In early June, 2008, my contracted property management company (HNC, fictitious name) informed me by phone that the tenants wanted to renew the annual lease agreement on this single family home at the same monthly rental rate ($1,500/mo). The contract was to expire July 31, 2008. I agreed.
On July 30th HNC called me to say the tenants were demanding a $200 reduction in the monthly rental rate on the lease renewal or they would immediately exercise their 30 day notice to vacate the premises, which would require them to vacate by August 31st. I stated it was my understanding that the lease was renewed in June, but was told that the tenants never actually signed the lease renewal. That they did not have to until sign the renewal until the end of July. I reluctantly agreed to the rate reduction.
Now here is where it becomes very distressing. On August 26th, HNC sent me an email stating that I can register on their website, and as a registered owner I can review information about my properties online. (A service that was not available prior to this time.)
In Septmeber I registered and browsed the website to become familiar with its' features. However, in the process of reviewing the documents (i.e. contracts scanned into the website) I saw a lease renewal contract for this property dated June 16th, 2008. The contract clearly stated a monthly rent of $1,500, and was signed by both of the tenants and HNC. Clearly annoyed but uncertain as to what action to take I simply saved a copy in a Microsoft Word document and also printed a copy of the document.
In early October I received another phone call from HNC requesting I release the tenants from the lease agreement for personal reasons (domestic issues between the husband and wife). It was at that time that I informed HNC that I was now aware of the contract dated June 16th, in addition to their posted document of a lease renewal dated July 30th with a $1,300/mo rental rate. HNC said they didn't know anything about this but would look into it and get back to me. I also said that while I am sympathetic to the couple's situation, I was very frustrated with what I had learned.
Two days later I logged onto their website and noted the June contract renewal had been deleted. Only the July contract renewal was posted.
Two days after that HNC called me to say that the tenants had decided to honor the $1,300/mo lease thru July 31st, 2009. There was no mention of the deleted contract. I acknowledged the call but did not say anything more.
My question to the audience here is what would you recommend I do to have the original lease renewal enforced? Was there a contract violation? Are there any State of Florida regulations which govern the actions of these companies to protect people like myself? (Note also that HNC is not a new company. They are a large and well established property management in this region.)
Thank you for your review and comments of this lengthy post.
On July 30th HNC called me to say the tenants were demanding a $200 reduction in the monthly rental rate on the lease renewal or they would immediately exercise their 30 day notice to vacate the premises, which would require them to vacate by August 31st. I stated it was my understanding that the lease was renewed in June, but was told that the tenants never actually signed the lease renewal. That they did not have to until sign the renewal until the end of July. I reluctantly agreed to the rate reduction.
Now here is where it becomes very distressing. On August 26th, HNC sent me an email stating that I can register on their website, and as a registered owner I can review information about my properties online. (A service that was not available prior to this time.)
In Septmeber I registered and browsed the website to become familiar with its' features. However, in the process of reviewing the documents (i.e. contracts scanned into the website) I saw a lease renewal contract for this property dated June 16th, 2008. The contract clearly stated a monthly rent of $1,500, and was signed by both of the tenants and HNC. Clearly annoyed but uncertain as to what action to take I simply saved a copy in a Microsoft Word document and also printed a copy of the document.
In early October I received another phone call from HNC requesting I release the tenants from the lease agreement for personal reasons (domestic issues between the husband and wife). It was at that time that I informed HNC that I was now aware of the contract dated June 16th, in addition to their posted document of a lease renewal dated July 30th with a $1,300/mo rental rate. HNC said they didn't know anything about this but would look into it and get back to me. I also said that while I am sympathetic to the couple's situation, I was very frustrated with what I had learned.
Two days later I logged onto their website and noted the June contract renewal had been deleted. Only the July contract renewal was posted.
Two days after that HNC called me to say that the tenants had decided to honor the $1,300/mo lease thru July 31st, 2009. There was no mention of the deleted contract. I acknowledged the call but did not say anything more.
My question to the audience here is what would you recommend I do to have the original lease renewal enforced? Was there a contract violation? Are there any State of Florida regulations which govern the actions of these companies to protect people like myself? (Note also that HNC is not a new company. They are a large and well established property management in this region.)
Thank you for your review and comments of this lengthy post.
