‘MY TENANT WENT AWOL – WHAT DO I DO?
‘MY TENANT WENT AWOL – WHAT DO I DO? |
A situation that commercial landlords encounter all too often is the tenant who suddenly disappears. The tenant simply vacates the premises and leaves no forwarding address. The possibility of recovering damages seems remote. The landlord’s immediate goal is to get possession as quickly as possible so that a new tenant can be brought in. But the landlord may be uncomfortable in simply changing the locks and taking possession without clear confirmation that the tenant has actually abandoned. This article attempts to give some guidance on what to do in this situation. |
Consider the hypothetical tenant who is month or two behind in its rent and has apparently vacated the premises with no forwarding address. The tenant has left behind various items of personal property, which can range from outdated furniture to expensive manufacturing or computer equipment. What should the landlord do upon discovering that the tenant has left? |
The answer to this question involves both a legal and practical component. When a tenant has actually abandoned the premises, it is not normally necessary to pursue an unlawful detainer lawsuit. Instead, the procedure provided by statute is to serve a “Notice of Belief of Abandonment.” This notice may be given if (a) the rental has been unpaid for at least 14 consecutive days and (b) the landlord “reasonably believes” that the tenant has actually abandoned the premises. If those two criteria are met, and the tenant does not respond to the notice within 18 days of mailing, or 15 days after personal service, the premises are presumed to be abandoned. Thus, the conservative landlord will give the notice and wait the 18 days prior to actually taking physical possession of the premises. Click here for the entire article. |
AIR Cites Comps Data Improvements
Member Benefit
Responding to directives from its Board of Directors and listening to the positive feedback from its membership, the AIR management reports notable improvements in the quality of its Comp Data. |
| “Twelve months ago, AIR implemented an aggressive plan for gathering lease and sale Comp Data for all listings that pass through our systems. We are currently receiving Comp information for approximately 65 percent of all properties that are leased or sold. Although this performance is significantly improved over where we were a year ago, we are not where we need to be. Our goal is to have 90 percent of all done-deal information in our data base. In order to achieve that goal we need the ongoing cooperation of every broker and agent in every member firm,” Tim Hayes, executive director of AIR, said. He cited the efforts of MULTIPLE Manager Margo Castaneda for the improvements. |
Hayes stated that as part of AIR’s effort to strengthen the Comp Database, each time a listing is removed from the system as sold or leased, the listing brokers receive an e-mail from the AIR asking for every basic comp information. |
He explained that for a lease, that information includes: transaction completion date, starting lease rate, length of the initial term, rental adjustments, free rent, where the tenant came from, and the procuring broker’s name. |
For a sale transaction that information includes: date escrow closed, sale price, seller’s name, buyer’s name, and the procuring broker’s name. |
“AIR members benefit significantly if the Association can deliver a comprehensive Comp Database. The only way we are going to do that is if our members contribute a few key pieces of Comp information each time they complete a transaction. So we need, and would be grateful, to receive the cooperation of all brokers in responding to our e-mails as quickly as possible. If we can continue to improve the quality, the AIR will deliver an excellent Comp Product with the potential to put our member firms in a position to reduce overhead by not having to purchase Comp information from sources outside the AIR. |
“By sharing the information and creating a comprehensive Comp Data base that is owned and controlled by AIR members, every member enjoys better data at their fingertips, giving them the ability to better serve their clients. It is this spirit of cooperation among AIR members that has made the AIR the greatest “broker only” organization in the country. It is this same philosophy that has made our listing database so valuable,” Hayes said. |
