Rental Advice- Updated.

Edited.

My DH has now agreed to do it my way. I told him I would not be backing down on this one and it's for his own benefit as well as mine.

Message edited 2/5/2013 3:31:08 PM.

Re: Rental Advice

What I do do? Being that she broke the lease, told you to vacate because of her own reasons and benefits. I'd be the bigger B and make ther receipts for the work and hand them with a smile. Also, did you supply them with a security deposit? She may keep it to be a real you know what.

OR, give her the rent, but deduct the work that your husband did. And supply a receipt of the work with the rent and explantion of the lower rent.

I say to be the bigger B because she forced you out of a home to benefit herself, and you said this was family. Imagine what should would do if you were a stranger? Disgusting.

But, I believe the right thing to do is not to trust you will get compensated on the work. She should have asked your DH for receipts of the supplies and paid them. She should have paid something before the work was done and now that it is done, why hasn't she paid you? She is probably waiting for you two to leave so she doesn't have to pay.

I wouldn't take the chance of that. So I would deduct the work from the rent, and provide her with the receipts and move on from there.

Re: Rental Advice

Re: Rental Advice

Your DH would be the same as mine. He probably hates confrontation and doesnt see the point in fighting with her since you be seeing her much after your move. But, its the principal and the fact that money is money.

I'd try talking to him again and see where he stands. Tell them while he gave her verbal, its not really a good faith, set in stone, contract. He can play stupid. But, its not right what she did and the right thing would be to deduct the work from the rent.

If you lived elsewhere and had to repair something on your own that the landlord didn't fix, you can deduct it from the rent. Maybe explain to him like that?

Re: Rental Advice

I would deduct what she owes you.
Unless I'm wrong, his agreement was under the assumption you would still be living there.

Re: Rental Advice

What I'm getting is that DH has already done the work, so he should already be compensated.
Submit another invoice with the due date, and also noting that interest will added on in the event the bill is not paid on time.

If landlord doesn't pay, then deduct the amount from the final rent check, or the final two if the amount owed to DH is greater.

Your rent and DH's repair work are two separate things, so you have to be careful the way you incorporate the two. LL could take you to court if you don't pay the full rent amount due, although LL is the one breaking the lease. (court would most likely be in your favor, but you don't need the hassle).

Di you pay a security deposit ? Make sure you get that back too, or use that as your final rent payment.

Re: Rental Advice

Thank you for all your replies. I'm going to show DH this thread and maybe that will make him see sense. He did make that verbal agreement under the assumption that we'd still be living there for a few more months. Then she came out of left field with this 60 days to vacate documentation but kept saying it's just a formality, you don't have to be out yet. This is why I don't trust her. She says one thing and does the exact opposite.

I do understand that the rent is and should be separate from the repairs he has done, but I just want to cover myself. This is the LAST check we'll be sending her. I have it here, all filled out and ready to go, stamped and all. It's just that as soon as I send this, we have nothing to hold over her head if she decides she doesn't want to pay. Then the onus would be on us to take her to court which we would never do. Though, I do have an attorney who will help us out pro bono should SHE decide to take us to court. I almost welcome it. I know it would be a hassle, but as much as it would be a hassle for us, it would be more so for her. And I'm about at that point. I do believe the amount she owes us is greater than the rent we owe her. Though she was kind enough to call my DH this morning to remind him it's due by the 10th. Of course, he didn't say anything about the money that was owed him. If it were me on the phone I would've told her then and there we would not be sending it out until we received payment, but she knows better than to call me.

ETA: We did not pay a security deposit so that's at least ONE thing we don't have to worry about getting back. When we started renting it was so much friendlier and there was no lease or anything. The landlord is actually power of attorney for my uncle, who owns the house. Now that my uncle's health is deteriorating, it became all business. I'm sure she wants the money from the sale of the house in the bank and nice and secure so she can inherit it without issue when the time comes. She's also rushing to sell the house because she knows that the house will be split between herself and my grandmother if my uncle passes and she's trying to avoid that.

ETAA: I will NEVER EVER again work with family. I'm absolutely disgusted at the way we've been treated since this past December. She had us sign that lease while speaking to a real estate agent to sell the house.

Message edited 2/5/2013 1:04:29 PM.

Re: Rental Advice

Nobody stabs you in the back quite like family!

I don't know what the "right" thing to do is, but I would send her the invoice, and tell her you'll be collecting the payment from her on the 10th when you bring her the rent check. If she doesn't have it I would deduct it from the rent since the relationship is now ending.

Maybe she could take you to court, but you have a lease that she is illegally breaking, so I doubt she would.

Re: Rental Advice

It seems like they are covering their bases so that depending on potential purchser they can say you are leaving or that there is a lease for the space.
Might be that the buyer would want you to stay.

Is it possible for you to just call the family member and discuss the issue before the problem escalates

Re: Rental Advice

You can always have your attorney friend put a lien on the house if she owes you money.
That would seriously fluck up her selling it - the house can't be sold until the lien is settled, unless the buyer takes on the lien.
How's that for bitchiness ?

Rental Advice

Regardless of what the "right" thing is to do, or the legal thing, I would NOT pay her the full rent amount until you have payment for the work your DH did. Like you said, this is your last rent payment so you will have nothing to hold over her if she doesn't pay you. And even if she took you to court, the cout would most likely balance it all out and have each of you pay what you owe the other, so I wouldn't worry about that too much.

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Thanks again for the replies. Buyer does NOT want us to stay. They have put in an offer and she has accepted. I don't know what else needs to be done between them since we're not privy to any of that info.

I would do the exchange in person, but she is in NJ and we're in Queens. Part of the reason we moved in in the first place was to act as a live-in landlord for the elderly tenant upstairs since the niece is in NJ and it would be a hassle to go back and forth.

I mean, the cost of the his labor, while more than the rent, is very small. It might be insignificant to some, but because she broke the lease early, we now have to rent for another year. We planned to purchase a house when our lease runs out December 2013. So every little bit counts. The cost of my DH's labor and supplies will likely cover the first two months rent in our next place. We do already have a place lined up so we're moving March 1st. This is part of the reason we don't want to be on the hook for March- April rent in our current place.

Ugh, the thing is a big mess- nobody is budging. I'm not sending the rent until I get payment from her or I deduct it from the rent and she doesn't want us to deduct it from the rent but still hasn't sent payment. And round and round we go. I really don't care about her wishes about us deducting it from the rent- like I said, I'm not here to make her life easier. Exactly the opposite right about now. DH can cry that he looks like a liar all he wants, but I'd be HAPPY to let her know that I'm the biiitch who took the money out of her rent.

ETA: I'm just glad to see that I'm not being unreasonable. I'm not even trying to be a biitch, I'm just trying to cover our asses and my DH doesn't see this. He's very trusting and sees the best in people. It's a wonderful, admirable quality, but one that occasionally bites back.

Message edited 2/5/2013 2:18:29 PM.