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tarafenton · Jan 30, 2008, 08:07 AM

Hello,

I am a young woman that bought and lived in a house in Florida. Following my dreams to come back to NY I decided to rent my house out instead of selling, just in case I needed some place to come back to if it didn't work out.

So comes along my tenant... an older man that doesn't work and has issues. Mainly about my house. It is an older house and I have fixed things in it for him that will bring no value to my house, just because he wants it, trying to work with him. But no matter what I do, he always finds more. Twice appliance people I've sent over there have called me telling me he is nuts and there is nothing to be fixed and charged me for a service fee.

I found a handyman that fixed all of the things agreed with he moved in July. He told me this guys is never going to be happy and I should try and get him out of the house. There is a clause in the contract that says he can leave when ever he wants. The problem is he doesn't want to leave, he just wants to give me a hard time about what I need to do in the house. He sends me emails detailing everything in the house is broken. When I send some one over there, he complains that their not techs, not a real handman, blah blah blah

Can I ignore his complaints? Can I ask him to leave? If we signed a year lease, I don't have to let him rent another year, right? Do I have to give him notice? What would you do?

I want this to be as painless as possible. I would hire a lawyer if I needed to. He is driving me to drink...

Any advice is greatly appreciated
TIA
Tara

LisaB4657 · Jan 30, 2008, 08:18 AM

First send him a letter detailing every complaint he has sent you and everything you have done in response to those complaints. Then say that he is obviously unhappy with the house and that you are willing to let him out of his lease right now without any penalty. Finally, say that if he does not choose to leave now, then you will not be renewing his lease when it expires. Send two copies of the letter; one by regular mail and one by certified mail, return receipt requested.

Start building a paper trail. Every time you communicate with him, do it in writing. If the two of you speak on the phone, follow it up with a letter confirming the contents of the conversation.

tarafenton · Jan 30, 2008, 12:11 PM

We've been communicating through emails and I have already detailed every one of his complaints and he still comes back with more and tells me I'm making excuses. I've already said "he is obviously unhappy with the house and that you are willing to let him out of his lease right now without any penalty." and he continues to tell me what I have to do.

The only thing I haven't flat out said was "i will not be renewing his lease when it expires" which I will say in the next email.

Do you know if it's a good idea to get a lawyer if decides to not pay? He has been waiting until the 5, 6, 7th to pay. He even says he is going to make the improvements and deduct that from the rent, which I know is a law and I tell him he cannot do that.

LisaB4657 · Jan 30, 2008, 01:01 PM

I think you should speak to an attorney now. If he is threatening to make "improvements" and deduct them from the rent then you should take action immediately to prevent it.

Cvillecpm · Jan 30, 2008, 01:22 PM

You need to contact a professional property manager near your NJ home and hand EVERYTHING over to them... a pro PM will know how to handle the situation, how to handle the end of the lease AND how to get a new, higher paying tenant which will allow for less worries on your part.

ScottGem · Jan 30, 2008, 01:30 PM

I think Cville meant your Florida house, but that suggestion is a good one. It may cost you a percentage of the rent, but that may be worth getting this headache off your back and may be less expensive than a lawyer.

If the lease calls for payment to be made on the first and he is habitually late, that may be grounds to evict.

I suspect this guy saw a young woman, inexperienced as a landlord and decided to take advantage.

Another thing I would do is document what the appliance service people told you and inform him that if that happens again, you will be deducting those service charges from his deposit. That's if you don't decide to turn the property over to a PM.

Fr_Chuck · Jan 30, 2008, 05:13 PM

Yes, having a home in another state is hard. If you wish to keep the rental there, you may want to consider having a real estate company manage it for you.

s_cianci · Jan 30, 2008, 05:24 PM

Allow his current lease to expire and don't renew it. Keep in mind that you are only responsible for structural items and built-in types of appliances. You are not responsible for his personal property. As long as such things are kept functional and in repair it really doesn't matter if he's happy or not as he will have no legal recourse against you. Frankly he sounds like just a bunch of hot air to me.

tarafenton · Jan 30, 2008, 06:36 PM

Thank you all so much for your comments. It cleared up a lot for me. I will take your advice and I greatly appreciate it

SamInFTL · Jan 31, 2008, 07:36 AM

Hello to all you advisors. And to my landlady Tara, whom you can thank for this post since she sent me this link to show me what she has been up to. I am "the older man". I will be very brief. Is a dryer that takes 80 minutes to dry underwear or 100 minutes to do sheets or 120 minutes to do towels a good dryer? It makes the electric meter spin just as fast as one that could dry in half the time. How about windows that do not close right and screens that do not cover windows, is that OK too? How about repairs that took 3 months to do. Don't believe every young woman with a dreams' story. She bought a 37 year old house (not for rental) that was not well taken care of, lived in it for 4 years and did not even fix basic things and then followed her dream to go back to New York leaving the house filthy and stuff all over the place for the tenant to take care of. That's just for starters. I won't go on. Will someone please tell Tara about how rentals work where she lives, in NYC. I am a nice guy wanting a decent place to live, that is all. I worked my whole life and now am trying to get disability after losing my own house. I just want what is fair. Houses need work sometimes. Things break. Thanks for listening. :)

excon · Jan 31, 2008, 07:52 AM

Hello Sam:

Couple things. It's confusing when you piggyback on someone else's question. I'm sure it'll be moved shortly.

Next thing, really is YOU. Oh, I understand that your post is about Tara. But, it's really more about you.

I understand Tara isn't a good business person. You could tell from the beginning, however, that she wasn't. The signs were obvious. You moved in anyway. I don't know why. You've been there four years, and you haven't figured her out by now? She's not going to change. You can't make her into a good business person if she doesn't want to be.

Nope, you can't do anything about HER at all. All you can do is move. Maybe you'll investigate your new landlord better.

excon

tarafenton · Jan 31, 2008, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by excon

I understand Tara isn't a good business person. You could tell from the beginning, however, that she wasn't. The signs were obvious. You moved in anyway. I dunno why. You've been there four years, and you haven't figured her out by now? She's not going to change. You can't make her into a good business person if she doesn't want to be.

Nope, you can't do anything about HER at all. All you can do is move. Maybe you'll investigate your new landlord better.

excon

Just wanted to clear this up... I lived in the house for 4 years before, Sam moved in July. And the repairs he is talking about were promised by a "friend" that didn't come through for a couple of months and I found someone else that did the repairs.

excon · Jan 31, 2008, 08:07 AM

Hello again, you two:

I get it now. I'm old too, Sam. But, my advice isn't any different.

excon

ScottGem · Jan 31, 2008, 08:08 AM

Well Sam, You have presented us with a he said/she said situation. I believe we HAVE told tara that she needs to learn about being a landlord. That's why the suggestion to hire a property manager.

What bothers me about your side of the story is the alleged testimony of the repair people. Tara cites two service people that claimed there was nothing wrong. She also stated that she had a handy man make all the repairs you requested prior to your moving in. Is she lying about those things?

And, if you are so unhappy with the way the way the house has been kept up or the way Tara has handled being a landlord, then why not move? She is willing to let you out of the lease but you have refused.

I'm sorry, but in a choice of whether to believe your account or Tara's, I'm going to go with Tara's.

excon · Jan 31, 2008, 08:22 AM

Hello again:

Well, this is interesting. I don't think we've ever had both party's online with us. That is very cool. I actually think we have a shot a mediating the situation. Neither of you seem like nutcases (so far).

I don't care who said what, and who did what, and who's the bad guy here. There's enough confusion, and time, and bad blood, and stuff to be impossible to figure it out. I'm sure you're BOTH bad guys. Ok, Tara needs to learn to be a better landlord (we know that), and you Sam need to be a better tenant (I know that).

The good news is that this thing hasn't gone into the toilet yet. Believe me, we've seen that stuff here where even if we got both people online, one has screwed the other over so bad that reconciliation is impossible.

That isn't the case here.

So, what are you going to do to make the situation better, Tara? You too Sam?

Don't tell us what the other guy did. That's “stinkin thinkin”. Tell us how you propose to fix it.

Dr. Phil

ScottGem · Jan 31, 2008, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by excon

Well, this is interesting. I don't think we've ever had both party’s online with us. That is very cool. I actually think we have a shot a mediating the situation. Neither of you seem like nutcases (so far).

Actually we have had both sides on a few occasions. But maybe we can mediate this. Be interesting to try.

SamInFTL · Jan 31, 2008, 09:48 AM

Hi Excon. I think you misunderstood. I have only been here for seven months. She bought this house in 2003 and lived in it until 07/2007. I knew it needed work and believed her when she told me she would take care of things. Life is rough and it is very hard to move. The house is on a small man made lake (most are in fla), only about 18 houses around it. Built in 1967. Was over 55 community. Anyway she does not understand it don't cost all that much to fix things and it is for the good of the house. She is young and cheap and does not understand and I have to suffer for it. Its not easy to find good rental units I have found out. Had not rented in over 20 years.

I did not see the previous post. I see my dear Tara is monitoring. To ScottGem, yes she is not telling you the whole story. One service man came to fix the washing machine when it dumped water all over the laundry room. That same service man told he the dryer needed a new element and she just told him there was nothing wrong with it and said she would not replace it. Also should I wait 2 months for a new handyman. Gee, every screen in the screened in patio was out and needing fixing among other things. Other things just broke. I could tell you much more.

As I said, I am a good tenant. Things break and need to be fixed. She was so nice when I met her. But money brings out the worst in people.

Fr_Chuck · Jan 31, 2008, 10:33 AM

Unless you have a written lease that says she will supply a dryer, it is simple, she merely pulls it out and does not furnish one at all. Same with a washer.
And of course unless this is a HUD rental, I am not sure she has to furnish screens at all. I have given some of those slide in ( or portable) screens ( about 3 dollars each) to a few teannats and told them if they lose them getting more is up to them. Most likely you are wanting a 1000 a month home for 500 a month ( or something like that) She is under no obligation to fix the dryer or widows and more if she does not want to, they do not make

I rent a lot of lower cost homes and if you came to me with some of those complaints I would have just laughed at you on the phone. If you had threatened to withhold rent, you would have had an eviction notice the next day. Time to understand that you have what you moved into, if you had wanted better you should have rented better when you moved in.

SamInFTL · Jan 31, 2008, 10:49 AM

No more of this crap. I'm done. There is a lease, have u not been reading these posts? The dryer is in the lease, as is usual. Why do they allow slum lords on this group? Too bad you don't live in NYC FR. They would have your head on a stick. Have a great day.

ScottGem · Jan 31, 2008, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by SamInFTL

no more of this crap. i'm done. there is a lease, have u not been reading these posts? the dryer is in the lease, as is usual. why do they allow slum lords on this group? too bad you don't live in NYC FR. they would have your head on a stick. have a great day.

We know there is a lease. Other than that it allows you to move out prior to the expiration, we don't know what's in it. Most leases do not provide for working clothes washers, dryers and dishwashers.

This site is open to anyone as long as they adhere to the rules (insulting people is not adhering to the rules).