Problem Tenants and Mamagement CO. LONG

[cab244]

I hired ERA to manage my house back in Phenix City 4 months ago. They claimed that they did background checks and credit checks on potential tenants. At first I was happy that they got this family in my house when I needed them to be but now I'm not so sure this is working out. This is the second month in a row that they've been late with the rent. Last month they didn't come in to pay until the 25th. ERA gives them until the 5th of the month to pay and then only charges them one measely late fee regardless of how late they are. My rental agreement states that if I'm late I have to pay $15 per day after the 5th. I didn't think to insist on that but I think after this I will certainly consider it! When I signed the rental agreement with ERA the woman convienently didn't bring a copy of the lease agreement that the tenants would be signing with her as I had requested. I let it slide because of the time constraint that I was under and because she dropped her initial management fee from 1/2 to 1/4 of the first month's rent.I'm still paying her 10% per month for a fee. The first time the tenants were late I was not even notified. I was left checking my mailbox for my check until the 19th. I called them and I was told" Oh, they haven't come into pay yet. I asked them why they felt that I shouldn't be notified if I wasn't going to get paid and they responded with that they had so many tenants that they couldn't possibly notify every single property owner that the rent was late. The tenants had their phone disconnected and my property manager hadn't bothered to do anything except call. I don't even know if they have valid contact info for them yet. What's to stop them from packing up and leaving me high and dry? My husband is in the Army and I don't work so we're having to pay our $800 rent plus the $553 mortgage out of our once a month check. What these people are witholding is essentially our grocery money! I can't withold the money from the mortgage company because it would damage our credit and I'm not paying a late fee to them because my dead beat tenants can't pay their rent on time!!! What pisses me off the most is I don't even get the late fee. The management company does. Is that wrong or what!!! I have insisted that whenever the payment is late that it is to be sent to me Priority Mail but that's only a small consolation. They claimed to have had some kind of emergency last month which was why they were late. I wonder what the excuse is going to be this month. I swear if their late again next month I need to find out what I can do to get them the h*ll out of my house!!! I need someone who's going to pay on time. If I can be expected to pay my bills on time, take care of my 2 children while my husband's been in Iraq for 12 of the past 15 months then they can da*m well pay their rent on time too!!!!!!!!!!!!

[freemus]

I hope you get this all straightened out!!! We rent our house in TX too and I know I would lose it if our property manager sucked like that! Good Luck! :)

[Barbi_Route66]

You may want to consult an attorney. To me, it sounds like the management company that you hired aren't doing what you're paying them for & what they're suppose to be doing.

[justme23]

I guess I just thought all leases had daily late fees for being late (ours is 50 dollars the first day and 5 a day every day after...needless to say, we've only been late once!!) and I know we've been told that our 'standard lease' that everyone in town uses stipulates that if we're late more than 10 days, they can AND WILL go to the courthouse and gather an eviction notice that gives us 3 days to remove our belongings from the premises. I really hope you can get some better tenants in there... or maybe ERA would allow you to switch property managers so that you can get one of THOSE that's more responsible too!!

[momfromTN]

I just want you to know that not all people with bad credit are bad tenants. We have great rent referrals, but some will not rent to us because of credit issues. We are trying to fix our credit but it takes time. I am sorry you are having problems. You cannot PAY me a million to be a landlord. I have seen the damage done to rentals, even from "perfect" good credit tenants.

[cab244]

Our credit is not that great either. we have a chapter 13 bankruptcy that has been discharged for a year. But because of this almost every property manager around here wanted us to pay 2 months rent security deposit plus about $300 per pet for a pet deposit. I have 2 female, spayed/declawed cats. For pete's sake how much damage could they do? I was lucky and found a property owner who manages his own properties. But like I said I'm still paying $795 a month for a 1300 sq ft house which really irks me because our house was 1400 sq ft and out mortgage was only $553. I had to pay here the standard 1 month rent plus $100 per cat. I wasn't even charging a pet deposit at our house because it had white carpet in it and with our 2 small children needless to say it was pretty stained when we left. We didn't want to rent our house out. We wanted to sell it but since we could'nt get anyone to buy it when we needed them too it seemed like the next best thing.

Another thing that ticks me off is my son's birthday is the 28th. He's going to be 4. If I don't get that money then I don't think I'll be able to afford to get him anything for his birthday. We are really scraping for grocery money as it is.

[cab244]

I called the management company this morning and they have not even bothered to contact the tenants yet!! I know what's going on now. The tenants think that because they pay a flat $50.00 late fee regardless of how late they are then if they can't pay on time they just wait until the end of the month. ARGGHHH!!! I chewed the property manager out this morning about not contacting them and not bothering to try and update the phone contact information. She assured me that she would go by the house today. I told her if payment isn't received by the 15th to begin eviction proceedings.

[freemus]

Good for you! That is ridiculous!! You should tell the property managers that you will report them to the BBB and anyone else that could make them look bad and take away their business and that you will be seeking a lawer's opinion on the matter if they don't shape up.

[cab244]

I hate to be that way. I'm really a very nice person. All I want is to have my money when I'm supposed too. That's it. I would be ecstatically happy if that would happen.

[freemus]

Well, as one military spouse to another, we pretty much live paycheck to paycheck, so if our rent is late, it could really mess things up! You aren't being mean to ask for what's due to you. They are the ones who are wrong for not caring what kind of bind that could put you in! :)

[cab244]

I called the management company again this morning. My property manager told me that she spoke to the wife and that she said they had gone out of town and just forgot to pay. Can you believe that??!! The property manager told me that she had let them know that this was their last chance to start paying on time and that if it happens again they'll be out on their butts. They are supposed to be coming by today to pay. I'm going to call the property manager at 4:30 this afternoon to see if they did.Cross your fingers for me that they actually do what their supposed to this time.

Freemus,

We're the same way. Not so much now that he's overseas because of the extra money but when he comes back our pay goes back down to $2600 a month, and with an $795 rent payment, $780(2 car payments incl. insurance), plus tack on a $553 mortgage. Well, you do the math. That leaves $472 for electricity, food, gas(heat and car fuel), plus heaven forbid we want to have luxuries like cable tv and internet. That's the main reason I'm so upset. I can't let them get by with thinking this is acceptable now becasue later on it DEFINATELY won't be. Plus he's supposed to get out when he comes home. His contract was up June 1st so they'll probably dump him off without a job as soon as he gets home IF they let him out when he gets home that is.

[freemus]

I sure hope that they pay today! But you said that your management company gets the late fee and not you? That sucks! Well, let us know.

As far as your hubby getting out, I don't know what his skills are, but with him being a vet, getting a job should hopefully not be that hard. My DH had a 3 year break in service and at every job interview he went to, they knew someone in the military or had some kind of experience with it and he was offered every job. He got the unemployment too while looking. And he was not just coming home from war. Try not to worry too much. One day at a time.....:)

[MsLynn]

dang wish that house was around here lol i'd take it and you'd have your money before the first, lol i get paid once a month and first thing i pay is the rent, lol without somewhere to live, nothing else much matters, lol

[cab244]

Got my payment today and the management company said that it was mailed today. But they sent it first class so I still have to wait a week to get it.Oh well, at least I know it's coming now.

[freemus]

Glad it's finally coming! Have you ever thought about having your PM company deposit it directly into your bank account? That's what we do and it's sooo nice not to have to worry for those extra days.

[cab244]

I've thought about it but I really don't like the idea of giving other people access to my checking account. Considering the performance I've seen so far from them I'm glad that I didn't.