Need suggestions

Seaoat, your problem is with the agency that allowed this sublet without checking on the background of the lessee...and with the father of the tenant that set up the new tenant. Report the agency to the Florida Dept. of Real Estate. Sue the tenant, his father, and the real estate company that allowed the behavior.

I can't tell you what to do about the house without looking at it...but you need to stay away from any harsh chemicals...that much I do know.

I did a half hour of painting and melted down with my ankles swelling and my breathing becoming labored. I spent the day in bed since 10 am. I will probably stop and get some antibiotics in the morning, but I have business most of Monday, Tuesday, and Wed, and will do little at the house. The vinegar was amazing with the peroxide and dawn dishwashing soap. The smells are not being reduced and if they are not by Wed., we will be cutting out the really bad spot in one bedroom and just be done with it. We will apply Kilz on all the subfloor on Monday night after one more treatment, but we think a four by four area is the only subfloor to be replaced and it would take care of 90% of the urine spots, and we both could knock that out in an hour, but we have to make sure we have a match with thickness exactly, and I bought some treated 2 x 4s to frame the area we took out. We have our tools and this drastic step is the ONLY way to guarantee that the smells will be gone. We will still seal the entire floor, but the worse section has to go.

A guy I know in the carpet business uses enzymes to remove cat/dog urine.I figured you knew about that...good luck...

Vikingwoman wrote:They started the harassment right after I called the animal control and filed a complaint about the dog. They lied to animal control and said their kids accidentally let the dog out of the back yard so they wouldn't get a ticket. I saw the dog come out the front door.That's when the animal control did nothing and I went house to house on my street looking for witnesses. I found several neighbors who wrote affidavit's as to the viciousness of the dog and one who witnessed the whole incident but didn't know who I was to say anything as I lived around the corner. They knew the dog would go after my dog. By the time we got to court they stopped saying the kids did it and didn't offer up any defense. After that they continued the harassment saying there weren't going to pay anything. They got evicted from their rental house when they brought the dog back after the landlord told them to get rid of it which for a month they did. During that time they got a big tax refund and sold the motorcycle and bought a truck outright,according to the neighbor next door. I really restrained myself during this time period when they were harassing me because I didn't want to go into court looking like a redneck in cussing them out too. I told my story including the harassment and they said nothing.They wouldn't agree in mediation to pay the court costs and I wouldn't agree to drop them as the mediator asked me. The judge said " you will pay the court costs" and it was over. So it's not really about the money now. It's about people thinking they can do that to people and get away w/ it. She's in jail right now on a contempt of court charge and never filled out the information sheet. He did but they are not together now. When she gets out in two months I'm going to file another contempt of court on her. She is on probation.

Why do you heap such grief on yourself? Life is too short.

After the first issue, if it is a late payment, you serve the three day notice. No payment and they don't move. You turn over all the paperwork to the best eviction attorney in town and stay away from the tenant. Tenant calls you, you simply give them the name and number of the attorney.

Problem solved. No threats, no hassle.

Rental property is a high risk investment. Yes, there is an excellent return, but as with any investment with a high return, there is a high risk.

A tenant might have to move and will sub-lease it to someone else without ever telling the landlord. Yep, tenants will lie.

Threatening to sue everyone is penny wise and pound foolish.

With a property management company, the owner will have a written, signed contract with the company. If you have a dispute with the management company, you agree in the contract to arbitration. That's expensive and time consuming.

If there is, what you consider excessive damage. You're going to have to prove that the management company was unreasonably negligent.

Usually it is far, far easier and less expensive to have the management do the repairs.

First thing you do when the carpet needs replacement is to replace it with ceramic tile. Dog and cat pee problem virtually eliminated even if you don't allow pets.

Threatening to sue everyone is penny wise and pound foolish.

Agree. I do not bark. I bite. I have a lay down, and actually we have photographic evidence that when the agent first came in some of our things missing were still there, and were organized. Subsequent photos showed the home in utter chaos with our stuff thrown all over. My wife gets a call from our agent that everything should be taken out of the house, and the house rented unfurnished. The bid was over 5k to do unneeded repairs with probably 2k of legitimate repairs, but the best part the company making the repair estimates we have been told is the son of the owner of the agency. As I explained two agents of our agency were at the house at 10pm piling our personal things up to take when our neighbor stopped them. I will be visiting the SA before I even think about a Civil suit. I prefer making them an offer they will not refuse, but I have some leg work to do before that offer.

The reality is the house is eight years old and the average home replacement of carpet is 10 years, and rental homes are 5 to 7 years, so the idea of getting all bent out of shape over the largest component of the damages is not worth doing. However, the breach of fiduciary duty and out right theft.....that will have to be addressed.

The SA won't see you.This is SRC. You'll have to make a police report. Your neighbor will then have to know who the two agents were and all that baloney.

I hope it wasn't Mainstreet Realty. They were the one's who rented to the people w/ the pitbull on my street. They were druggies too w/ serious criminal records. When I tried to get the owner info. after I found out the pittbull had tried to attack the neighbors children on two occasions the realty wouldn't tell me. I looked up the property records and found the owner in San Diego. He was a commander in the Navy who just happened to be at a base where my sister worked who was a logistic engineer for the Navy. She got his phone and email address for me. He had no idea there was a vicious pitt bull on the property. They weren't supposed to have dogs but the realty never checked which put him in a very precarious situation if the dog attacked a human or another child. The main thing I found out was the SRC Animal Control is totally worth less.The owner wound up evicting them for the dog because they brought it back but again the realty never checked again whether the dog was still there.

Vikingwoman wrote:I hope it wasn't Mainstreet Realty. They were the one's who rented to the people w/ the pitbull on my street. They were druggies too w/ serious criminal records. When I tried to get the owner info. after I found out the pittbull had tried to attack the neighbors children on two occasions the realty wouldn't tell me. I looked up the property records and found the owner in San Diego. He was a commander in the Navy who just happened to be at a base where my sister worked who was a logistic engineer for the Navy. She got his phone and email address for me. He had no idea there was a vicious pitt bull on the property. They weren't supposed to have dogs but the realty never checked which put him in a very precarious situation if the dog attacked a human or another child. The main thing I found out was the SRC Animal Control is totally worth less.The owner wound up evicting them for the dog because they brought it back but again the realty never checked again whether the dog was still there.

You were right to contact the owner of the property if contacting the management was not successful after they had a reasonable period of time ro remedy the problem. Legally they could not give you the owner information because they have a fiduciary relationship with them.

Anyone also knows that owner information is easily available, on line, for anywhere in the country. Personally, I would have sent the owner a certified, return receipt requested letter to the owner showing you had done the same with the management company.

With a phone call or email, you can prove nothing. That's why I say certified snail mail.

No responsible management company I know of will allow pit bulls or the like as a tenant. Many if not all insurance companies will not cover a residence with such a dog. That puts the owner at great risk, especially if they know about the violation and allow it to continue.

Animal control can do, as you learned, little without proof. YOU say the tenant lied. How does animal control know?

The animal control came out and was going to ticket the woman but she lied and said her kids let the dog out the side gate and that I was in her yard w/ my dog yelling at her which is why her dog attacked. I told them that was a lie I saw the front door open and the dog let out and I was standing in the road. I did not know at that time the history of the dog but I was pissed she lied about it. So I went door to door of the neighbors surrounding her house and found a witness to the incident as well as her next door neighbor who told me the pit had dug under their fence on two occasions and went after their 6 &4 yr. old children. They had to climb on their swing set to get away from him. The pit had also attacked the mother pit crippling her leg. Another neighbor reported the pit was out and went after her and her 3 yr.old grandchild while walking. I had them all fill out affidavits. I went down to animal control and pulled the notes and the officer wrote the dog was just protecting his property and no ticket would be issued. I spoke to the director and he said he would investigate. I gave him the affidavits and he did contact all the witnesses but they never issued a ticket and there was no mention of it in any of the pit owners file. I then called the director who was useless and he said they didn't issue her a ticket because she got rid of the dog. She only got rid of the dog for a month and she then brought it back. Her next door neighbor called the realty who then evicted her. I checked a few months later and there was still no mention in the file about the affidavits. So the woman has moved somewhere else w/ the dog and there is no record other than mine about the attacks on the children. I intended to contact my county commissioner about the poor job animal control did but was busy suing the owner. For the animal control officer to say it was ok to attack another animal because it was on a property and then do nothing when she found out it was a lie really galled me. I intended to call the officer to court but the judge said she didn't want to hear from animal control. The owner was responsible for her dog attacking.

We tried every suggestion made on this thread. We treated the subfloor with the concoctions and each improved the smell. Finally the worst area of subfloor we simply cut it out and replaced it, and again incremental improvements, but still after painting the entire interior we could still smell the tell tale cat urine.

The internet was big on Kilz so we applied 7.5 gallons of kilz on the floor and some rooms had three coats. What the Kilz does which is nice is it attacks urine and makes clear outlines on the floor where there was a urine spot on the first coat. We then used the concoctions a second time concentrated on the spots found by the kilz. Still a slight odor. We then used a unique internet solution which after you have applied Kilz, apply porch paint. It is absolutely remarkable what the porch paint did. Immediately the smells were gone. We are now painting the entire house subfloor which does not have ceramic with porch paint. I have to get my shot next Friday and will return November 1 to have the wood floor put in and the new carpet. Thank you for the suggestions. We used everyone, but I can say with certainty that Kilz and porch paint are amazing. The house smells amazing. We will be going to Lowes and getting cedar closet liner and will line the most offensive bedroom closet, and will line the cold air return with cedar, so before we install the wood floors and carpeting the cedar will permeate the house for two weeks. My lungs are doing better, but I am frequently flushing and have been resting. I will work on a project this winter in the area and we will not rent this house until probably January. We tossed all the leather furniture....it just soaked up the urine smell and getting rid of it helped immediately. We are working on getting a new agent for the homes, and I will have a sit down with the agency in mid November when I have finalized the number on damages. Probably at 9k right now.

Are you keeping the hose as a rental or selling. I would hate for you to invest in wood floors for a rental.

We normally put in oak small plank unfinished wood which we belt sand and put a light stain, and then use this great Swedish acrylic sealer for hardwood floors. However, because it is going to stay a rental until next January, we are going with a less expensive prefinished floor which actually we can purchase and have installed at about the same price as a quality carpet. We are going to put the hard surface over the bad bedroom, hallways, and great room. We will use carpet in the other bedrooms. We will put it up for rent in January and maybe February if we cannot get another location finished for our occupancy. My wife has been a champ. We are going to see the Steve Jobs movie Friday, and head home Sunday morning as I have meetings on Monday night, and we babysit the grandkids on Tuesdays.....two weeks away from those little ones is tough.....as I fail these type of problems roll off me like water on a duck when I know I can tease my grandkids next week. Life is beautiful.

Vikingwoman wrote:The animal control came out and was going to ticket the woman but she lied and said her kids let the dog out the side gate and that I was in her yard w/ my dog yelling at her which is why her dog attacked. I told them that was a lie I saw the front door open and the dog let out and I was standing in the road. I did not know at that time the history of the dog but I was pissed she lied about it. So I went door to door of the neighbors surrounding her house and found a witness to the incident as well as her next door neighbor who told me the pit had dug under their fence on two occasions and went after their 6 &4 yr. old children. They had to climb on their swing set to get away from him. The pit had also attacked the mother pit crippling her leg. Another neighbor reported the pit was out and went after her and her 3 yr.old grandchild while walking. I had them all fill out affidavits. I went down to animal control and pulled the notes and the officer wrote the dog was just protecting his property and no ticket would be issued. I spoke to the director and he said he would investigate. I gave him the affidavits and he did contact all the witnesses but they never issued a ticket and there was no mention of it in any of the pit owners file. I then called the director who was useless and he said they didn't issue her a ticket because she got rid of the dog. She only got rid of the dog for a month and she then brought it back. Her next door neighbor called the realty who then evicted her. I checked a few months later and there was still no mention in the file about the affidavits. So the woman has moved somewhere else w/ the dog and there is no record other than mine about the attacks on the children. I intended to contact my county commissioner about the poor job animal control did but was busy suing the owner. For the animal control officer to say it was ok to attack another animal because it was on a property and then do nothing when she found out it was a lie really galled me. I intended to call the officer to court but the judge said she didn't want to hear from animal control. The owner was responsible for her dog attacking.

You really have way too much time on your hands. Perhaps you could volunteer at the animal shelter. Your local library also uses volunteers and, it's nice and quiet there too.

Its not really that hard a job so cut out plywood and replace with new.
The only 100% way to get rid of smell.

polecat wrote:Its not really that hard a job so cut out plywood and replace with new.
The only 100% way to get rid of smell.

Agreed... and putting a barrier (even a decent mil plastic) over that is a long term fix if you plan to keep renting.

We cut out a five foot by four foot subfloor where the cats had concentrated their urine. We reinforced with 2 x 4 nailers for the 3/4 inch plywood. The problem with Lowe's 3/4 plywood is that it is not a premium flooring plywood, and the house has a top of the line premium subfloor which I really like. We also took out the insulation under the plywood and bought new insulation. The Kilz does a wonderful job mapping urine spots and the cat urine was concentrated in one bedroom in one corner where we have removed flooring. It is remarkable. No urine smells in the house. Not even a tinge. All new painted surfaces and taking out the subfloor helped, but the Kilz and porch paint internet solution is remarkable.....not even a little bit of odor. We are placing the cedar in the closets, and will return in ten days after the shots to finish the installations of the floors. We might wait until we are done using the house in January to put the new flooring because with the white porch paint the floor surface is spotless and clean and we like that aspect.