Tip of the Month - July 2008
The Brass Tacks of Managing Rentals
Source: Property Management for Dummies
Robert Griswold
Moving out Tenants
Tenants, particularly
roommates or married couples in the midst of a separation or divorce,
may fight amongst themselves over the security deposit. Legally,
the security deposit belongs equally to all Tenants who signed the
lease or rental agreement, unless otherwise agreed in writing. If
you arbitrarily split the check between the Tenants, you can find
yourself liable to the other party.
So always make your security deposit refund check
payable jointly to all adult Tenants. Then mail copies of your
Security deposit Itemization form to each of the Tenants at their
respective forwarding addresses. Include the security deposit
refund check to one of the Tenants with a copy of the check to the
others. Leave it up to the Tenants to handle the endorsement of
the check.
However, if you have a court order or a written
agreement or instructions signed by all tenants, you can handle the
deposit as directed.
Although you may have worked very hard to make sure
everything goes smoothly during your Tenant’s move-out, a few
special situations inevitably arise. And the more you know as a
rental property owner about how to handle these situations, the less
likely they are to become significant problems.