Bulletin Board Complaint Weekly Up-date

1)     It appears the attorney who could not collect from a previous client,

has worked out a compromise. They hired an attorney who asked us not

to print the story as he thought he could settle it, which he appears to

have done. The original bill was $15,000, but it appears

the “old” attorney will settle for $10,000---and now he has to collect it. Will keep

you informed. (The “old” attorney new the applicant well, and had handled

case before, so didn’t collect a “retainer.” Reminds me of the old adage,

“Watch out for your friends as you know what your enemies will do.”

2)     Applicant says a broker could not do the lease, but has not returned the

advance rental. It was only two weeks since the promise, so we called the broker,

explained that we told the applicant 30 days would be reasonable, nevertheless, the broker sent the advance rental back next day Federal Express. The applicant

says he has the check, but we told him not to celebrate until it clears.

3)     This one really turned strange. This was for a $1.2 million deal. Allegedly

the lessee had dealt with two brokers, one to the other, who found this company

who want a 1% commitment fee, and the brokers thought it was not going to

go through. The company did not belong to any leasing association, had no

website, and was in a small town, all strange. The form signed allowed the

company to keep $1500 for “expenses.” In investigating this, the vendor

was the company that fronted the $12,360.00 fee. The applicant wanted

to go somewhere else, and didn’t want to get into a fight about who

owed what or continue to receive promises that the deal would go together

( the company had the application for over two months and kept asking

for one thing or another-you know how that goes.) In advising the

applicant to write off the $12,360 and start looking for a new source,

we learned where the up-front money came from. The vendor then sent their legal people the company settled on $3,810.00; they then sent back $8,550.00.

The original broker told Leasing News, “I feel ****** was in this deal only to collect the proposal fee. He never showed any interest in moving the deal forward, always maintaining that everything was moving along well.”

Again, know who you are dealing with. You stand a better chance when

dealing with a member of your leasing association, who has a website, and

the company attends leasing conference. Now that is not always correct,

as many of us have found out, but is sure is better than dealing with someone

you know little about, and most likely, survives on the advance rentals

they keep. Remember, “ When you sleep with dogs, you get fleas.”

I always think of that saying told to me by my late mentor Mac Pollock

of Key Lease in Redwood City, California. I also think of well-known attorney Joe Bonanno’s Question: “Does the company belong to NAELB?” Meaning, if they are a member of the National Association of Leasing Brokers and want to remain a member, they better follow the code of ethics.

So when you run into someone you don’t know, “Ask Joe Bonanno’s Question.”