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How a Property Manager Can Be Prepared When They Get Sued

Withholding of a tenant’s security deposit is probably the number one reason a property manager can end up on the other end of a lawsuit or even in court. There are many precautions and procedures which a prudent management company or manager can implement which will help prevent this situation from occurring. Moreover, a property management course or continuing education in the nuances of proper statutory procedures can go a long way in preventing a lawsuit and subsequent lost time, energy and even money. Finally, an owner is responsible for the acts of a property manager and could find themselves in court as well if the manager has violated the law, has not properly counseled the owner or properly handled the tenant’s security deposit.

Implement Minimal Procedures to be Prepared

A prudent property manager has been educated to take the necessary precautions and follow the statutory guidelines for tenant’s issues like the return of security deposits. The necessary property inspections, the data collection of the condition of the property, the amount of money a manager is allowed to deduct, the statutory procedure for deductions, and the proper method of communicating all of these steps to the vacating tenant is tantamount to a successful defense against tenant lawsuits. If a property manager has done all of these things with diligence there is a very good chance that they will have the ultimate preparation in the unfortunate occasion when they get sued.

Pre-Tenancy Property Inspections Help Prevent Post-Tenancy Problems

Prudent property managers walk-through the property with the new tenant while there is no furniture or obstacles in the unit. The property manager takes photos, logs inspection data about each and every room in the unit, details the exterior of the property including any issues that exist and gets the new tenant to sign off or agree to the condition report. This same report is used at the end of the tenancy to compare and contrast the pre and post condition status. With photos and a signed inspection report it is difficult for a tenant to claim that conditions that exist now weren’t there when the tenancy began. Moreover, in some states notice of a pre-inspection at the end of the tenancy is given to tenants such that they are allowed to take advantage of the pre-inspection to repair or clean the unit which would otherwise be a deduction against their security deposit. This procedure, if properly conducted, actually prevents a lot of post tenancy issues as the tenant is fully aware of any conditions which might result in a deposit deduction, and they are given ample time and opportunity to correct the issues.

Pre-Tenancy Property Inspections Help Prepare Property Managers for Court

In the unfortunate event that a tenant disputes a property manager’s security deposit deduction and actually files a lawsuit the manager who has taken the time to takes photos and log inspection data will be amply prepared for the litigation. The manager should prepare their file in chronological order, should print out each and every photograph and date and label each condition. Importantly, each person who witnessed any conditions at the property like the gardener, the painter, the cleaner should all be contacted and asked for a witness statement. It is easy to get a statement via a sworn affidavit and at the same time ask these people to make themselves available to be witnesses in court. To be clear each property manager should have the following in preparation of any hearing:

1) A complete property file in chronological order including photos, invoices, and paid receipts;

2) A complete history of the written communications with the tenants included in the property file;

3) A list of witnesses with contact information;

4) Sworn affidavits from each witness; and

5) A thorough review of the facts and circumstances surrounding the issues, facts and tenant complaints by the staff members who dealt with the tenant.

Preparation is Powerful and Usually Successful

Professional property managers who take the time, energy and effort to adequately keep records of their properties and tenants will find that this preparation is worth its weight in gold come litigation time. Once a tenant becomes familiar with an adequately prepared opponent they may think twice about their attempts to sue. The best defense for managers or management companies is educating themselves in the proper procedures and record-keeping that will help them prepare for this process. If the manager has followed the law, has followed a detailed record-keeping system, prepares and presents an immaculate file to the hearing judge or court then the likelihood of success of defending one of these lawsuits is much higher than if they had not.

An Owner May be Liable for the Acts of its Agent

Both statutory and common law principals state that a hirer or principal of an agent may be liable for the acts of the agent. Property management companies who fail to follow the statutory guidelines regarding landlord tenants laws may find themselves in court on occasion. If a manager has attempted to take advantage of a tenant (not uncommon) or has committed statutory violations that could lead to liabilities for the unsuspecting owner. Even though the owner would ultimately have a remedy against the property manager this would be a very unfortunate situation for the owner. The owner can file a cross-complaint against the manager, but in either case the owner gets dragged into a suit because the manager was negligent or careless. Needless to say an owner or property manager doesn’t want to be in this situation in the first place, thus, it is important that the manager follow statutory guidelines and proper inspection procedures.

A Real Estate Attorney on Staff is Ideal and Can Keep Owners Out of Trouble

Professional property management companies who have a real estate attorney on staff have an advantage in these circumstances. A real estate attorney has the training, expertise, and procedural knowledge to help prevent these situations before they get out of hand. Moreover, in the event that these cases escalate an attorney will be able to prepare and handle the situation much better than someone without those type skills.

Starting A Top Home Based Business

With current global conditions providing an ever increasing unemployment rate and economic hardship, there are millions of people today attempting to find alternative and successful methods of earning a living. From this pool of people, there are countless numbers that are turning to home based business ventures in order to earn a profit and keep their lives moving. As such, one requires a sound understanding of starting a top home based business in order to remain a viable and profitable member of the work force.When making the decision to start a home based business, one should take stock of skills and knowledge already acquired and see if they are able to be put to use. The internet provides an incredible array of opportunities for countless skill sets. Selecting the best one while still performing the work that one actually wants to do remains a key element in this mix of decision making.In the internet world of today, one of the most lucrative and fastest growing methods of home based business is internet marketing. This requires very minimal previous experience and more companies today are looking for solid marketing skills by using the internet to help in keeping their businesses going. Launching an internet marketing company is one of the fastest methods of earning a great living.With any business starting or venture, one should develop and follow a sound business plan. With internet marketing, the sky is limit in regard to profit yet one must truly follow very basic business principles and plans in order to get and stay successful. Within this plan, there should be built in and reachable short and long term goals to ensure the business is staying on track.It is often considered wise to join an established and successful internet marketing firm prior to starting on individually. This provides an incredible amount of industry knowledge and practice which proves vital for the success of any entrepreneur. This also could lead to some very valuable business contacts in the future.The use of current professional consulting is also crucial at some point. At any given point of any business, there will be obstacles that must be dealt with in order to remain successful that require the help of a professional. One must know when to seek outside help.Finally, once all the above steps mentioned are complete, one must work toward a solid and sustainable reputation and credibility. Any top home based business relies on this for remaining in business. Retaining customers and gaining new ones are vital to any growth which is what credibility and reputation often provides.

Plan To Succeed With Information Product Creation: Why You Need To Split Your Process Up

One of the keys to succeeding in information product creation is to break the process up into discrete steps. This frequently isn’t an instinctive reaction for the typical information marketer. Especially on the internet where small sized learning products are the norm.

However, it is extremely important to your ultimate success. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you don’t do this you probably won’t succeed… even when you are starting out let alone as you move forward.

Your product creation system should do this for you if only to help you to understand the overall task.

But why?

In this article, I’m going to ignore chunking and focus on the practical aspects. That’s not to say that chunking isn’t important. It is. It’s important to understanding and to learning the process. But while you can use the same chunks as you move forward, long term your focus needs to be on the operation of the system not the understanding of it. Unless of course you are constantly training new people!

So why is chunking important to long term use of the product creation process? (Yes, I know systems design uses a different term for this process but I’m not teaching you systems design. So I’m going to use the word learning content designers use.)

The first reason that having individual discrete tasks is important is one of schedule estimation. Frequently it is very difficult to estimate how long the total task of creating a product will take. After all, the size and type of the products matters as does the number of products in your product funnel. And those are just the most obvious elements. However, estimating a discrete task is often much easier. The total can then be estimated as the total of the discrete tasks.

Secondly, scheduling a large task can be problematic. However, by segmenting the task into a number of discrete tasks, you gain a much greater flexibility in scheduling. Not only that but as your business begins to add people you are able to schedule multiple people to the product creation.

Finally, segmenting a large task into smaller discrete tasks allows you to have much better control over the product creation. This affects two different areas — status and quality.

By segmenting your process into discrete tasks you are able to schedule and record the progress at much more detailed level. As a result you are more in control of the status of the product creation. You know what everyone is doing. When they should complete it. And how much it should cost. You also know exactly what has been done.

You also improve your overall quality. Instead of waiting until everything is done you can check quality as you go. This allows you to immediate react to low quality products without absorbing their costs. This means that you have less rework and your rework costs less. And if the product is not going to meet its quality requirement you will know about it in time to stop the development, change the requirement or fix the product.

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