my initial reaction.  It's a touchy situation though as we live in a college town and with an eviction I've got the cost of eviction, plus, my only hopes of renting it out at this point in the year would likely mean receiving $2-300/month less for the next 10 months.  So in order to not lose that extra $2-3,000 over the next 10 months I'll go ahead and try to remedy.  I really feel like he's got this entitled attitude.  It's not our fault he says in the text.  Right, nothing ever is.  They are highly intelligent well educated people, but they are proving to be dishonest. 

So would you issue the 3 day pay or quit on the first or on the 5th when the grace period is up?  We need to go by the house today anyways so I'll text and see if they're home and we'll have a face to face.  

Here's what's in the lease, I think it's pretty clear, but maybe there's a better way?  I changed my name and address to xxx obviously :)

All rent payments are due by check or money order on or before the 1st day of each month. Rent to be paid in one check or money order each month. Please make checks or money orders payable to xxxxx  and deliver to xxxxx or such other place as Management may designate in the future. If all or any portion of the monthly rent remains unpaid 5 days after rent is due, a $50.00 late charge will be added to the monthly rent and shall be immediately payable.All payments received from Resident will first be applied to monies due. The Resident agrees to pay an additional $30.00 processing charge for each returned check unhonored by the bank in which it is drawn.

So should I let the late fee and returned check fee slide?  

Thank you that is very helpful. Do you have any verbage that I should include in what I will write up? What about the late fee and returned check fee?

So I had new tenants move in the last week of July. They paid their first week of rent of rent upon move in (first mistake I should have requested the entire month of August at that time!). Then, August 1 comes, no rent. I texted them my address again and they said they would pay through their bank and I should have the check soon. In the lease I give them a 5 day grace period, but the 5th comes and goes. I text them and they act confused like the bank says its sent, its already been withdrawn. After giving the mail a few more days, they finally resend it. Still nothing, so she brings me a personal check with the late fee. Ok, I'm hoping this is a one time thing, I mean they have awesome credit so surely they pay their bills. On August 16th the "2nd" bank check arrives at my house. I texted them and told hem it finally arrived and asked if they wanted it back or if they wanted to use it for September rent. It was already the 16th so almost time to pay again. They tell me to hold onto it. He said to cash it on the 1st. I never responded because I knew I wanted to cash it on the 31st instead of waiting until the first and risking another late rent fiasco. So I took it to my bank on the 31st. I got a notice yesterday that there was a stop payment on the check. It didn't say returned check, it says stop payment. So I texted yesterday when I got this in the mail. They don't respond until over night. He sends me a screen shot of when he told me to cash on the 1st and says it's my fault for cashing on the 31st. (Which I never agreed to). Then he proceeds to tell me he will be sending another check from his bank because that's how the prefer to pay bills!!!! So this could take a week to get a check! He's also insinuating he won't pay the late fee or returned check fee. I'm just fed up. Mortgage is due today and having to pay an extra mortgage is going to be incredibly stressful. Do I need to put a 3 day pay or move notice on the door? There is no reason they can't write me a personal check. I live 5 minutes away! They just "prefer" to bank online. Well, I prefer to not pay for someone else to live in my house! Advice?

Do you charge for small cleaning items, like windows weren't cleaned, oven needed a quick cleaning and kitchen cabinets needed wiped out?  It probably took an hour to clean up, not even sure if it's worth a charge.  

Does anyone have a good list of charges for individual items?  I had one I used to use but my computer crashed recently.

I should clarify, their car had broken down and they needed a vehicle, they didn't go buy a new vehicle, they bought a running used vehicle. The house they're living in is outside of the city limits, about 20 minutes from town with no bus routes nearby so they really do need a car. One of them works in the town that I currently live in which is 45 minutes from the property. In order to pay rent, they have to work, in order to work, they have to have a car. Thanks for the tips. I will be adding a daily late charge next time. For now she is just paying the late fee that is written into the lease. We've been renting houses for 6 years and I've honestly never had a late payment!