What to do if a Tenant Abandons Your Property

William Bronchick: Have you ever had a tenant leave in the middle of the night or the middle of an eviction? Did you ever wonder what to do when the tenant abandons the property?

Basically, when a tenant abandons the property, you do not need to file an eviction or wait for the sheriff. You can change the locks.

HOWEVER…

If you are not certain whether the tenant has abandoned the property, you should not change the locks. If you have the keys and your lease allows it, you could enter the premises, but KNOCK FIRST. Whether or not the tenant has abandoned is often a judgment call, looking at a combination of factors, such as:

• Did the neighbors see them move?
• Are the utilities shut off?
• Did the tenant put in a change of address at the post office?
• Is there any significant furniture left?
• If you have access, are there sheets on the beds?

Even if the tenant is not sleeping there, they are still “in possession” if they have their personal belongings in the unit and have not shown an intent to abandon these items.

If you do intend to claim abandonment, take pictures, gather evidence and cover all bases to prepare for a possible wrongful lockout claim. 

Definitely, give the tenant notice in writing where you have stored their stuff (if you have anything) and give them adequate time to come get it. If you have ANY doubts, call your landlord–tenant attorney and do the proper legal eviction proceeding . Or, here’s another possibility… said by William Bronchick.

PAY THE TENANTS TO LEAVE!!

If the tenant has NOT abandoned your property, or you aren’t sure, or you messed up and they are coming back for their stuff, you should consider giving “Cash for Keys” to bribe the tenant to give up possession. While not deserving if they are behind on rent, it is smart BUSINESS because you avoid an eviction and possible damage to the property by the tenant.  If you do this, however, make CERTAIN you get the tenant to sign a general release of liability form.  This form, when signed by the tenant, will waive their rights to sue you (even if you messed up and they have a claim).

Make sure you contact an attorney to prepare a good general release of liability form.

 

Source By: https://bronchicklaw.com/tenant-abandons-property/

“Release” Yourself from Liability

William Bronchick: People settle claims out of court all the time, and that is often the smart thing to do. But, most people forget the one simple step that is crucial to the process. This simple step, if omitted, can result in a future lawsuit against you, even if you allegedly settled the claim.

Consider the act of settling with a tenant who his behind on his rent: you accept the keys, waive his back rent and he moves out quietly. But, the tenant can always come back and sue you years later regarding damage to his property because of a leaky pipe. There is a simple way to avoid this lawsuit from happening.

Consider the times you may have accepted or given an earnest money deposit on a real estate contract. The closing never happened, and you either kept or forfeited the earnest money. Does this mean you can’t be sued in the future for breach of the contract? Don’t bet on it!

Consider the times you may have settled a claim with your neighbor regarding any controversy that may have allowed him to sue you. It may have been a situation where he fell on your property and was injured. You offered to pay his medical bills and he graciously accepted. However, two years later, what is to stop him from suing you for additional damages for pain and suffering? The answer: nothing! OK, so now you are begging me to reveal the secret of how to avoid future liability on transactions such as these. The answer is simple: you need to get a written release of liability.

A release, also known as a “general release,” is a simple document by which someone agrees to release you from all liability. A properly drafted release will prevent the signor of the document (the “releaser”) from bringing any claims against you in the future that he had as of the date of the release. Keep in mind that the release will not prevent the releaser from suing you for new claims related to events that arose after he signed the release by William Bronchick.

So, whenever you have a dispute with any other party that is settled, make sure you have that party sign a general release form before you give any money or consideration. And, speaking of consideration, there must be consideration given for the release to make it legally binding. In other words, you can’t just get someone to sign a release with nothing in return. A promise to waive your own legal rights against the release is sufficient consideration (i.e., you may have to sign a release against the other party as well). If you can’t think of any consideration, consider any counterclaim you may have against the opposing party, and threaten legal action to create a “dispute.”

For example, if someone threatens to sue you over monies owed for services, consider questioning any part of the services provided that may have been performed inadequately. Of course, you may have to visit with a lawyer to determine what claims, if any, you may have against the party threatening you. In other words, don’t lie or make something up. Do what lawyers do: use your imagination, find a creative argument that might hold water, then bluff! Even if you have a very small chance of winning on your counterclaim in court, it is sufficient consideration to waive that claim in exchange for the opposing party waiving their own claim.

Source By:

https://bronchicklaw.com/release-yourself-from-liability/

Using an Attorney to Buy a House

The most expensive thing most people will buy in their lifetime is the house in which they live. In addition to being expensive and taking decades to pay for, the purchase of a house also represents one of the more complicated legal transactions most people will ever encounter. Despite the need for contracts involving bankers, city, state and county tax assessors and other legal entities involved in the sale of land, most people never even consider hiring real estate attorney to assist them with the purchase of a home. That’s unfortunate, as the relatively small amount of money saved by hiring an attorney now could possibly save thousands of dollars later.

How can an attorney save you money? By double-checking all of the terms and documents of the transaction to make sure everything is legal and proper. Most people who buy homes don’t bother to check zoning ordinances or whether or not the home or fence on their property encroaches on that of a neighbor. An attorney can check these things along with tax issues and any one of a number of minor things that most buyers never even know to think about.

Right now in Texas, a number of homeowners who lost their homes to foreclosure are engaged in lawsuits against the company that sold houses. Among the allegations in the case are suggestions that the company that sold the property did such things as:

Tell buyers with bad credit and even previous bankruptcies that they qualified for unusually large home loans. Some of these loans had monthly payments that exceeded 50% of the buyers’ monthly income. In short, they agreed to lend buyers money that they knew the buyers could not afford to repay.

Provide buyers with mortgage documents that stated that the property wasn’t being resold but was rather being refinanced by existing owners.

Offer loan documents that contained a number of blanks which the sellers filled in sometime after closing. Buyers were later shocked to discover that their monthly mortgage payments were much higher than they had been promised.

Showed the buyers fraudulent appraisals that suggested that the property in question was worth 2-3 times its actual value.

A lawyer would have caught any one of these problems, had even one of the displaced homeowners bothered to hire one ahead of time. And yet hundreds of buyers appear to have been victims of mortgage fraud because they weren’t willing to spend a few hundred dollars to have an attorney look over the documents before they signed them.

Buying a house is agreeing to an obligation that can tie up your finances for decades. It only seems reasonable that if you are going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a place to live, you might want to consider spending hundreds of dollars to make sure that the terms of your purchase are legal and reasonable. A little money spent now could save you a lot of money later.

Sources:https://bronchicklaw.com/using-attorney-buy-house/

Release Yourself from Liability

People settle claims out of court all the time, and that is often the smart thing to do. But, most people forget the one simple step that is crucial to the process. This simple step, if omitted, can result in a future lawsuit against you, even if you allegedly settled the claim.

Consider the act of settling with a tenant who his behind on his rent: you accept the keys, waive his back rent and he moves out quietly. But, the tenant can always come back and sue you years later regarding damage to his property because of a leaky pipe. There is a simple way to avoid this lawsuit from happening.

Consider the times you may have accepted or given an earnest money deposit on a real estate contract. The closing never happened, and you either kept or forfeited the earnest money. Does this mean you can’t be sued in the future for breach of the contract? Don’t bet on it!

Consider the times you may have settled a claim with your neighbor regarding any controversy that may have allowed him to sue you. It may have been a situation where he fell on your property and was injured. You offered to pay his medical bills and he gratiously accepted. However, two years later, what is to stop him from suing you for additional damages for pain and suffering? The answer: nothing!

OK, so now you are begging me to reveal the secret of how to avoid future liability on transactions such as these. The answer is simple: you need to get a written release of liability. A release, also known as a “general release,” is a simple document by which someone agrees to release you from all liability. A properly drafted release will prevent the signor of the document (the “releasor”) from bringing any claims against you in the future that he had as of the date of the release. Keep in mind that the release will not prevent the releasor from suing you for new claims related to events that arose after he signed the release.

So, whenever you have a dispute with any other party that is settled, make sure you have that party sign a general release form before you give any money or consideration. And, speaking of consideration, there must be consideration given for the release to make it legally binding. In other words, you can’t just get someone to sign a release with nothing in return. A promise to waive your own legal rights against the releasor is sufficient consideration (i.e., you may have to sign a release against the other party as well). If you can’t think of any consideration, consider any counterclaim you may have against the opposing party, and threaten legal action to create a “dispute.” For example, if someone threatens to sue you over monies owed for services, consider questioning any part of the services provided that may have been performed inadequately.

Of course, you may have to visit with a lawyer to determine what claim, if any, you may have against the party threatening you. In other words, don’t lie or make something up. Do what lawyers do: use your imagination, find a creative argument that might hold water, then bluff! Even if you have a very small chance of winning on your counterclaim in court, it is sufficient consideration to waive that claim in exchange for the opposing party waiving their own claim.

To prepare a general release form for your legal situation, please contact us for more information by clicking here or calling us at 303-398-7032.

Sources:https://bronchicklaw.com/articles/general-release-form/