"Expert Witness"

[Nancy Heiss]

Happy New Year All!

An attorney called me yesterday to find out if I was willing to be 'an expert witness' in a case involving a home I appraised in May 2023. The owners are trying to evict the tenants, apparently for non-payment of rent. The tenants are claiming the rent is too high. The owners used the rent estimate I provided on the report. It's unclear to me why exactly this may go to trial, IMO non-payment is non-payment and if the tenants agreed to the rent initially it seems like an invalid argument. At any rate, the attorney was planning on having me testify remotely, if necessary, as to my appraisal process. Does anyone see a reason why I should not agree to this? My rental comps support the rent, and there were a couple others I did not use that also support it, so I don't think my estimate would cause any issue for me. Thoughts? What is a typical fee for expert witness?

 

[TerryRohrer]

Were the attorney or their client your client in that earlier engagement? If not, I would start by getting written permission from your client to provide this service before taking any other steps.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Sounds like they didn't intend to pay in any event. Ask for a retainer. Go do it.

 

[Nancy Heiss]

Were the attorney or their client your client in that earlier engagement? If not, I would start by getting written permission from your client to provide this service before taking any other steps.

My client was an AMC. The owners are the same as when I did the report. I suppose I could ask the regional manager of the AMC if I need a release from them. Did not even think of that.

 

[Nancy Heiss]

Sounds like they didn't intend to pay in any event. Ask for a retainer. Go do it.

Since it's to be remote and probably only a few minutes, what sort of fee would that look like?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I have a flat retainer fee for large appraisals of $2k, but for a trial $500 plus any report compared. i would simply do a rent analysis and not a real appraisal rather a market analysis of rents. I'd estimate not only the rents but estimate the GRMs from sales so that if asked you can answer that.

 

[Elliott]

I'm not saying you shouldn't take the assignment, but tenant disputes are notorious for being a can of worms. I had a rental manager tell me he sat in court for four hours and every decision ended up being in favor of the tenants (and/or squatters) because they don't want more 'homeless.'

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

Happy New Year All!

An attorney called me yesterday to find out if I was willing to be 'an expert witness' in a case involving a home I appraised in May 2023. The owners are trying to evict the tenants, apparently for non-payment of rent. The tenants are claiming the rent is too high. The owners used the rent estimate I provided on the report. It's unclear to me why exactly this may go to trial, IMO non-payment is non-payment and if the tenants agreed to the rent initially it seems like an invalid argument. At any rate, the attorney was planning on having me testify remotely, if necessary, as to my appraisal process. Does anyone see a reason why I should not agree to this? My rental comps support the rent, and there were a couple others I did not use that also support it, so I don't think my estimate would cause any issue for me. Thoughts? What is a typical fee for expert witness?

I would not get involved personally. Did you see the lease?

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

Happy New Year All!

An attorney called me yesterday to find out if I was willing to be 'an expert witness' in a case involving a home I appraised in May 2023. The owners are trying to evict the tenants, apparently for non-payment of rent. The tenants are claiming the rent is too high. The owners used the rent estimate I provided on the report. It's unclear to me why exactly this may go to trial, IMO non-payment is non-payment and if the tenants agreed to the rent initially it seems like an invalid argument. At any rate, the attorney was planning on having me testify remotely, if necessary, as to my appraisal process. Does anyone see a reason why I should not agree to this? My rental comps support the rent, and there were a couple others I did not use that also support it, so I don't think my estimate would cause any issue for me. Thoughts? What is a typical fee for expert witness?

I would not agree to do this. Did you see the lease? Did you meet the tenants or the owner?

 

[McMurphy]

"My client was an AMC".

How long have you had an AMC as "your" client?