Post by littlemisssunshine on Aug 21, 2014 17:22:26 GMT -5
For the past two years two other realtors and I have rented office space together. Only one person (Friend B) had the lease in her name, and we split the rent three ways. Friend A and I were to pay Friend B our share and she paid our landlord. In May I could tell Friend B was struggling with her personal finances (mentioned she couldn't afford her mortgage payment that month etc) and I was worried our rent wasn't getting paid. I approached her to ask if we were still current on the rent. She said yes, so I told her if she was ever struggling to let me know and I could pay extra, or help out in anyway possible. I do mainly property management, and have over 70 tenants who sometimes drop off rent at the office. All told, I probably have 20k of money come through the office every month. It is extremely important that I have an secure office where tenants can drop off rent.
Two weeks ago, while on vacation, I received a text message on a Monday from Friend B that she had to move out, she couldn't afford the rent. She said we had to be out by that weekend as she couldn't afford to pay another month of rent. I offered to pay the month's rent in full so I could stay in the office another month to make the transition and let my tenants know. She never responded. Three days later on Thursday I get a text saying there were movers in our office and we had to be out that day. I am still on vacation and won't be back until Saturday. My desk and personal belongings are moved to a storage unit at the complex, and the landlord had already rented out the office to another business who moved in that day.
I'm extremely upset as I have tenants who might be dropping off rent at my office, but I no longer have access to it. I come back on Saturday, rent a smaller office for just myself in the same complex and let all my tenants know I've moved. There's still a chance tenants will get confused, drop rent off at the wrong location, etc, and I'm still unhappy about the lack of communication and how Friend B handled it. Friend B refuses to talk to me on the phone and will only text me, but assures me we did not get evicted, we were current on the rent, and she just couldn't afford it anymore. After talking to Friend A I learn we were 6 months behind on our rent ($3000+) and that we did get evicted. So Friend B has pocketed $1200 of my money that was suppose to go to rent, lied repeatedly to me and jeopardized my business.
All that to say, I still owe Friend B $200 for July's rent. She has been asking repeatedly for it, but I don't really want to give it to her as I know it won't be going to the landlord like it should be. So do I pay Friend B? Pay the landlord and ask for it to be applied to Friend B's past due balance? Or not pay it all?
UPDATE:
The tenant was able to track the $650 money order, cancel it, and will be dropping off a new one to my correct office. I'm so relieved! Yay!!! I let Friend B know that I wasn't paying at all. She texted me that it was wrong of me and that I hoped I felt good in my heart that I was taking money from a struggling person. Then she immediately posted on FB, "You have to pick your battles. It's better to be at peace than to be right." I never respond to her text, so she emailed me last night saying I was a horrible, heartless money grubbing women and I'd better pay up. She honestly thinks that she was the victim, that she did nothing wrong and she didn't have a choice in the matter. Um, yeah, when you don't pay rent for 6 months you get evicted. And you do have a say in the matter! You pay your rent!!! I am so frustrated that people have no personal responsibility when it comes to finances.
Thank you for all the great advice ladies!! I appreciate it!
Do NOT pay Friend B. She has already pocketed $1200 of your dollars and is continuing to play you, claiming she paid the landlord. Talk to the landlord first and get an idea of your current standing and whether he is owed money. Any money you owe friend B goes to the landlord from you directly if in fact you owe him money. (Also check your rent rates; it's possible you're getting charged for back rent in your current rent already.) And it's time to cut off Friend B as untrustworthy.
Hell no you don't pay Friend B! Time to start calling her ex-friend B.
Oh she's no longer a friend. However we are both in real estate which is a pretty small circle. I'll be bumping into her at professional lunches, business groups meetings etc occasionally, so I do want to remain civil with her.
Post by shopgirl07 on Aug 21, 2014 17:38:57 GMT -5
Tell her you'll pay the $200 if you get confirmation from the landlord that your payments for the past 6 months were received. Obviously, she won't be able to produce this. If she continues to pester you, threaten legal action.
I'm really not sure you should pay the landlord either. You don't want to be responsible for $3K in back rent. Since the lease was in her name, the landlord can start legal proceedings against her if he's so inclined.
Wow. I'm sorry that happened to you. I would try and speak candidly with the landlord just to make sure that the other friend has her facts in order. And if what she's saying is correct, I would simply tell "A" that you've spoken to the landlord, she didn't pay July's rent and therefore you aren't going to pay her either.
I wouldn't pay her or the landlord. If you pay the landlord, I'd be scared he'd start to come after you for the rest of the balance due because it would appear as though you are taking responsibility for the rent.
I wouldn't pay her or the landlord. If you pay the landlord, I'd be scared he'd start to come after you for the rest of the balance due because it would appear as though you are taking responsibility for the rent.
Oh, yeah. You aren't on the lease. Don't pay him. Assumption of liability and all that jazz.
I would definitely speak with the landlord like others have suggested. Get a picture of how the situation really went down. If she was behind on the rent (which I assume she was) she has a bigger problem than $200. Since the lease was in her name only I don't believe they can come after you for the back rent. However, if you would like to pay him as a way of making amends then you can go for it but don't give the money to ex-friend. Once you have that resolved you can simply text her and say that you spoke with the landlord and have paid the money directly to him. This will keep you from owing her money and her causing problems in professional circles and will help the landlord out a bit too.
Eta: Maybe you should ignore me since I know nothing about the assumption of rent thing that was mentioned earlier.
HELL no!!! I'd be beating down her door for my rent money back since she was keeping it for herself! She has SOME NERVE to harp on you for $200 when she has been lying to you for months and could have seriously damaged your business. It would take every bit of restraint i had in me to not lay hands on her.
Why didn't you just tell her you knew the rent was not being paid, you were evicted, and she was pocketing the money? Do you have a written agreement with her for the rent? Do you have receipts or canceled checks showing you paid her? If the landlord decides to sue B for back rent it wouldn't be a stretch for her to try and go after you (after all she isn't really your friend).
I'm curious,too, why on earth would you even consider giving her $200? She probably cost you that in aggravation and trouble getting your personal stuff back after the eviction.
Serious question: why would you even consider giving her rent money when it's obvious she's not going to pay rent?
Anyway, if it were me and the devil on my shoulder won, I would tell her to call me so I could talk to her about getting her the money. Then I would curse her out. If the angel won, those texts would get ignored, the same way she was ignoring you. That's about the best she could get from me. I'm really sorry you've been put in this predicament. I hope your property owners and tenants don't suffer as a result of her assholeyness.
I was thinking of paying her because I have a verbal agreement to pay her $200 a month, and I did use the office for the entire month of July. And there's a 0.05 chance that this 'friend' is caught up with rent, but I really doubt it.
But every one is right, I'm not paying her. And yesterday I had $650 go missing. My very truthworthy, always on time tenant said she paid her $650 rent and the new tenants of my old office said they don't knew anything about it. It's a money order and even though it has my name on it, it's easy to change that and cash it. This sucks.
Thanks for the advise about not paying the landlord. Since my name wasn't on the lease, I have no legal liability to pay him, and I don't want to get into a sticky situation by paying him a partial payment.
Why didn't you just tell her you knew the rent was not being paid, you were evicted, and she was pocketing the money? Do you have a written agreement with her for the rent? Do you have receipts or canceled checks showing you paid her? If the landlord decides to sue B for back rent it wouldn't be a stretch for her to try and go after you (after all she isn't really your friend).
I'm curious,too, why on earth would you even consider giving her $200? She probably cost you that in aggravation and trouble getting your personal stuff back after the eviction.
Because I'm trying to maintain a professional relationship with this women as we both work in real estate and it's a small circle. I will have to interact with her professional at some point. But yes, at this point she's cost me a lot of stress, lost sleep and most recently possibly $650 in lost rent. She wont be getting a dime.
Serious question: why would you even consider giving her rent money when it's obvious she's not going to pay rent?
Anyway, if it were me and the devil on my shoulder won, I would tell her to call me so I could talk to her about getting her the money. Then I would curse her out. If the angel won, those texts would get ignored, the same way she was ignoring you. That's about the best she could get from me. I'm really sorry you've been put in this predicament. I hope your property owners and tenants don't suffer as a result of her assholeyness.
I was thinking of paying her because I have a verbal agreement to pay her $200 a month, and I did use the office for the entire month of July. And there's a 0.05 chance that this 'friend' is caught up with rent, but I really doubt it.
But every one is right, I'm not paying her. And yesterday I had $650 go missing. My very truthworthy, always on time tenant said she paid her $650 rent and the new tenants of my old office said they don't knew anything about it. It's a money order and even though it has my name on it, it's easy to change that and cash it. This sucks.
Thanks for the advise about not paying the landlord. Since my name wasn't on the lease, I have no legal liability to pay him, and I don't want to get into a sticky situation by paying him a partial payment.
File a police report. I'm serious.
If she stole your money order she should not have a real estate license and be allowed to handle money. If the police investigate and find she stole it (which, honestly, shouldn't be hard to track), I would also file a complaint with your state's real estate commission. This is what you pay all those licensing fees for!!!!!
I was thinking of paying her because I have a verbal agreement to pay her $200 a month, and I did use the office for the entire month of July. And there's a 0.05 chance that this 'friend' is caught up with rent, but I really doubt it.
But every one is right, I'm not paying her. And yesterday I had $650 go missing. My very truthworthy, always on time tenant said she paid her $650 rent and the new tenants of my old office said they don't knew anything about it. It's a money order and even though it has my name on it, it's easy to change that and cash it. This sucks.
Thanks for the advise about not paying the landlord. Since my name wasn't on the lease, I have no legal liability to pay him, and I don't want to get into a sticky situation by paying him a partial payment.
File a police report. I'm serious.
If she stole your money order she should not have a real estate license and be allowed to handle money. If the police investigate and find she stole it (which, honestly, shouldn't be hard to track), I would also file a complaint with your state's real estate commission. This is what you pay all those licensing fees for!!!!!
Oh no, my 'friend' didn't steal the money order. I'm saying the my tenant dropped off a money order a couple of days ago at my old office and the new office tenants there kept the money order. The three of us do not have access to the old office any more. I asked the new tenants at my old office to be on the look out for mail/items that may be dropped off, but so far they haven't given me anything, even though I asked. I didn't specifically tell them it would be money order/cash because I didn't want to give them extra reason to snoop.
Just tell her if she can provide proof of payment to the landlord for the last 6 months that you'll give her the money. Otherwise, there's no money to "owe" since she didn't front the money for rent in July.
I wouldn't automatically suspect the new tenants of stealing the money order. Of course it could happen, but I find that pretty unlikely. Most likely, it was misplaced, not stolen.
I wouldn't automatically suspect the new tenants of stealing the money order. Of course it could happen, but I find that pretty unlikely. Most likely, it was misplaced, not stolen.
Except it's a shady contractor's company that has an extremely bad rep. But you are right, there's no telling what happened to it. I'm going to go door to door in the complex today and see if I can't track it down. It may have ended up in the front leasing office for all I know.
Post by citrusmint on Aug 22, 2014 11:07:25 GMT -5
Not only would I not pay her the $200, I would also criminally go after the $1200 that she basically embezzled from you.
If she can't prove that it went to rent, I would 100% go to the police. This is larceny. Friend or no friend, if you steal from me, I'm coming for you. The end.
I thought money I orders were really hard to track since they don't even track who purchases them?
OP: sorry you're going through this. If I saw this "friend" at a work function I would let others know what went down so they can avoid getting ripped off by her.
Not only would I not pay her the $200, I would also criminally go after the $1200 that she basically embezzled from you.
If she can't prove that it went to rent, I would 100% go to the police. This is larceny. Friend or no friend, if you steal from me, I'm coming for you. The end.
This is also a good point and worthy of a complaint to the real estate commission.
Think about it. Would you want to be doing deals with someone who steals money from a friend? This woman is in the wrong line of work.
I wouldn't automatically suspect the new tenants of stealing the money order. Of course it could happen, but I find that pretty unlikely. Most likely, it was misplaced, not stolen.
Except it's a shady contractor's company that has an extremely bad rep. But you are right, there's no telling what happened to it. I'm going to go door to door in the complex today and see if I can't track it down. It may have ended up in the front leasing office for all I know.
I have no experience with money orders, really, but I'd still consider filing a police report if you can't track it down today. Whether it's your ex-friend, the shady contractor, or anyone else who took it doesn't really matter, and you're going to want to try to get that money back for your client anyway.
I agree with everyone else that you have no obligation to pay her for July if she didn't front the money in the first place. If you're really worried about that 0.05% chance, by all means tell her you'll pay her after she proves she's paying the landlord (all along and in July).
I don't get why you would pay the landlord directly. YOU are not on the lease. Your business deal is with your shady friend. You were in the office during the month of July. Per your agreement with her, you owe her $200. Whether she pays HER obligations or not is completely up to her. If she doesn't, the landlord will come after HER not you.
Depending on the company, it's also possible to track it online if you have the receipt or tracking number, so you can see if it's actually been cashed (not necessarily by whom though; that may be one of those questions that you'll pay the money to find out.)