ProTenant Agency

It is officially moving season and we've been getting a lot of questions about what tenants are actually required to do when they move out. We see a lot of bad landlords but when it comes to excessive move out charges and refusing to account for security deposits in accordance with state landlord-tenant laws, we rarely see anyone worse than American Homes 4 Rent. They are so bad, they have tricked tenants into believing that tenants are responsible for making the property rea...dy for the next tenant. For this reason, we're using their lease to show what the lease says must be done. You are not required to make a property "rent ready". AH4R knows this and we can prove it. Search your lease for the term "rent ready". You won't find it. Why? Because it's not the standard provided by landlord-tenant laws. Your lease contains the standard - you have to leave the property clean. If you want to do more, you can but read below for what the lease says you are actually required to do. See more

The tenants featured in this Tenant Win of the Week did everything right. When they got the list of alleged damages, they sent a detailed letter disputing the improper charges and explaining why the charges should be reversed. They filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Their landlord's response was to offer to reduce the amount owed by $200.00. They rejected that offer and believed the dispute was continuing. They didn't hear from the landlord for more than a year and then out of the blue, the landlord started attempting to collect the debt again. Five days after they sent the ProTenant dispute letter, the landlord agreed to reverse all charges and refund the entire security deposit! This is a great example of why tenants should always fight back!

Working in property management we've read (and sometimes helped to create) lots of leases and we've read the landlord-tenant laws for the states that we've worked in too many times to count. No matter what state you rent in and no matter what landlord you rent from, there are certain things that tenants are required to do and other certain things they can do in order to better enforce their rights. While there are some landlords that will always make tenants fight to be treated fairly, following The Tenant Commandments can help put you in the best position possible to fight back and win.

This tenant fought back and got the alleged damage charges reduced from $3,294.43 down to $501.58. That's right - 85% less! She went from "owing" her landlord $2,197.17 to getting back almost $600.00 of her deposit.

Why not start the week celebrating a tenant win? This tenant fought back, got $2,664.60 of "damages" reversed, and recovered part of her security deposit. You can do it too!

How many hours/days and how much money did you spend making things perfect before moving out? Did you get all your deposit back?How many hours/days and how much money did you spend making things perfect before moving out? Did you get all your deposit back?

Ever wonder why you have such a hard time getting your landlord to make repairs or respond to your concerns? If you rent from one of the Wall Street landlords l...ike American Homes 4 Rent, here's an answer in their own words. Tenants are not their primary objective. Repairing and maintaining the houses that they rent to tenants is not their primary objective. Wall Street and making money for Wall Street investors comes before anything else. See more

Happy New Year! When we started ProTenant Agency, we had two goals. First, we wanted to provide tenants with the information and tools that they needed to fight back against bad landlords on an individual basis. Our second goal is to help tenants make landlords stop victimizing tenants by joining together and using their collective strength to demand changes. We understand that this second goal is much more of long term project but based on what we've seen and heard from many... of you, we think the time is right to start laying the groundwork for an organization that will help tenants accomplish this goal. I will be leading the charge as we start to make this second goal a reality. That means that while I will still be supporting individual tenants as a Tenant Support Specialist, you'll be seeing a bit less of me engaging with tenants and answering their questions on social media sites. However, your questions will not be ignored or go unanswered. ProTenant Agency will be more active than ever as I'm happy to announce that our lead founder, McKenzie Xavier, will be taking over most of our social media engagement. McKenzie, who has worked in property management for quite some time, came up with the idea of ProTenant Agency after working for a company that we won't name that seemed to be based on taking advantage of tenants. She's looking forward to getting to know all of you, answering your questions, and helping you fight back! ~Vivi See more

Happy Thanksgiving!

THANKSGIVING "SECURITY DEPOSIT NIGHTMARE TO HOLIDAY CASH" CONTEST In honor of Thanksgiving and to express our gratitude for the overwhelming tenant support we've received since starting ProTenant Agency, we're having another giveaway! We've seen posts and comments from many of you whose landlords wrongfully kept your security deposit when you moved out. Greedy landlords usually aren't satisfied with just keeping your deposit and will often also claim that you owe them additi...onal amounts. If this happened to you and you haven't resolved it, this contest is for you. We are giving away a Platinum Tenant Assistance Package to help one victimized tenant fight back and dispute any improper charges or deductions. Click here to enter https://protenantagency.fairness4tenants.com/protenant-age/. Entries must be received by 11:59 PM on 11/26/20. We'll announce the winner on our Facebook page on 11/27/20 and will also notify the winner by email. See more

Know your #TenantRights and use them to get the decent housing you pay so much for. These #TenantTips on repairs are specific to #GeorgiaRenters but can be helpful to tenants in every state. Visit our blog https://protenantagency.fairness4tenants.com/blog/ to learn more about your rights and how to enforce them. #TipTuesday