Moved over from Fatwallet - Suggestion on Texas code - Sec. 92.201. DISCLOSURE OF OWNERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT:
I’ve property management company for my rental. The tenant asked for owner’s name and address and PM didn’t provide it as he said he can handle the situation. Tenant wanted to breach the lease as he is buying a home. PM oked to breach the lease, but he will not be returned his deposit due to breach of contract. This is provided in the email to the tenant and forwarded to me.
Fast forward, a month before tenant move out, PM gets a letter from tenant’s lawyer that PM didn’t provide owner’s name and address, so owner is liable to one month’s rent and $100 per code 92.205 and the tenant is ready to settle if security deposit is counted towards last month’s rent.
Code 92.201 says to provide owner’s name, address and if the property is managed by PM company, provide PMs name and address in the copy of lease agreement.
Am I protected by PMs contact info provided in the lease? or PM screwed it by not providing landlord’s name and address when requested?
Any suggestions? Since I’ve email communication from PM to tenant that he’ll forfeit the deposit for breaching the lease, I’m considering to go to the court with a lawyer if tenant decides to go to the court.
Is the deposit the same amount as monthly rent or lower ?
you’ll want to consult your own attorney on at least two issues - whether one months rent plus $100 is the maximum possible award the tenant could receive (can they get attorney’s fees ? ) , and whether your property manager is liable for this error.
After getting that advice you’ll need to decide whether it’s worth it settle and meet in the middle somewhere , or get your property manager to pay the attorney costs to fight it since it’s their error , or fight it yourself if the tenant files a small claims action
Thanks SIS for the suggestions, the deposit is equal to one month’s rent. I’ll work with my attorney and go to the court as I don’t see any wrong doing on my end.
If I didn’t want to bother with going to court, I would simply tell the property manager this is his fault, he should settle with the tenant (let him breach and keep his deposit) and give me half of the deposit for messing this whole thing up. If he agrees to that, we can move past this and he’ll continue to be my property manager. If PM doesn’t agree to that, then I would settle with the tenant by returning his deposit and find another property manager.
Update: Looking at the timeline of the events, first tenant requested for owner name/address and then settled with PM to forfeit the deposit and break the lease. This makes the tenant to act in bad faith as there were no issues left to discuss with the owner.
I went to tenant’s lawyer with the timelines and received latest month rent on time. Now waiting to see what they would like to do next.
Thank you all for the suggestions.