Tenants Personal Property Left After Eviction
Is it really true? After a 90 day court battle to get my deadbeat tenants out of the buiding, I really have to store the junk they left behind for 14 days? How is this possible? Do the owners ever get a break?
My question is this - short of moving the junk to another location (there is no garage on the property) or paying for storage, I have to tie up my unit for another 14 days until they either pick it up or abandon it? I really need to get it cleaned and rented to get some $$ moving in the proper direction. They left 3 mattresses, 2 bed frames, 2 dressers, and a ton of clothing and kitchen items. There is way too much to store in my garage even. Any ideas?
Are there services out there which will box up the stuff and store it for a fee? Will the cleaning crew take care of this?
Thanks, Joe
In FL, if they pay their rent monthly and there is no signed lease, then they are month to month tenants. You can give them 30 day notice to vacate or a 30 day notice to raise the rent. First, how much repair is needed in each unit before you could rerent (money and time), how is your rental market (how long would it take to rerent the apartment) and can you afford for all four units to be vacant for a rerental period. Your answer will be dependant on the answer to these questions.
I would personally give each tenant a very nice letter informing them that I am the new landlord and that you need their complete contact information and a key to each unit. Inform them that it is company policy that there must be a written rental agreement and that they can either sign a month to month lease or vacate at the end of next month. The guy with the dog I would tell that it is company policy that there are no pets allowed and that he either get rid of the dog or vacate at the end of next month.
and depending on the answers to my questions in the first paragraph, you can also tell them that you are raising the rent and/or asking for more security deposit.
Brenda
We purchased a 6 plex in December with tentants without written leases. Below is a copy of the letter I sent to each of them. (Some tenants were behind in rent and were given a 3-day notice as part of this letter.)
Jeff
=====================
Dear [tenant],
As the managing member of the investment company that purchased the building in which you are living, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce our company and provide you with some important information.
First, our aim is to provide you with an affordable, quality residence that you can call home for many months and years to come. While we bear much of that responsibility, you as a tenant can help us maintain that good reputation. Second, rest assured that we have no immediate intention of increasing rental rates. As monthly rents are competitively evaluated in the coming months, you will be given adequate notification in the event of any increase. Third, as a current tenant in this building, you have the benefit of maintaining your lease on a month-to-month basis. Should you choose at some point to terminate your rental agreement, a full 30-day month’s notice is required.
[Our company] purchased this property from [former owner]. Your rent payment for December has been forwarded to us. During the month of December we will be converting your verbal lease agreement to comply with our written company Rental Agreement. A new Rental Agreement is included with this letter. After reading it carefully, please complete and sign it, sending it to the address below by Monday December 20th. It must contain the name or names of all persons responsible for the lease. Please also complete the Tenant Information form enclosed in this letter. A copy of the Rental Agreement will be mailed back to you.
Mail all forms by December 20th to:
[Company Address]
Note that effective immediately, all rent payments should be made payable to [Our company] and should be sent to the address indicated above at the scheduled time (unless you elect for the automatic payment option detailed in the Rental Agreement.)
Please let us know if you have any questions. As property manager, I can be reached at [phone number]. We hope you continue to enjoy living in this building.
Sincerely,
Jeff Williams
Property Manager
You should definitely get your tenants under a written rental agreement, be it lease or month-to-month. The agreement should have meat on it. Mine are about seven pages. A good place to start evolving an agreement is to see what is being used by your local property management companies.
Ditto. Short and sweet: I always go with the longest term mortgage I can get. The monthly payments will be low and locked in. Your mortgage payment will never go up but the rents will. If you are able to put in extra money to the priciple, then you will, but if you hit lean times, you are less stretched with smaller payments.
Go longer term. if you rin into problems with your property (hopefully not), you will be able to work better with $600 permonth instead of $200/mo... All the interest you pay on an investment property is TAX DEDUCTIBLE...
Good Luck!
[addsig]