All Forum Posts by: Shaun Patterson

This all depends on the owner how hands off they want to be. The manager should have sat down and went over all the issues that could have come up while managing the property and got your input what price range would warrant you stepping in and giving the ok. He is suppose to go over exactly what he will be doing on a day to day basis and what reports he will be sending you. Also what he will not be doing should also be explained to you. (If he is not handling maintenance and only finding tenants for you to lease).  You don't want it to end up where he is calling you every second you might as well do it your self I feel that's the case. 

The letter doesnt have to be itemized in Florida. The main issue is that you didn't do a correct move out inspection. That should itemize all of the issues and damage to the property.  I also forgot to add that what ever is left over from the SD will get sent to abandon property. 

Yes this sounds shady. They key fees are charged to the tenant. Unless she is doing a annual inspection I don't see any reason for charging 80 dollars. If the door was also damaged by the tenant then they are charged the fee. if the door broke on its own then its her fault for not installing the door properly and buying a subpar door. 

Their are some questions I had on this. You said that you never filled out a report of the move out. (always do this since its going to boil down to he said she said) When it goes down to giving deposit money back. even before you start telling them that you are taking their deposit money ask them where they want their deposit check sent if there aren't any issues. They also had the unit subleased? was there a provision in your lease against this? Also was there ever any yearly inspections done to this unit? Also remember that you have to wait 15 days before you touch that money from the SD for their challenge. When sending out the notice in florida it also has to be done with certified and regular mail to be legal in FL.  Also remember that the tenant is required to give 7 days notice by certified mail prior to vacating the property which shall include the address that the tenant can be reached.  Failure to give such notice relieves the landlord of paragraph (3)(a)."section 83.49(5) in the florida statutes.  So in regards to them not giving a new address they kind of shot them self  in the foot.  But if they didn't do that than you may have been in hot water if you didn't follow all the steps properly. If you have any questions i'm in your area so I can answer without any issues. 

Giving them options help out. 3 options is usually what we do. and then as everyone said add an addendum to the current lease have them sign it and give them copies. we always start 60 days before. this gives us enough time to plan ahead. 

From what i have seen from the guys that have more than 50 units, they have their own maintenance/handymen on staff to handle the emergencies that may come up. They usually give the the contact information for who he or she should contact if something happens. In regards to cost. Some give free or discounted housing in exchange for the help. Some also pay them 1-3% of the properties revenue. 

@David Yuhaz  You need to get a new management company or double check the contract that you signed. if its 4 years and your now finding out about it then they aren't doing a good job. maintenance inspections should happen every year. In bad areas or section 8 do it every 6 months. The second issue is that the management didn't do a good job of getting them out after the first issue of non payment. Its their job to make sure that you have all your ducks in a row so when you have to go to court because of non payment you win the case and evict.  Hopefully they at least have some SD money to cover for this cost.  Cost for turn over usually depends on the area and the type of tenant you are renting to. If your in a nice area with grade A tenants and you have in the lease agreement, or the move out check list that you give them what things you will be charging on their SD for they usually have everything spotless and sometimes even paint and clean the carpets. but in grade D to F areas with bad tenants then you will look at paint, carpets, broken items, Tenant left garbage and so on. 

I would say I dont know alot of free services but Yardi and buildium offer alot of low cost services that you can use since you wont be using a management company you can put some of that into the money you will be saving . You can take a look at them. Also if you have online leasing then docusign can help in that area. 

This one is an area I wouldnt jump in. Its kind of the friend/family issues that you dont want to get into. Explain to the tenant that his friend has to go through the same process that you have. Because if you run on hard times who is going to pay rent if both guys are out of jobs. Its not his wife or significant other where you know he has some skin in the game to make sure that rent is paid. You still have to do the full application though. Dont do it half way just because you know your going to deny him based on what his friend said. Jumping to conclusions is the fastest way to get sued. 

Its going to be harder in court if you don't follow the state rules for eviction. Ive seen cases in florida go bad because landlords didnt send out the correct letters or they didnt have it set up for exactly 3 business days and not just 3 days (thats for florida). My advice would be to do it by the law.