In early June, 2008, my contracted property management company informed me that the tenants wanted to renew the annual lease on this single family home at the same monthly rental rate. The contract was set to expire July 31, 2008. I agreed.
On July 30th the property manager 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, requiring them to vacate by August 31st. It was my understanding that the lease was renewed in June but I was told me that the tenants never actually signed the lease renewal. In fact they did not actually have to sign the renewal until the end of July. Caught off guard I reluctantly agreed to the rate reduction, and the tenants and property manager signed the lease renewal on the same day.
On August 26th I received an email from the property management firm offering owners the opportunity to review their account details on-line (a service not previously available). I accessed the website and while doing so came across a document showing a lease renewal contract for this property dated June 16th, 2008, and was consistent with our initial conversation to renew the contract. It was signed by both tenants and the property manager. The contract was a simple renewal at the same rental rate. I saved a copy of this contract on my computer.
In early October I received another phone call from the property manager requesting I release these tenants from the lease agreement for personal reasons. It was at that time that I informed them that I was now aware of the lease renewal contract dated June 16th and that was posted on the owner's web page. They said they didn't know anything about this but would look into it.
Two days later I logged onto their owner's website and noted the June contract renewal document had been removed. Only the July contract renewal at the reduced rental rate was posted.
Two days after that they called me to say that the tenants had decided to honor the lease renewal contract signed July 30th at the reduced rate. There was no mention of the deleted contract. I acknowledged the call but did not say anything more.
My question now is what would you recommend be done to have the original lease renewal of June 16th enforced? What is my legal recourse? Are there any state regulations which govern the actions of these companies to protect individuals such as myself? This is a large and well established organization in Venice.
On July 30th the property manager 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, requiring them to vacate by August 31st. It was my understanding that the lease was renewed in June but I was told me that the tenants never actually signed the lease renewal. In fact they did not actually have to sign the renewal until the end of July. Caught off guard I reluctantly agreed to the rate reduction, and the tenants and property manager signed the lease renewal on the same day.
On August 26th I received an email from the property management firm offering owners the opportunity to review their account details on-line (a service not previously available). I accessed the website and while doing so came across a document showing a lease renewal contract for this property dated June 16th, 2008, and was consistent with our initial conversation to renew the contract. It was signed by both tenants and the property manager. The contract was a simple renewal at the same rental rate. I saved a copy of this contract on my computer.
In early October I received another phone call from the property manager requesting I release these tenants from the lease agreement for personal reasons. It was at that time that I informed them that I was now aware of the lease renewal contract dated June 16th and that was posted on the owner's web page. They said they didn't know anything about this but would look into it.
Two days later I logged onto their owner's website and noted the June contract renewal document had been removed. Only the July contract renewal at the reduced rental rate was posted.
Two days after that they called me to say that the tenants had decided to honor the lease renewal contract signed July 30th at the reduced rate. There was no mention of the deleted contract. I acknowledged the call but did not say anything more.
My question now is what would you recommend be done to have the original lease renewal of June 16th enforced? What is my legal recourse? Are there any state regulations which govern the actions of these companies to protect individuals such as myself? This is a large and well established organization in Venice.
