I was catching up on some long overdue blog reading this weekend and I came across a great blog post that I thought was very timely. I asked the author is I could re-post his thoughts and he agreed. The author of the post is Bill Gray who runs Rent Recovery Service, a company that assists landlords with collecting past due rent and damage charges from ex-tenants. I was fortunate enough to have met Bill this past September at the AASEW’s Annual Landlord Tradeshow when Bill was gracious enough to fly to Milwaukee from Florida in order to present a seminar on collection issues to the attendees. Anyone that has met Bill knows that aside from being extremely knowledgable in the area of collections, he is also a great guy. If you are trying to collect past due rent and damage charges from an ex-tenant you should definitely give Bill a call at 212-561-5492 or email him at bill@rentrecoveryservice.com.
With the city of Milwaukee attempting to pass a version of “landlord licensing,” with state politicians trying to short-circuit a landlord’s ability to properly screen tenants, and with what I find to be a very prevalent negative attitude toward landlords in general – I thought Bill’s post was timely.
Posted by Bill Gray on August 10, 2009
Are all landlords good? No they are not, just as a percentage of tenants are not good tenants. Go to YouTube and search for words such as “tenant, trashed, destroyed, damaged“, etc. and see the horrors some landlords face when a bad tenant destroys their rental unit. As you view these videos, imagine if you had invested thousands of dollars into a rental unit, and this was the result. Make sure you are not eating your dinner when you view these videos.
The 80 – 20 rule is most likely appropriate here. 80% of landlords and tenants are probably responsible people who try hard to do the right thing. Do the math. Assuming that most landlords own or manage many more than one rental unit, how many more “bad” tenants are there, than “bad” landlords. But again, we seldom hear about the bad tenants.
Landlords provide a valuable product and service. They usually borrow money to make an investment, then rent the apartment or home to someone they hope will care for their investment. People love to beat up on landlords. Think for a minute if landlords threw in the towel and got out of the business all together? Where would everyone live?
Here is Michelle’s blog post I referred to:
Why is the business Owner that got Stiffed the “Bad Guy”?
You hear it all the time, bill collectors are harassing customers that don’t pay.
You see it all the time, websites and news programs that help people use the law to “sneak out” of paying a bill they legitimately owe.
What does this say about small and large businesses everywhere?
That they are the bad guy if they try to collect the money that is owed to them for services rendered or products shipped?
Why are they the bad guy?
Isn’t the “bad guy” the guy who is trying to get out of paying?
Michelle Dunn
www.credit-and-collections.com/blog/
Email me your questions concerning tenant debt. I will try to help you.
Bill Gray
#1 by Attorney Andrew Schmidt on October 20th, 2009
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STOP beating yourselves up. When I represent Landlords in small claims court they seldom ever lose. PERIOD! Of course it is those that do not take the advise of a lawyer, do it themselves, do it “wrong”, then blame the system for their loss.
I applaud the efforts of this blog to get landlords together on common ground – yet you are sounding like ‘Fox News’ – blaming someone else for your inabilities…
Reach out to ALL landlords – small and large – and try to all look out for the industry before the government takes over.
ANDREW
#2 by Brian Meidam_Plan B HomeBuyers LLC on October 20th, 2009
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Andrew – I don’t believe the intent was to blame anyone for inabilities…more likely point out the 80/20 rule as it applies to many issues. You can pound your chest and say your Landlord clients seldom ever lose in small claims court but I’d be willing to bet that if you look back at the last X numer of cases you were involved with, you were the only one winning. A landlord may “win” in court, but nothing from nothing equals nothing…And I don’t even have to turn on ABC, NBC, or CBS to figure out that math.
#3 by John (Dr Rent) Fischer on October 20th, 2009
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sometimes I just assume I am a glutton for punishment, as I was preparing my acceptance speech as the President-Elect for the Wisconsin Apartment Association for 2010, it hit me… I didn’t choose this profession – this industry in so much as it chose me. And as I said those words to the members in addendance, I took note of how the majority were contemplating and nodding… I am not alone.
Few people dream of growing up and being a landlord. Me, personally, I wanted to be a semi truck driver.
Somehow, professions that are not very popular with the public seem to hunt me down and find me…. the career that found me before this whole landlording thing was military intelligence (I know.. insert joke here _________)
The fact of the matter is, that the few bad eggs among us tend to put this bad lable on us all. That is why I tend to support laws that some landlords oppose… I tend to support laws that will make life difficult for the losers among us, if those laws don’t create an inconvience or additional cost for the good guys.
I once had a writ executed on a single monther (sheriff show up with the moving van) on Christmas eve day. When some people learn of that they ask me how I could be so creul, couldn’t I have given her through the holiday.
I did give her through the holiday, this had been on hold since before thanksgiving…
#4 by Mary Campanelli on November 24th, 2009
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But what about damages from a contractor.
I will be going to court on contempt against a contractor because I was granted a judgment on him for porch damages but, he is claiming practically homeless on his financial disclosure. Yet he was in business 23 years. I can’t believe he has no finacial ties with himself or company. I called the IRS and they said his name does not match the SS number either. (but won’t put in writing unless court order)
Now he even had some one who works with him file a lien on my property who I don’t even know and only found out by looking on the computer data. I was never served. Hopefully, because he is the owner of the company this will be addressed. If I win I will ask immediately for this lien to be dropped. Or it would be like him paying me (if that happens) and me having to pay it back to him when we need to work with a financial institution.
I feel confident on the damage he did with my pictures and a good time line but, I can’t find out his current address, his real name, or any other information on him. He even cashed my check at a check cashing store.
Any good suggestions or ideas before I go to court in Dec. 2009. would be very helpful. I really need to be prepared.
(this is the first time he appeared and I won the judgement in July.) I told the judge this and that I apeared over 6 times and he never appeared once. The judge told me you might have to appear 100 times) Unbelievable…..
Thank you,
Mary
#5 by Tristan R. Pettit, Esq. on November 30th, 2009
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Mary — I am sorry that you are in such a situation. As I believe yo know I can not give specific legal advice via this blog. My general suggestions would be for you to (1) sit down with an attorney to purchase 1-2 hours of his/her time to ensure that you are on the right track and (2) be very prepared and focus on the legal issues when you are in court – courts are very busy these days and while all of these issues are important and relevant to you (becasue they are happening to you and affect your poersonally) courts have dealt with hundreds of similar cases and therefore they just need to know the legal issues. If you are so personally involved in this matter and unable to step back and look at the situation without emotion so that you can discern the legal issues you may want to hire a lawyer that can assist you in this process.
You also need to be cognicent of throwing “good money after bad” – if this contractor (whether he be an individual or a business entity) has not money then it may not be worth it to pursue.
You do need to do something to get his lien released however. Lien law is very specific and often contractors are not aware of the detailed laws involved or ignore them which can cause their lien to be impropoper.