Dear Diva…

 We have a complex situation. We need to talk to you to get your take on a  situation. Our realtor agrees because he says he has never had this scenario.

Briefly, the tenants at our rental have produced 2 lease agreements: one says the lease expires June 30, 2009 and the other says the lease expires July 31, 2009. I have the lease agreement that says June 30. The tenants are choosing the July 31 date because that better suits their schedule.

When I sent them the original lease, it was to expire the end of April 2009. When they returned the agreement, months later, it was different, written in one of their hand writing and the signature page was a copy. It is obvious that the signature page is from a different document.

I suspect (but don’t really know) that they have produced these two lease agreements and added a copy of the signature page from the original document. The signature page is a “rental_agreement_doc” while all other pages are “rental_agreement”.

Our agent has asked the tenants for copies of the documents. We don’t know where to go from here. Do you have any suggestions?

As you know, the prime selling time is May, June, and July. The children return to school in August so there will be fewer buyers.

Thanks for your help.
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Yes, in July there are fewer buyers but if its priced aggressively it will sell. Selling a home is about marketing and pricing it right. Part of negotiation is finding that happy medium where you get what you want and they get what they want. Your objective is to get the tenants out so you can close escrow. You have the two agreements from them why not acknowledge receipt in a formal registered letter and give them their 60 or whatever days advance notice that they need to vacate when their lease expires.

In the mean time put the home on the market and have your agent put in the confidential remarks section of the MLS that escrow needs to be 45-60 days. It’s not always seamless but a viable option. The other alternative is that it can get all ugly and they create unnecessary problems and you end up having to involve an attorney. I’d check with your agent to see if your state’s law allows this. What is allowed in one state is not always allowed in another.

You  might also want to check out the following links if you are thinking about becoming an landlord:

LANDLORD INFORMATION
www.saferent.com –Tenant check and background screening services
www.tenantcredit.com – Nationwide Tenant screening services
www.mrlandlord.com - Links to State specific Landlord/Tenant Laws in addition to many other useful resources for landlords
www.cses.com –Information site/resource for Landlords

Diva