C
coastie
Guest
Dear Sir (Madam)s:
I have a rental property in New Jersey which was rented and listed for sale through a well known national brokerage firm. The property did not sell, but had been steadily rented. The last tenants the management company placed in the property payed their rent for a couple of years, then started to be perpetually late. I called the agent and was put off by several excuses on the part of the tenant. Suddenly the agent became ill with lung cancer and when I tried to communicate with him I was told not to contact him. At the same time, the "company" wanted me to sign another listing agreement using this same sick agent as the "listing agent". When I objected the company dropped any listing and also declined to manage the property any more. (I had recently pointed out that the neighbors had contacted me to tell me that the condition of the property was declining rapidly). Left to my own resources, I had to contact an attorney, pay $3,000.00 to have the tenants evicted, then after the Sheriff put them out, they broke back into the house and vandalized it. To the tune of $15,000.00. Being judgement-proof, I could not recoup any damages from them.
My Question is: Should it be shown that the real estate company which handled the rental did not take normal precautions in selecting a tenant, i.e., checking references, credit history, etc., can I hold them liable for the loss I suffered at the hands of the tenants they put in my house??? In addition, the money I had to put into the house to bring it back up to showable condition in order to sell it was money I didn't really have. I had to fall behind on several payments of the mortgage plus was not able to keep up with my normal monthly payments. In other words, these people have ruined my credit. The house is almost in forclosure now. And I have no more money to pay retainers. I am looking for a contingency arrangement whereby I may be able to get back what I have lost and maybe a little something else to compensate for the loss of my previous excellent credit rating. Thank you. Oh by the way, I presently live in Florida.
I have a rental property in New Jersey which was rented and listed for sale through a well known national brokerage firm. The property did not sell, but had been steadily rented. The last tenants the management company placed in the property payed their rent for a couple of years, then started to be perpetually late. I called the agent and was put off by several excuses on the part of the tenant. Suddenly the agent became ill with lung cancer and when I tried to communicate with him I was told not to contact him. At the same time, the "company" wanted me to sign another listing agreement using this same sick agent as the "listing agent". When I objected the company dropped any listing and also declined to manage the property any more. (I had recently pointed out that the neighbors had contacted me to tell me that the condition of the property was declining rapidly). Left to my own resources, I had to contact an attorney, pay $3,000.00 to have the tenants evicted, then after the Sheriff put them out, they broke back into the house and vandalized it. To the tune of $15,000.00. Being judgement-proof, I could not recoup any damages from them.
My Question is: Should it be shown that the real estate company which handled the rental did not take normal precautions in selecting a tenant, i.e., checking references, credit history, etc., can I hold them liable for the loss I suffered at the hands of the tenants they put in my house??? In addition, the money I had to put into the house to bring it back up to showable condition in order to sell it was money I didn't really have. I had to fall behind on several payments of the mortgage plus was not able to keep up with my normal monthly payments. In other words, these people have ruined my credit. The house is almost in forclosure now. And I have no more money to pay retainers. I am looking for a contingency arrangement whereby I may be able to get back what I have lost and maybe a little something else to compensate for the loss of my previous excellent credit rating. Thank you. Oh by the way, I presently live in Florida.