Question for fellow landlords

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I think you can only claim your actual damages, not what the term of the lease was.

6 month lease, $1550 a month, $1500 damage. He rented for two months and then blazed. I've been told that I can hold him to the 6 month term if I wanted, but all I want is my $1550 for this month. I have a tenant lined up for next month, so all I'm out is July.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Thanks Axl. I'm way more interested in getting my money than screwing with this guys credit. Yeah, I can stick it to him and it would make me feel good inside, but I'm a lot more interested in getting PAID.

I'll try this tomorrow.

your welcome,
I have a business and need to do this more often than I care to think about.
sometimes it works. sometimes it doesnt!
good luck!

[Torture]

Originally Posted by fotze

I think I read once that the landlord is required to mitigate the losses, i.e. try to rent the place out, which you did meaning you are only out the time the place it was not rented and the cost to you to replace the renter. But who knows if that was true, probably what ken is referring to though.

That's true.

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by fotze

I think I read once that the landlord is required to mitigate the losses, i.e. try to rent the place out, which you did meaning you are only out the time the place it was not rented and the cost to you to replace the renter. But who knows if that was true, probably what ken is referring to though.

Yeah, that's the case. I need to try to rent it, but if I can't he's on the hook. Although it would be pretty easy to tell someone (ie the court) that I can't find suitable renters, seeing as I've been screwed twice in a row, and I haven't signed a lease yet with my next tenant, who happens to be an ex girlfriend.

But yeah, all I want is my $1550 and I'm happy. Although it IS tempting to keep on cashing cheques every month (my bank fee is $7 for each NSF) to maybe get some cash, and at the very least screw his credit!

[photon]

Moral of the story is no security deposit and no first month's rent, no contract and no keys, I don't stop advertising and showing until I have the money in the bank.

Some people think landlords are scum and they are justified in scamming all of them. Some people are just stupid and selfish and don't care if what they do impacts other people.

Doing credit, background checks, reference checks, surprise visits to their current residence ("Hi, I forgot to give you this piece of paper") to check out their REAL living conditions, etc all help mitigate it, but sometimes you still get one.

I knew the one that stole our fridge was more risky, but we thought we'd be nice and give her a chance. So much for that.

Originally Posted by Sample00

cash the damage deposit cheque as well. wait for it to come back NSF (maybe), then when you have both NSF cheques back, take them to your bank and have them send it out on collections. They will send it to the branch that its drawn on or their processing centre and the bank will check each day to see if it can certify the funds. this may cost you 15-30 dollars to do. cheques are good for 6 months from date of issue. this is how long the bank will hold on to the cheque for and try to certify it. you might get lucky that he has direct deposit pay and then you can collect.
secondly you might get lucky that he forgets about it and then deposits money into that account and the bank will snafooo it.
good luck.

When you say "send the two NSF cheques to collections", do you mean the bank's collections, or a collections agency? And do you mean the other cheques he has, or the NSF cheques themselves? If a cheque has already been returned NSF, doesn't that mean it's done and can't be used again? And doesn't the NSF cheque get returned to the person? Sorry, this is slighty different than the time I did it so would like to know so I can use this in the future

[Ice]

An NSF check can be sent to the drawee bank for collection. Its different than sending it to a collection agency. Different banks have different policies (at least down here) as to how long they will hold a check for collection purposes. The bank will check for funds on that NSF check daily and if the account has a balance that will cover the check, the drawee bank will issue a cashiers check, less their fees, to your bank which will be deposited to your account. You cannot send a check for collection that was returned as "payment stopped."

OH, I almost forgot. Most stop payments placed by customers at their bank only stop payment for six months. After that period, its the customers responsibility to renew the stop payment, and they rarely do. Now, even though most people think a check is stale dated after six months, that's not always true. Unless the check you need payment for is a sight paid item, like one with two signatures or one for over $5000.00, if you know someone stopped payment on a check, wait six months and send it through. If its not an exception check based on amount or signature restriction, it'll probably go through the clearing house with no problem. This is only effective if you call in advance or ask a teller at the bank to see if payment has been stopped so the bank doesn't return the check with holes punched through the encoding line. I've been successful at doing this twice to get money owed to me.

[ricosuave]

go after him, even if it costs you a bit of money - as a former landlord, I am a firm believer in contracts and agreements, and since they would have very likely made your life horrible if the situation was reversed, go through the process and see what is involved.

and as others have alluded to, start calling it a security deposit as opposed to a damage deposit.

good luck, let us know how it pans out!

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Ice

An NSF check can be sent to the drawee bank for collection. Its different than sending it to a collection agency. Different banks have different policies (at least down here) as to how long they will hold a check for collection purposes. The bank will check for funds on that NSF check daily and if the account has a balance that will cover the check, the drawee bank will issue a cashiers check, less their fees, to your bank which will be deposited to your account. You cannot send a check for collection that was returned as "payment stopped."

OH, I almost forgot. Most stop payments placed by customers at their bank only stop payment for six months. After that period, its the customers responsibility to renew the stop payment, and they rarely do. Now, even though most people think a check is stale dated after six months, that's not always true. Unless the check you need payment for is a sight paid item, like one with two signatures or one for over $5000.00, if you know someone stopped payment on a check, wait six months and send it through. If its not an exception check based on amount or signature restriction, it'll probably go through the clearing house with no problem. This is only effective if you call in advance or ask a teller at the bank to see if payment has been stopped so the bank doesn't return the check with holes punched through the encoding line. I've been successful at doing this twice to get money owed to me.

^^^what he said!

[Tron_fdc]

There's some awesome advice in here guys, thanks. I knew CP would come through!! I had no idea you could certify a bad cheque....that would have been really helpful with my last deadbeat renters.

Yeah, moral of the story is don't be nice to people, which kinda sucks. I was trying to help the guy out because he was an older fellow, had a really nice wife, and came with all the rental references. The guy actually worked IT for the OPP, and had a reference from his employer. Oh, and another word to the wise; don't rent to friends. I found that out the hard way too. "Hey bro, I'm short this month, cool if I pay you on the 15th?".

Kinda sucks when people try to take advantage of someone else's generosity.

[photon]

Holy crap, I didn't know that. That's awesome. All the more reason to get cheques in advance!

[Flames_Gimp]

i've been lucky i guess, everyone i've rented to has paid everything in cold hard cash

[Tron_fdc]

So I went into my branch, and they said that they couldn't do anything. Apparently I have to go into his branch (not only his bank but his BRANCH) and have it certified there, which doesn't help because I'm in Calgary and his branch is in Ontario.

I'm with RBC and he's CIBC if that means anything. I'm going into a CIBC this afternoon though, and see if there's something I can do. I have a feeling that this isn't something that a lot of people normally do either, because everyone I talk to (phone banking, tellers, etc) have no idea if they can certify a bad cheque bank to bank.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

So I went into my branch, and they said that they couldn't do anything. Apparently I have to go into his branch (not only his bank but his BRANCH) and have it certified there, which doesn't help because I'm in Calgary and his branch is in Ontario.

I'm with RBC and he's CIBC if that means anything. I'm going into a CIBC this afternoon though, and see if there's something I can do. I have a feeling that this isn't something that a lot of people normally do either, because everyone I talk to (phone banking, tellers, etc) have no idea if they can certify a bad cheque bank to bank.

Well, I deal with the local credit union.
When I get an NSF cheque, I process it here at the office, then take it to my credit union and ask them to send it out on collection.
there is a charge as previously mentioned. Now, I dont know if you need to be a business to do that, or not.
Those at phone banking or tellers dont know any better. I worked at CIBC for years and know full well that they do it. Again, I dont know if you need to be a business to do that or not.

upon further reading your post...
you may want to contact his branch, explain the circumstance and see if they would be willing to hold it for collection. Again there may be a charge for this.
you could then send it to them (make sure you keep a copy) and ask them to hold it for collection.

also, if the cheque is a NSF (non sufficient funds) item, then the stamp they place on it is something to the effect of "pursuant to clearing rules this item may not be cleared again unless certified" so in other words, it needs to be certified in order for it to be cleared.

[Tron_fdc]

Just called my account manager. After he talked to the BRANCH manager, he called me back and said yes, you can in fact do this. As I mentioned I don't think a lot of people do it though, because he had no idea WTF I was talking about the first time we spoke.

FYI to anyone who tries this; make sure you go to YOUR BRANCH and tell them you want it sent out on COLLECTION to the NSF branch. Apparently, if you're at RBC, you need to keep asking people until you get someone who has done this (in my case the branch manager). I'm on my way in to my branch now....we'll see what happens.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

Just called my account manager. After he talked to the BRANCH manager, he called me back and said yes, you can in fact do this. As I mentioned I don't think a lot of people do it though, because he had no idea WTF I was talking about the first time we spoke.

FYI to anyone who tries this; make sure you go to YOUR BRANCH and tell them you want it sent out on COLLECTION to the NSF branch. Apparently, if you're at RBC, you need to keep asking people until you get someone who has done this (in my case the branch manager). I'm on my way in to my branch now....we'll see what happens.

chalk one up for the Axe Man!