Hi, My husband and I rented our house in NJ. The tenants moved out at the end of April and there were a few repairs that needed to be made from the tenant. We hired a contractor and he gave us a quote for the repairs. We sent a detailed letter with each repair, costs, etc. to the tenants with the remainder of their security deposit and they called very upset and threatening to sue us. They have asked to have the original receipts from the contractor for all of the materials he purchased to make the repairs. Are we supposed to send them the original receipts or just copies? My understanding according to NJ law is that we keep the original receipts and provide the copies of the receipts to the tenants. Are we wrong? We'd really like to know so we can send them the correct stuff. Thank you.

Hi, My husband and I rented our house in NJ. The tenants moved out at the end of April and there were a few repairs that needed to be made from the tenant. We hired a contractor and he gave us a quote for the repairs. We sent a detailed letter with each repair, costs, etc. to the tenants with the remainder of their security deposit and they called very upset and threatening to sue us. They have asked to have the original receipts from the contractor for all of the materials he purchased to make the repairs. Are we supposed to send them the original receipts or just copies? My understanding according to NJ law is that we keep the original receipts and provide the copies of the receipts to the tenants. Are we wrong? We'd really like to know so we can send them the correct stuff. Thank you.

... Are we supposed to send them the original receipts or just copies? ...

Copies will be fine.

In this day and age, there is no significant distinction between the original and copies.

The purpose of sending copies is of course so that they can assure themselves that the expenses were actually incurred, and that the exact nature and amount of those expenses is as you represent to them. If they are paranoid enough to imagine that you forged the receipts, they can contact the vendors identified on the copies, and double-check with them.

Thank you much.

From, they have no business asking you for the original receipts. You keep the originals because you had the repairs done. Send them copies and to avoid any issues, have them notorized by your accountant if necessary.

You handled that transaction in the proper way. Now you will probably have to take them to small claims court to recoup your losses. You will, of course, have all of your paperwork in order.

Tick

Please don't ask your question multiple times. Once is enough.

https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/real-estate-law/do-we-give-original-repair-receipts-tenants-582658.html

It can take some time for someone to answer, especially on a Saturday, but check back often for a reply. We're all volunteers here, and we do this for free, so sometimes it can take a few days for the correct expert to see your question.

Thank you for your patience. :)

Thank you. The repairs were minor but the tenants are upset they have to pay anything. They are upset because we had a contractor make the repairs and they don't want to pay for the labor. They do not believe they should have to pay for any repairs and want all of their deposit back and they are threatening to sue us. I will keep all my documentation in order in the event they file in small claims court. Thank you again.

Sorry but this is new to me and I realized I should have posted under real estate and not small claims.

I've merged your threads.

You actually don't need to give them ANYTHING but the contractor's invoice. Unless there are items not covered by that invoice. It is your decision how to make the repairs, not the tenants. If they sue you, counter sue for court costs.

Thank you ScottGem.

I've merged your threads.

You actually don't need to give them ANYTHING but the contractor's invoice. Unless there are items not covered by that invoice. It is your decision how to make the repairs, not the tenants. If they sue you, counter sue for court costs.

I never part with original receipts. If someone needs to see anything, I give copies and have it notorized by my accountant.

I didn't mean to imply to give the originals, copies are sufficient, but there is no need to give individual receipts that are covered by the contractor's invoice.

Yes, never ever give the real orginals, you may give them copies, but you gave a letter with the costs listed, so let them sue if they want, in court you can show the judge the costs.

i never part with original receipts. if someone needs to see anything, i give copies and have it notorized by my accountant.

I see no point in having the copies "notarized". Notarization would be a certificate by a notary public that your signature is actually yours.

If we are talking about actual receipts (papers signed by OP to the effect that OP received something such as cash payments), and since the originals of the receipts were not signed in the notary's presence, a notary could not certify that OP signed them. What is more likely, and I have assumed what OP meant by "receipts" is invoices issued by jobbers evidencing repair costs. In such case the OP wouldn't sign the invoices anyway. The only thing it would make sense for OP to sign before a notary would be an affidavit that the "receipts" represent costs actually incurred for the premises in issue, and that these costs were in fact paid.

Right now I only have the contractor's draft invoice or quote invoice with all of the details. Should I provide them with that? All the material was all ready purchased previously.

Right now I only have the contractor's draft invoice or quote invoice with all of the details. Should I provide them with that? All the material was all ready purchased previously.

Provide them copies of what you have, if you are charging them for it.

When you say "All the material was all ready purchased previously.", what do you mean? You purchased the material or the contractor did? If you paid an invoice which includes material, that should be sufficient.

Right now I only have the contractor's draft invoice or quote invoice with all of the details. Should I provide them with that? All the material was all ready purchased previously.


You need to get a final invoice from the contractor. And include a copy of that. If you paid for any materials or anything else that is not covered by the contractor's invoice, then you need to include copies of those receipts.

Just remember as a landlord you are going to be in court all the time, evictions, damages, over deposits and more.

Almost every tenant who left home with damages always said they were going to sue me, only a few ever did, only one showed up.

It is worth a few 100 dollars to sit own with a real estate attorney and have a list of questions, get forms to use for stanard things, And when the renter says they are going to sue and you are in the right and can prove debt just tell them to sue, and of course sue first if they owe you money

Thanks everyone for your responses. I am still waiting for the final invoice from my contractor and I still have not gotten the original receipts. We are waiting to hear if the work was finished yet, it's been almost 3 months since we asked him to do the work. We've not even paid him the balance yet because we've not gotten his final invoice. The tenants have been pretty patient waiting for this information and yesterday they "texted" me yes they are not calling or sending us a letter and they want to know what the hold up is and why they are not getting the information, of course telling me that they their next contact to me will be from their attorney. I am not comfortable texting them back and I am not sure what I should be telling them at this point, any suggestions and would it be better to call them directly with a reply or by mail? I really don't want to text them. PS - Fr Chuck I believe I will probably be seeking a real estate attorney in NJ for advice.

Hello f:

You've either got the WRONG contractor, or your house was damaged BEYOND repair... In MOST states, you have only a LIMITED amount of time to return your tenants deposit. I don't know what your state requires, but YOU should. Certainly the tenant's LAWYER will. Clearly, 3 months is WAY beyond anything reasonable. Your tenant's are RIGHT.

excon

Hi Excon, we sent them their deposit back (the remainder of the deposit) minus the amount that we kept based on the quote from the contractor to make the repairs, back within the 30 day period stipulated by NJ law with a letter detailing all the items that were going to be repaired and the cost of each repair. The tenants are wanting the copies of the actual material receipts of the repairs. That is what we are waiting for from the contractor. I wanted to know what the appropriate reply would be to the tenants while I am trying to get the receipts from the contractor. He's not even sent us his final bill yet.

Hi Excon, we sent them their deposit back (the remainder of the deposit) minus the amount that we kept based on the quote from the contractor to make the repairs, back within the 30 day period stipulated by NJ law with a letter detailing all the items that were going to be repaired and the cost of each repair. The tenants are wanting the copies of the actual material receipts of the repairs. That is what we are waiting for from the contractor. I wanted to know what the appropriate reply would be to the tenants while I am trying to get the receipts from the contractor. He's not even sent us his final bill yet.

Hi Excon, we sent them their deposit back (the remainder of the deposit) minus the amount that we kept based on the quote from the contractorHello again f:

The problem is the actual receipts, because you don't HAVE any receipts, because the work may not have even been done yet, from what I can tell. Your tenant is RIGHT. You cannot deduct ESTIMATED costs. It must be ACTUAL costs. If they sue you for the balance of their deposit based on what you did, I believe they'll WIN.

Apparently the damage wasn't TOO bad because there was SOME money left over. How come it's taken SO long?

excon

We have a quote based on the materials the contractor purchased for us and we are waiting for the copies of the receipts from him and the final bill.

Our contractor has had some problems with transportation and getting another contractor to do the work. We've had problems getting another contractor in to do the work. So at this point should we just send the remainder of the deposit back and look for another contractor and just pay for it ourselves? We are in another state otherwise we should have done the work ourselves.

our contractor has had some problems... So at this point should we just send the remainder of the deposit back and look for another contractor and just pay for it ourselves? Hello again, f:

I'm sorry for your difficulties. Your contractor problems are YOUR problems.. Yes, I would send their deposit back.

Hopefully, you DIDN'T pay some contractor IN ADVANCE, but it looks like you did. Being a landlord is a HANDS ON business.

excon

An "estimate", or "quote" is a proposal to do specified work at a given price. Unless it says otherwise, it is the price you will have to pay. When it is accepted it forms a contract. It cannot be unilaterally changed by the contractor after the fact (absent mitigating conditions).

Now, if the estimate recited that it was based upon estimated costs of materials, and that the actual material costs might be different, I would go with the estimated costs and not try to tack on higher costs.

So if you accepted the estimate from your contractor, and he did the work, I believe you would be justified in charging that amount to the tenant, whether you have yet received a "final" bill. If the final bill contains changes ordered by you in the course of the job (additonal to the work described in the estimate), those may or may not be appropriate to charge to the tenant.

Thanks AK Lawyer. We are not looking to charge the tenants anything else. They are texting me wanting a copy of the material receipts. We have not yet received the receipts for the materials he purchased to make the repairs. It's been 2.5 almost 3 months since the tenants moved out and we received the quote from the contractor a few days before we were required by NJ law to send them the deposit minus the repair costs and certified detailed letter. The contractor has been bouncing back and forth between jobs and he's not finished the repairs, we have spoken to him several times though but I don't have confirmation that the work is finished yet nor the receipts.

I was wondering how I can communicate this in a formal way to the tenants. My understanding of NJ law as it applies to the NJ security deposit law is that landlords are required to send the deposit minus any repair costs plus a letter detailing all of the damages and costs that will be associated with making the repairs, all within the 30 day time frame per the law. I cannot find anything in NJ law that suggests that a landlord has a "time frame" to make the repairs and provide the details to the tenant, like California law stipulates.