Okay so I have been doing this real estate stuff about five years Just recently, a married couple in one of my rentals just tried to sue me for three months rent because they tried to fix a suppossed gas leak by themselves, without my consent, and were unable to fix the problem. That’s all I need is people smoking and fixing a gas leak and blowing up my neighborhood. And then they wanted to be paid for their so called “expertise.” The lease agreement explicitly stated that my company will provide all maintenance and repairs. It’s just easiest to do the work with professionals. The judge had an issue with my pay rent or quit notice. She thought the tenants had a case. So we went to trial. A trial! What the… You don’t pay rent and you get a trial. It was Christmas, and I guess the judge thought living for free would be a nice gift from me to my tennants. They lost the trial, because I had all the documentation necessary. They appealed the eviction, and totally wasted my time. I won the appeal and eviction, and a judgement. A lesson to all. Don’t play around with your pay rent and quit notices. It is really important to start the process. Just slap it on the door and move on to the next tennant. No money on the first and your are in court on the 8th. Some tennants would rather scam than work to do the right thing. Not in this house.
Jeeze sorry about that but you should have fixed the leak. GAS is a SERIOUS problem. If they had in fact informed maintenance that there was any problem then the matter should have been address that minute. I blame slum lords who dont get off their rear end after hours to investigate possible emergencies. That would be negligent, what if other tenants were hurt, killed or the building was destroyed? You can be held accountable for things like that. I would never hire you.
Ummm… Soup, I dont have to worry about you hiring me, because I wouldn’t work for you anyway. I’m my own boss. And took many risks to own my own businesses. Secondly, the gas was fine when they moved in. There was a tenant living there for a year, and no gas leak. They messed with the gas and then tried to say they fixed-it, and then wanted a reduction in rent. But they didn’t know what they were doing. And of course a gas leak is a serious issue. Which is why I pulled permits, and fixed the problem they created, and then passed a city inspection within 24 hrs of the tennants notifying me. They attempted to fix a problem they created for four days without my consent or notifying me. I’m no slumlord. That i can assure you. I take all my rentals seriously. And all my tennants are happy because I address situations immediately, and treat people with dignity and respect. But some people are just lazy and would rather use other people because they don’t believe in hard work and sacrifice. That is why the judge evicted them and the sheriff slapped an orange sticker on the door. Some want to live for free. Not in this house.
I dont rent houses youngster. I am commercial.
First off, gas isnt a 24 hour wait for the city to go over there type of thing. And there arent any permits required to assess a potentially deadly problem. The gas company responds instantly upon receipt of a complaint and they shut off the gas until an certified plumber or hvac tech fixes the problem good luck with the problem you created by not dealing with it correctly in the first place. seriously, good luck to you.
Soupster, I’m aware how the gas company works. Ummm…The tennants notified me after the gas was already shut off. The gas company was tired of wasting their time. They tried to fix the gas leak many times on their own. Bad idea. Once the gas is shut-off, you have to pull permits. But you already knew that since you are a big time commercial real estate person. How is commercial treating you? I see so many for lease signs in Phoenix and it seems like the residential fall-out is going to be a drop in the bucket compared to commercial real estate. But I’m sure you are so good at what you do, the protracted downturn in commercial will not affect a winner like you. Or a winner like Sam Zell. I’ld like to learn from the professionals. Are you a professional soupster?
Soup, what makes you think that chopkorealestate did not address the issue as soon as he found out about it?
Residential tenants frequently do stupid things in their landlords property to get back at them for something. I had some tenants pull all of the light cover switches off and take the sink off the wall and leave it hanging by the pipes. They took pictures and told the judge that I was a slumlord and was letting them live that way and that is why they haven’t been paying rent. Fortunately code enforcement recently gave the house a “certificate of compliance” and told the judge that prior to moving in it wasn’t like that.