Scam Alert
Just a heads up, my PM thinks someone was trying to scam us on a college rental. They said they were a missionary coming to the states and would be leasing for a year. They went ahead and sent a check for an entire years payment. My PM did not cash this, but the idea would have been for us to start using the funds, and then the scammer says something has changed and they can not lease the place. We refund them their money out of our own account, and then their check ends up bouncing after a couple weeks.
So heads up out there people, the power of the internet is moving ahead full force ... send me an email for further info, or do a search on rental scam for more info.
tcikevin
It is a common practice in the M.East to pay rent a year in advance and some times 2 and 3 years. If however those tenants were from an African country then you are right ,it can be a scam.
You made the mistake however by not cashing the check first then send them the refund.
konte, actually my PM did the right thing and caught this early enough, by not cashing the check, and not going any further along with it. The scammers think they still have a fish on the line. They have not said that they are not going to be able to complete the lease. This is just too similar to other scams out there so my PM caught on to it.
Received an email from Dr Cami Matesanz today. I know this is a scam, yet curious how someone would pull my rental listing from a university housing website?
You live in a college town, your rental is located in the local area, so it is not unusual for the university housing assistance office to have web links to rental listings, or to have a local database of rental properties local landlords have registered with the university.
Same with the housing assistance office at military bases.
The scammer depends upon the fact that many local landlords will register their vacant rental property with the university housing assistance office. The scammer is hoping that you are in that group of landlords.
To make it more clear. The tenants signed 4 year lease with the previous owner in 2003. There are 2 years left on their lease.
The tenants are wrong. The lease is valid and they should hold up their end of the contract. I think they got it into their heads that the transfer of owner was their way out of the lease agreement. You can be almost certain that they never met with or talked to a lawyer because they would have told them the same thing. If they break their lease be sure to keep their security deposit and write a letter letting them know if they intentionally damage your property that you will file a judgment against them, which will affect their credit report.
When you purchased the property you payed a price taking in consideration the income producing factor right? you bought the Lease/Leases. Did you not have an attorney for the closing? or did you use the same attorney with the seller? if you did have your own I would give him a call about the problem you are facing. I can tell you what I would do if I was facing this problem but it will not help you, Under the circumstances you want them out also so tell them to pay September rent and when they vacate you will make a report of any repairs and refund to them the balance of their www.deposit.Read their Lease and also point out to them the clause that points out that deposit cannot be used for rent. Start showing the place to new Tenants, tell them you will be doing that after you get the rent.
Your Lease also points out you have to give a 24 hr. notice for entry but if they claim their Lease is not valid then you can go in without a notice. I would try it if I were you just to see their reaction.Do they only want to honor the parts of the Lease that suits them???????????
Tell them to get a different lawyer because theirs is clearly drunk. HAHAHAHAHAHA! You said it!
Good points alexlev. Maybe they will think twice before breaking the lease if they think it will prevent them from buying a car/house in the future.[ Edited by d_random on Date 08/23/2005 ]
Thank you for all of your advice. I will talk to the tenants seriously today. The rental market is slow here with many one-month-free signs. The best result to me will be that they agree to pay one or two months extra rent to cover some of my loss. Or they agree to stay until the end of the winter when moving season is nearby(the risk is that they may treat their unit badly). An ok result is that they agree to keep their unit clean and neat and be cooperative to attract new tenants. The bad one will be that they refuse to admit they breaking the lease and begin to trash their place.
If you are nice to them you have a better chance that they will stay the winter. Please do tell us how it turns out for you.
Konte
I talked to the tenants today. They still insisted that the lease is not valid because our names are not on it. I suggested them talk to another lawyer specializing in RE. They said theirs is the best and they could go to court with us. They also said they asked their lawyer to send a 30 day notice to us. It looks like they do have a lawyer. Anyway, it was wasting time argueing with them.
I told them I understand that their situation have changed and need to move out. I ask them to keep their unit clean and neat so we can get new tenants ASAP. They agreed to do that.
I felt that we will have a big fight if we keep their deposit later. It will be the best if we can find new tenants in one month.