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As it was the first time renting your unit you may have had expectations contrary to the reality of seasonal rentals. It's a rare tenant that will leave your property in the condition they found it. It goes with the territory. That's part of why you get such high rent; wear and tear. As to the missing items, I've had renters move items to different rooms, put stuff in cabinets and even take pictures off the wall and put them in closets. Check all the nooks and crannies before you conclude that they were stolen.
[quote=NYFL;39498242]Thanks for the feedback and the messages I received. Very interesting..seems that NO ONE has had good experiences with rental through an agency. Makes me feel just a wee bit better…Lesson learned - never rent your place through an agency.
We own a (future retirement) home in Sarasota which is managed by a property manager, although it is not rented out seasonally, but on a 12 month lease. Our property manager is a real estate professional and the brokerage is a reputable, national franchisee. Our tenants were thoroughly vetted and take care of our single family property as though it were their own. Our property manager lives on the same block, and she checks on the tenants regularly to make sure they are happy. She is a true partner (and good neighbor, when we move in next year) and keeps us in the loop when a need arises. I vetted most of our service providers before we signed the management contract, but she has been able to recommend a few as well. We feel that the fee is reasonable (first months rent plus 10% for the first year, then 50% of the first months rent plus 10% for subsequent years).
It sounds like the experiences in this discussion apply to seasonals only but we have been very happy with the arrangement and would not hesitate to recommend her to anyone.
I would really like to know the name of the company you paid to manage your unit?
our daughter and SIL use one to manage their property and aren't that crazy about their 'help"
was wondering if it was same one...
you can PM me if you don't want to post publicly...
Well we certainly learned some things about FL rental laws - Florida Statutes Section 83.49 - if the tenant objects for any reason to the landlord's claim on a security deposit- the landlord cannot simply keep the disputed amount. If a resident disputes, this new law still does not clarify if landlord is permitted to retain the disputed amount- it just encourages the two parties to try to informally work out a settlement. Not too easy when an agency is in the middle of it all. And then it just says you can go to small claims court to settle.
In our case, we inspected within the 15 day allotted time, and the tenant just basically said no, they disagree and just don't want to pay. While they did not do overwhelming damage, (as I have heard horror stories from others), and did not steal anything terribly valuable- there were pots & shower heads missing, a new dining table totally scratched, stains on upholstery, etc. Most disturbing, owner's closet that was locked was entered and liquor taken. And yes- we noticed that they also moved lots of stuff around, put items in top cabinets, in outdoor carport storage, etc etc. So I think we have already found everything that was moved around.
While I will certainly agree that the seasonal rents these tenants pay are high - it does not justify taking things or damaging things. And if the tenant does so- they could at least own up to it. We do not wish to go through the hassle of small claims court so we are going to chalk this one up. The tenant was unreasonable for sure- on the first day they asked us to install a dishwasher for a three month rental - if they had read the inventory list before signing on the dotted line they would have seen there was none.
Anyway- the agency has been absolutely no help in any of this, and in fact, does not even seem to treat tenant and landlord equally. We specifically told them we were coming to inspect in the 2 week period and to hold the deposit- and we find out they had already sent it back. We used Sterling Realty and I would definitely not recommend their seasonal rental service. Beyond disappointing.
Well we certainly learned some things about FL rental laws - Florida Statutes Section 83.49 - if the tenant objects for any reason to the landlord's claim on a security deposit- the landlord cannot simply keep the disputed amount. If a resident disputes, this new law still does not clarify if landlord is permitted to retain the disputed amount- it just encourages the two parties to try to informally work out a settlement. Not too easy when an agency is in the middle of it all. And then it just says you can go to small claims court to settle.
In our case, we inspected within the 15 day allotted time, and the tenant just basically said no, they disagree and just don't want to pay. While they did not do overwhelming damage, (as I have heard horror stories from others), and did not steal anything terribly valuable- there were pots & shower heads missing, a new dining table totally scratched, stains on upholstery, etc. Most disturbing, owner's closet that was locked was entered and liquor taken. And yes- we noticed that they also moved lots of stuff around, put items in top cabinets, in outdoor carport storage, etc etc. So I think we have already found everything that was moved around.
While I will certainly agree that the seasonal rents these tenants pay are high - it does not justify taking things or damaging things. And if the tenant does so- they could at least own up to it. We do not wish to go through the hassle of small claims court so we are going to chalk this one up. The tenant was unreasonable for sure- on the first day they asked us to install a dishwasher for a three month rental - if they had read the inventory list before signing on the dotted line they would have seen there was none.
Anyway- the agency has been absolutely no help in any of this, and in fact, does not even seem to treat tenant and landlord equally. We specifically told them we were coming to inspect in the 2 week period and to hold the deposit- and we find out they had already sent it back. We used Sterling Realty and I would definitely not recommend their seasonal rental service. Beyond disappointing.
I understand you do not want to go through the hassle of small claims court, but these people need to be held accountable for their misdeeds/thievery/destruction. If you simply chalk it up then they get away with it and will continue to do it to others. Sometimes the good people of the world have to be inconvenienced a little bit to teach the derelicts a lesson. Please reconsider, you have the ability to make this right.
While I would not tell you that you should go to small claims courts, I am certainly sympathetic to Sunnydee's view. I hate being screwed over. Hubby and I would spend more to pursue something legally that we would recoup by winning, based on principle. There have been times we have been willing to take a hit on our credit report rather than to allow ourselves to be hosed in a credit dispute. It is nice that we have good credit and can do this. For us, it is all about the principle of the thing.
Thank for the encouraging words. I think if we were in Sarasota full time, we would absolutely go to court as this entire thing really irks us. Would hate to see someone else get stuck with the rotten tenant- who we are pretty sure the agency was on to all along and just strung us on for the ride. But to have to deal with it when we are back in NY is just more hassle than we can deal with right now. Like my Mom always said- the world is full of really good people and some not so nice people - and it's always better to be on the side of the good ones- like all of you here on the Forum!
Hi, if I may, as a former full time landlord (I own a two family duplex up north - I live in one side of the house, and rented out the other side for 10 years), I would advise you - anyone - to NOT get into the landlording business under any circumstances, in any state, seasonally, or year round. Don't do it.
There is a thing you learn: people don't care about things they don't own. Look at rental cars being abused. Look at public housing complexes deteriorating into nightmare trash heaps as quickly as they do.
It's the same thing with rental agencies: they could give a rat's butt about your property. They take your money to rent it, the rent it to the first people who come along, and they figure their work is all done.
Mind you, I've never used a rental agency but I know people who have, and that has been their experiences.
My experiences with being a landlord are that I did the work myself. I vetted my renters, checked their credit and work and criminal histories, catered to their every whim, and presented them up front with a freshly painted place, with nice clean new rugs over the nice clean hardwood floors, and an extremely clean and very nice 2 bedroom place that is miles better than any 2 bedroom rental they would normally find in the area (and I heard this over and over and OVER from people viewing the place. Plus I checked out the competition in my town - and saw that it was definitely true). Back when I wasn't forced to pay a tenant's heat, I gave them an entire 275 gallons of heating oil up front to start off. At $3 and $4 a gallon, that is $1100 of free oil! The only stipulation was, when you leave, make sure the place is as clean as you found it, do no damage, and leave me the same amount of oil you I gave you. Only fair, right?
Except for 2 tenants, my meticulously cared for and maintained place was always left dirty, often with permanently stained rugs, sometimes holes in the walls - one guy even drilled a hole thru the hardwood floors in order to stick a tv cable through it. Furniture and trash would be left behind - damaged, filthy old couches, for example - would be left behind for me to have to drag to the dump, a filthy fridge, stovetop, and oven were common. Then there were things like the full cat litter box left behind, and a bottle of Liquid Plumber stored up in the upper kitchen cabinets (NOI below the sink where people normally store cleaning agents and the like). The kicker was that the Liquid Plumber bottle had been turned onto its side and was spilling out onto the interior of the cabinets, where, yes normal humans store there food. The bathroom and kitchen sinks and bathtub drains would be clogged with hairpins and the like, toothpaste caps.
I had a lease, of course, which stressed and specified that NONE of this was acceptable - we in fact read thru the lease out loud and they signed it in my presence. None of it mattered in the end.
Even the last tenant I had (in the unfortunate era of being unable to rent the place unless I paid the heat - all of my competition was providing free heat, so I was forced to), who lived here 3 years with whom I had what I thought the whole time was an excellent, respectful and cordial/very friendly relationship with (he even sent me a Christmas card after he left due to having bought his own condo), I found out had been ripping me off the entire time, leaving the thermostat up at 75 degree during winters, day and night, even when he went away for a days at a time on business trips, which he did about once a month. I found this out by accident - I had to go into his side of the house when he was away because of a water leak coming into his 2nd bedroom and found the heat up that high - he had been away 4 days to that point. (I had wondered why on earth the oil tank kept emptying out almost as quickly as an SUV's gas tank on a long road trip - this was why.) Mind you this was AFTER I stressed to him how excessively high the heating costs were that winter (this is last year, when heating oil in my state topped nearly $5/gallon) and that I'd been laid off and was really struggling financially. He, meanwhile, drove a 1 year old BMW. I'm not making any of this up.
There are the reasons that landlords end up bitter about this sort of stuff. Because we are SO OFTEN ripped off by our tenants, even when we are super duper nice and friendly with them, and easygoing and sweet. We bend over backwards to provide a place we are proud to show (as I was) and even when we provide exemplary and very quick responses and service such as having excellent plumbers, electricians, and heating people on speed dial, we are still ripped off.
People again, do not care about something they don't own. What is especially galling is that, the many years I was a renter, I NEVER left a place dirty or trashed, ever. I would not have dreamed of it. And I always got 100% of my security deposit back, and quickly.
Your heating experience reminded me of an experience a friend of mine had in similar circumstances to yours. She too had a duplex and lived in one half and rented the other. One hot hot day in the middle of the summer she came home and found the tenant had set the air conditioner up to max cold and had a fire going in the fireplace.
That tenant left and left car parts behind in the basement, tires and a hood for the car.
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