All Forum Posts by: Sorab Gakhar

@Matt Devincenzo I did think about taking legal action, was recommended by other posters, but i'm not a person who likes to take legal action unless i must. Also i found out from my agent that the guys wife has cancer and he's been focused on taking care of her and its possible he let things go on the property to take care of her. While his information was negligent and potentially an issue for me, i think i've been able to take care of the issues and i don't really care to impose more trouble on someone going through a tough time.

Thanks Richard, I did 1, 2, 3 and was told i cannot do 4 until after close, which is what i was working on. I spoke with all of the tenants only did not ask them their rents because that's on the lease and on the estoppels. But learned my lesson, i will be asking in the future :)

Quick update:

Seems the renters were paying less money and none of them could read. The previous owner came by for their signature but since they couldn't read they still signed and did not know what they were signing.

The previous rents were a verbal agreement the previous owner gave because he did not have time to deal with the issues of the property.

What i have done:

- Show up on Saturday and talk to the rent collector, get a copy of his receipts.

- Decide if the rent collector guy is worth keeping or hire a PM. Will keep him for now.

- Speak with each tenant and have a copy of their lease and estoppels and a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit in hand and expect to collect rent. Everyone signed a copy of their new lease and agreed to appropriate rent going forward. I have had to give concessions to a couple tenants for this month with the understanding that next month the rent will be agreed to price.

At the end of the day it was a process that blind sighted everyone and noone is happy. The renters lose because they did not pay attention to what they were signing, the previous landlord was wrong for not explaining what they were signing and i'm the bad guy because i bought a new property and i'm forcing them to pay the rent that they signed on, even though they did not know it.

Is it a happy ending? heck no, but i'll have to deal with being the bad guy for the time being and see how this plays out over the next few months, i don't doubt that i will probably lose a few tenants over this as it sinks in.

Also, even at the agreed to rents, its still at or below market value so i'm not terribly worried. I should be able to find other renters at this price.

Thanks for everyones feedback, it really helped me come up with a plan for attacking the problem.

@George C. I may get to that, and its good to understand my options in this case. I will definitely keep your latest thoughts in mind and this may be my long term goal. Immediately however, i'm working on wresting control of this situation. Maybe it involved lawyers, or maybe it requires detective work.

@Jon Holdman I had the same thoughts, is the rent collector skimming? After finding out that this happened, i opted to get a hold of the seller as the rent collector was the sellers for the past 10 years or so. Where i was not sure is if this is a new thing, the seller has done this and the rent collector is continuing the bad practice or what. That's what i'm trying to get to the bottom of. Unfortunately because i live in the bay area and this property is in stockton and i work full time, i have to go out there this weekend to find out. I'm going to request a copy of his receipts as well. If this guy does not work out, i'll be hiring a PM. Also, this guy lives in one of the units. What i plan to do when i get to the property tomorrow is speak with each of the tenants and not ask why but quite the opposite. I plan to state plainly that they signed the estoppels and they have signed the lease. They need to pay or plan to move out. I will have my 3 day notices ready and filled out as i meet each tenant. Regardless if they had a verbal agreement with the previous seller, they signed the estoppels and they signed the lease.

@Yiv L. Exactly, the rent collector does live there.. working on ruling out the rent collector and tenants.

@Wayne Brooks You are correct, Since its a fourplex, unfortunately a lot of the people who lived there do not speak English. I was very interested in looking at the property and ensuring its foundationally ok and repairs would not break the bank. I did ask the people who do speak English how they liked living here, but most of the tenants are long term, have had one tenant there for over 10 years another for 4 so the idea of them living there for a while was not something i thought of asking, Also the rents are below market already and if i leave them that way for a little bit, i can build up some reserves and then raise the rent. Also, i've never run across an issue with tenants stating rent is different than what they signed stating it was (estoppels).

Great feedback everyone, thanks for the input. I will update later letting you know what happened. The current plan:

- Show up on Saturday and talk to the rent collector, get a copy of his receipts.

- Decide if the rent collector guy is worth keeping or hire a PM.

- Speak with each tenant and have a copy of their lease and estoppels and a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit in hand and expect to collect rent.

- Begin Eviction process if needed

- Try to gather information of fraudulent activity and involve a lawyer if necessary.

I hate the idea of having to evict immediately, but if its the tenants playing a game, i do not need the hassle and i don't mind bringing new people on. I was worried about the idea of having to fix up units and spend the money right after closing on the property, but that's the cost of doing business, i should not let the worries stop me from being decisive about my business.

Great feedback, thanks. I will definitely pursue this once i have more details and will also update this thread as soon as i get an update from the sellers agent and hopefully what the sellers say as well.

I have started that process by working through my Agent and their Agent. In this whole process i have not actually spoken with the seller face to face. Its soon going to be that time.

Actually, the units are right at market or slightly lower. but with the $100-$150 lower rent its below market. I think the previous owner did it so he could have the units full to sell the property. But yes, your option is a good one as well. The question is, now that the rent collector has accepted their rent, how do i go back and request they pay the rest?

Yes, that is definitely an option.

The estoppels state the correct price which are signed. The signed leases show the correct price. They gave the rent collector the verbally agreed to price.

i Know what your thinking. Make them pay what they signed. I'm worried this will lead to vacancies and these people have been here for years. This will cause a lot of investment to fix up the units.

So I just closed on a fourplex in Stockton and I have a guy collecting rent who I inherited from the previous owner. He tells me yesterday that he has everyone's rent and we start going through the numbers and I notice he's offby $100 on each unit and $150 off on 1 of them and I say no that's not right. I have the leases and estoppels right here and they are stating something else. Now this is what I based all of my calculations on and if its less $450/mo then this property I just closed on is a dog and a monthly loser.

So the rent collection guy says that this is the rent everyone has been paying for a long time and if I raise it the people will leave. This is a concession the previous owner made to everyone verbally. So I say to myself what the heck? The lease and estoppels have been wrong and forged and information not disclosed and now what should I do?

Ideas welcome. Looking for help and guidance from our wonderful community.