30 day notices and refunds

Robyn

The question of the day! LOL

I tried calling support and I struggled to understand the lady and I don't think she was understanding what my question was.  So I'm hoping someone can help me here and kind of give me step by step instructions.

NOTE: We currently do all our book keeping, ledgers ..EVERYTHING by hand.

Currently tenants are required to give a 30 day notice to vacate. How
do I handle these following scenario on sitelink?

a. Tenant puts in notice on 5/20/18. Tenant pays for full months rent on
6/1/18 (6/1-6/30/18) tenant vacates on 6/11/18. Our current practice has
us trying to re-rent the unit from the day of vacate (6/11/18) until the 30
days are up (6/19/18). If the unit is re-rented we refund them the
remaining days from re-rental date to the end of the month. If the unit
doesn't re-rent and the 30 days are up, we give them a refund for the
remaining days past their 30 day notice (6/19-6/30/18)


b. Currently refunds are processed by our main office. When a tenant is
owed a refund we email the main office and they process it by hand and
return the refund by check to the tenant. How would we go about vacating a
tenant and still having the main office process the refunds??

skinman

My personal suggestion even though it's not what you're asking....Stop prorating move outs. It just creates headaches. If they move out before the month is over, they lose the money. 

Robyn

Honestly, that would make my life soooo much easier.  I need to exhaust all options before presenting to the owner that it's in our best interest to remove prorating out. 

Robyn

When you do that, do you go through the whole move out process the day they move out, or wait till the end of the month?  For example, John Doe vacates on the 18th and paid for all of June.  Do you try to re-rent the unit, or just leave it vacant and open it back up for rental in July?

skinman

Our rents are due on the 1st, and billed like an apartment... I do prorate the move in... If they vacate in the middle of the month, they do not get a refund. When the lock is gone and the unit is empty... they are moved out that day.

skinman

The unit is rented immediately if someone wants it, with a prorated move in.

Robyn

The owners are under the impression that it is illegal to collect rent from two different tenants on the same unit.  The owners also have apartment complexes they own/run, I'm wondering if they are assuming it is the same with mini storages??

skinman

I'm not collecting rent on 2 different tenants... They are welcome to stay until the last day of the month. If they vacate before that, they are moved out of the system the day they vacate. I just don't refund a weeks rent or a few days rent, etc. I move them out of the system.

All I mean by billed like an apartment is if the lock is still on the unit on the 1st.. or the unit is not empty on the 1st... they are charged for the entire month's rent.

skinman

That being said... if someone pays me for months in advance.... Then suddenly give notice and move out, Whatever month we are already in, they lose.... the advanced months will be refunded.

Robyn

Ok, I called customer service again and finally found answers to my questions!!

Collecting rent on two units is anytime a tenant has paid for a time period, has vacated that unit, has already paid for that unit and another tenant moves in and pays rent on that same unit for the same exact time period.

For example

I pay for rent from 6/1-6/30/18.  I have paid you a daily rate of $1.40 for that unit.
I vacate on 6/18/18.
The days I was in the unit was 18 days but paid for 30 days.

John Doe comes in on the 19th of June and is pro-rated in.  So John Doe pays for 11 days of rent for 6/19-6/30/18.

By keeping my rent money and renting to John Doe, you have now collected rent from two people for the same unit for 11 days.

skinman

Right... technically, that is correct. Unless you have a state statute that mandates you must return partial monthly "unused" rent on a month to month lease for a storage unit, you are creating far more work and headaches for yourselves, IMO

Ultimately, they have to do what they feel works best for their business and follows your state laws. We simply state in our lease we cannot pro rate a move out. You must be vacated by the last day of any month in order to avoid the next month's charges.

Robyn

%100 agree with it being a lot of headache. However the owners are not willing to waiver Thankfully I got my questions answered. 

skinman

Glad you did as well...My way isn't the "right" way.... as long as you follow your state laws and do what works best for your business, that is the "right way"

JulieA

Robyn said:

Honestly, that would make my life soooo much easier.  I need to exhaust all options before presenting to the owner that it's in our best interest to remove prorating out. 

I would be glad to email or speak to your owner.  I do issue refund checks however I am the owner. My employees do not do the move outs or refund because it is way too confusing.  I don't even allow them to talk to tenants regarding a refund because there are so many variables.  Refunds are also an area that is vulnerable to Employee Fraud.  And the SiteLink Refund Receipt that I process in Accounts Payable is extremely confusing and it would be really easy to issue a check for the wrong amount. 

I like having my 1/2 month deposit but if anyone but me was doing this process I would change to an admin fee.

Also many times I calculate by hand and adjust the amount if necessary!  Just to make sure!

Adrienne_Danyel

So Blessed we do not refund on partial months. We are on the 1st of the month billing & we only prorate out if we collect 10 day's prior to your due date.