Contract issues

JTesta30

Hi all. I run a facility in Ohio and recently had a tenant state that items were stolen from their unit. Now they are threatening legal action. Before I talk to an attorney (they can be pricey), I was wondering if anyone can help me out? I tried pulling up the lease agreement and as of right now I can’t find it. I know one was signed but it’s lost in the system somewhere. They are saying that they never signed one and have never been in the office. So I was wondering, if I can’t find the contract, do verbal agreements hold up? They have made at least 2 payments on the unit so would that constitute a contract by default and would they be bound by the clauses in it? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Orkocean

How old is the rental? I would be going through end of month boxes looking to see if I could find the missing paperwork if it's physical copies. If it's more recent and is a digital copy such as elease you should be able to pull it up. Ohio is a state i've never operated or oversaw a site in so I wont give any specifics as they may have some specifics I may be unaware of. From stuff i've seen posted before by others if there is no contract to be found and payments have been made they revert to whatever your normal contract consists of but as I said that's just things i've seen said before.

JTesta30

The tenant moved in around Thanksgiving time, the 21st I believe. It was an e-lease but I can’t find it anywhere. I contacted Sitelink and they couldn’t find it either. I know at the time I was having computer issues with the program (when I tried to pull up the agreement the loading bar just kept saying loading) so I’m not 100% sure it even saved. So I’m banking on worst case scenario and that it didn’t save thus there is no contract to be found. 

AnitaJohnson1269

Did you check "ephotos and efiles" in tenants under their name?  Sometimes if I go to the esign console, I can't always find them. 

And are they trying to say YOU stole them?  If he/she provides their own lock, was there proof of tampering?   

AnitaJohnson1269

I'm sure since you've go through Support, these are just shots in the dark, but you could also go to company, forms, click your lease agreement and the tenant's name, click the esign option....it will give you a prompt.  Either "No Lease exists" or "Open Existing Lease"

Good Luck

MegumiM

After the last storage conference I attended it became my understanding that once a payment has been made, it legally binds the tenant to the lease and its content even if they did not sign one. I am also in Alabama so it could very well differ in Ohio.