So I met with this woman yesterday and she signed a 9-month lease, gave me the check for first and security deposit. I cashed it and I'm waiting for it to go through. Today she calls and says that she miscalculated and won't be able to move-in and she's out of money. She wants me to return the money. Fine I say but I'll charge you for changing the locks. Now she's going on about how she's %26quot;trustworthy%26quot; and need all of the money and I don't have to change the locks.
What do you answer to that?
Can I not charge for lock change?
Personally, I would hold her to the lease she signed and not return a thing. I would also remind her that she is legally obligated for the full term of the lease or until you find a new tenant.
Can I not charge for lock change?
The lock change issue is actually immaterial because she is breaking the lease with out any notice and should not get ANY money back!!
A lease is legally binding the minute it is signed and she CANNOT just cancel it! It does not matter if she never moved in. When a tenant brakes a lease, they typically lose their deposit, same for if they do not give proper notice.
If she stops payment on those checks or if they bounce you can sue her for it.
This is not being a jerk- it is enforcing the law!! Renting is a business and you cannot take it emotionally. If you let everyone off the hook you will just lose money. It is in your best interests to learn the landlord tenant laws so tenants do not try to take advantage of you.
I would give her all her money back minus the lock money. And I would change the locks. Better safe than sorry. There is a 3 day cool off law. which gives a person three days to change their mind on a personal purchase made in a home. but, it doesn't apply here, when she signed your lease it null and voided that 3 day rule.
So you have every right to change your locks with the money she left.
I would charge the change of lock fee, unfortunately. I say unfortunately because as much as I would like to think someone was trustworthy you just can't take that chance these days. You owe it to the new tenants that you will put in there.
Sometimes you just have to follow your gut. If you %26quot;feel%26quot; she is trustworthy, give her her money back. If you have a bad feeling in your gut, change the locks and charge her for it.
Your obligation now is to your next tenant and their saftey. Change the locks and deduct the fee before refunding her money. Put every transaction in writing and certified mail.
I'd say, too bad and change the locks...
TOUGH. You can definitely charge her for the lock change regardless whether she's the Pope.
She signed a lease and paid a deposit and is LEGALLY bound for 9 months. What is with a 9 month lease??? Until you have re-rented the apartment, you don't return anything to her. There is NO 3 day right of rescission, she is legally liable for 9 months rent to you!!! She has no legal right to change her mind, run out of money.
DON't return ANY of her money yet, as it might clear and then bounce and you'd be out--she could be a scammer. I just had a check returned that was cashed months ago, and had a tenant check from July (cashed end of August) bounce.
Before I answer this question, I wanted to state there are A LOT of scams going on now in real estate, and this may be a new one. To give you an example, some people actually pose as Realtors inside of properties for rent, advertise that it is half of what the normal rent is (If normal rent is $1,000 they may say the rent is only $500) and take as much money as they can from a tenant who thinks they are getting a steal of a deal. Of course, when it comes time for the tenant to get their keys, the Realtor is nowhere to be found. With all of these people out here trying to make a quick buck, you never know who you can trust or not. For all you know, she may think your too stupid to change the locks- and perhaps she's made an extra copy of the keys to bugularize your next tenant!
Now to address your original question:
You may contact a real estate attorney and find out what the laws are in the state you live, but I believe a renter has just a certain window of time before they can back out of a signed contractual agreement. It varies from state to state, but for your information - it may be interesting to know.
I've had several tenants over the years, and they always have something to say. So, I would tell the woman something along the lines of:
%26quot;It's nothing personal, just business. I'm not in the business to make friends, I'm in the business to make money. I gave you keys to the rental, and for all I know - you could have made copies to pass out to anybody. I have nothing but your word to go by, and I don't know you. And since I am not coming out of pocket for the change of locks, I am afraid I am going to take it out of your deposit. I have to do this for financial and safety reasons. Here is a reciept for the lock I purchased that is of equal value to the one I have installed now, and here is your check for the difference.%26quot;
If she wants to sue you over less than $50 bucks, then tell her to knock herself out.
But also, I would learn from this experience. From now on, put in your lease agreement if the tenant terminates the agreement in 48 hours or less, you will deduct $50 dollars (or whatever the price is) for a lock change.
This way, there will be no misunderstandings in the future.
Also, I wanted to add that it is always best not to trust anyone when it comes to business. I know this because I am an extremely trusting person, and if I had a dollar for every time I was screwed over by a tenant, contractor, another fellow investor or a Realtor - I could retire from the real estate business. Some of the people I got screwed over by I had GREAT feelings about, others I gave them the benefit of the doubt anyway. The bottom line is she signed an agreement, and in exchange for that agreement you gave her the keys to your house. You trusted her as far as the money went, now she wants her money back. And I think she needs to suffer the consequence of wasting your time, energy and gas showing the property, filling out the contract, depositing the money and now refunding the money. That is a lot of B.S. to go through for someone just to say, %26quot;Oh, I don't want it anymore!%26quot; and telling you to lump it on the lock change. She is lucky you aren't a jerk, and upholding her to the agreement she signed. If you wanted to, you could hold on to the first months rent and depost, plus take her to court for defaulting on the lease. So, you are already being nice as it is, no need to go overboard.
Good luck!
