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lmbsold4u
Guest
Hi! I am in need of some advice here. My mother is in the rental business here in Georgia. I am also a licensed REALTOR in GA. 2 weeks ago we rented one of her houses to this family. Now the problems are already starting. We did a walk through inspection with the tenants prior to them moving in as we do with all our tenants and noted the few things we knew where wrong. Ok so all was well, until the other day. My mom got a bill from the tenant, where they had called an applaince repair place to come and replace a brass fitting on the automatic ice maker water line- They said it was dripping water- The bill was for 51.00. The tenants paid it and was to deduct it from the next months rent.At first my mom told them ok, but she did not really look at the bill till she got home and noticed that she had been charged 4.00 for the part and a 45.00 service charge. She was really upset, as she is on a fixed income and is already coming out of pocket for this house on the mortage, property tax and insurance. She told me to call the tenants back and tell them that she could not pay for something like that. First of all they did not inform her of the problem before fixing it and in the lease there is a clause that states on repairs that...
"Tenant acknowledges that he has inspected the property and accepts the condition as is. Landlord will make necessary repairs to property with reasonable promptness AFTER receipt of written notice from tenant for major defiecncies which create and unsafe or uninhabitable condition..."
Ok they gave no written or verbal notice. Well later on that night I got this phone call from the husband and he had this really cocky attitude telling me qoute "I see you want to start causing problems early in the game" He said this to me! He said that if we did not pay it that he was going to get an attorney and pursue legal action, cause my mom had told them to deduct it from the rent and I then went on to try and expalin to him that we don't have money to waste on service calls like that. Heck I could have replaced a brass fitting. But we have our own people that we use and we do alot of the repairs ourself- My husband does- So he had this all cocky attitude like he was gonna control and intimidate me and I told him to deal with my mom casue she has all final says in the house as it is hers. I am limited as to how involved I can get due to me be a REALTOR. My question is do we have any legal recourse?? Do they have any?? My mom is really upset, she has alot of major health problems and is already under alot of stress. She had told me to tell them that she was terminating their lease and to send them a letter. I have yet to do so. They are screaming we will get an attorney and seek legal recourse, blag, blah, blah.
I called the wife yesterday and told her, ok this time we will let it slide and the next time all repairs had to go through me or my mom. Only if it is an emergancy can they call someone on there own- eg- busted plumbing or something of a serious nature. last night the husband called my mom and is now harping on wanting storage space. There are 2 storage buildings in the backyard. One is a morgan building that my mom stores all the extra parts, paints, and other things pertainging to all her rental houses. We keep it locked. Then there is another one of those metal sheds that is there, that they can use. It does not have any doors on it anymore. They are wanting my mom to buy the doors and/or a new storage shed. Plus, they want her to buy a screen door for the front door, so they can leave the front door open when they want to. I know that she does not have to provide them with improvements. Her only responsiblity is to the upkeep of the property.
My mom is wanting to terminate the lease and she is willing to give them the security deposit back. Do we have any recourse or anything?? Please help! I am sorry this is so long!
"Tenant acknowledges that he has inspected the property and accepts the condition as is. Landlord will make necessary repairs to property with reasonable promptness AFTER receipt of written notice from tenant for major defiecncies which create and unsafe or uninhabitable condition..."
Ok they gave no written or verbal notice. Well later on that night I got this phone call from the husband and he had this really cocky attitude telling me qoute "I see you want to start causing problems early in the game" He said this to me! He said that if we did not pay it that he was going to get an attorney and pursue legal action, cause my mom had told them to deduct it from the rent and I then went on to try and expalin to him that we don't have money to waste on service calls like that. Heck I could have replaced a brass fitting. But we have our own people that we use and we do alot of the repairs ourself- My husband does- So he had this all cocky attitude like he was gonna control and intimidate me and I told him to deal with my mom casue she has all final says in the house as it is hers. I am limited as to how involved I can get due to me be a REALTOR. My question is do we have any legal recourse?? Do they have any?? My mom is really upset, she has alot of major health problems and is already under alot of stress. She had told me to tell them that she was terminating their lease and to send them a letter. I have yet to do so. They are screaming we will get an attorney and seek legal recourse, blag, blah, blah.
I called the wife yesterday and told her, ok this time we will let it slide and the next time all repairs had to go through me or my mom. Only if it is an emergancy can they call someone on there own- eg- busted plumbing or something of a serious nature. last night the husband called my mom and is now harping on wanting storage space. There are 2 storage buildings in the backyard. One is a morgan building that my mom stores all the extra parts, paints, and other things pertainging to all her rental houses. We keep it locked. Then there is another one of those metal sheds that is there, that they can use. It does not have any doors on it anymore. They are wanting my mom to buy the doors and/or a new storage shed. Plus, they want her to buy a screen door for the front door, so they can leave the front door open when they want to. I know that she does not have to provide them with improvements. Her only responsiblity is to the upkeep of the property.
My mom is wanting to terminate the lease and she is willing to give them the security deposit back. Do we have any recourse or anything?? Please help! I am sorry this is so long!