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I hired a property management (PM) company to manage a single family home and do I ever regret it! When first hired them, I had a tenant in the property so there was a lease already in effect. In the contract between the PM's and myself, they agreed to do 2 free walk throughs per year -which never happened while tenant lived there. The carpet was ruined, however he did give 30 day notice. Well, then a Prospective tenant showed up at PM's with 1250.00 deposit that she was ready to put down before even viewing the property in person. Red Flag! Before existing tenant moved out, PM's showed the home to prospective tenant while it was in REALLY bad shape! Prospective tenant still hands over deposit to PM's. Former tenant moved out April 21 and new tenant was scheduled to move in May 1. Deposit was taken April 13th from the "rushed" tenant. Here are the problems: 1) I was never shown the PM's leasing agreement with this new tenant, nor did I sign it so I have no idea of contractual terms 2) I requested a copy of lease, tenant contact information, and application of prospective tenant (I just had a bad feeling about this one and wanted to see if the approval criteria was followed) but PM's refused to provide any of these documents to me 3) I requested in writing that PM's do a walk through with new tenant, once cleaned, before signing the lease to ensure that she still wanted to rent. That didn't happen. 4) I informed in writing that carpets would not be replaced and to tenant of this. What did happen is the tenant moved in May 15th and on May 16th sent a very nasty email to PM's about carpet, roaches, ants, dirty walls, dirty floors, dirty refrigerator, etc. which was forwarded to me. Now, with the exception of the carpet, her complaints were BOGUS. Livid with PM's for not following my instructions, I called them and we are now on bad terms. PM's took the security deposit, the first month's rent (finders fee) leaving me to pay May mortgage. Ok. Done. June rolled around and I received 220.00 after they took out their fees. This time I had to make up the 650.00 difference! July hits with a BAM! Tenant refuses to pay rent!! Called PM's on July 21st and was told they were initiating an eviction!! So, I had to pay July mortgage! August is right around the corner and...well you can pretty much guess...I'll be paying. It is my belief that this company breached contract by not doing those walk throughs, acted in bad faith by not following the owner's instructions, negotiated a lease without my approving the terms, and rented to a dead beat tenant! On July 12th, I gave them 30 days notice that I wanted out of the month to month contract. Was supposed to receive a termination packet explaining the process of ending contract and that has not happened. So my question is- should I RUN and not walk to an attorney's office? When I inquired about what would happen should the eviction not be resolved before August 12, our termination date, I was told that as long as I have a balance, i.e. management fees, eviction costs, and whatever else they have in their bag of tricks that I could not receive any documents regarding tenant from their office. Fortunately, with the help of friends, I've been able to pay the mortgages plus my own living expenses. Not sure how much more I can do though and have no idea of where to turn for help. Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions are needed yesterday. They were hired to protect my investment - not force me into foreclosure. Please help! BTW - the company is called Complete Realty Property Management.
The court is used to make people whole. So if the mgmt company charges $50 for a walkthrough normally you would be entitled to 2 so $100. Next you want a copy of the lease, so they show up to court with the lease. Which doent matter in the long run since the tennant is breaking the lease now. Everything elese is the fault of the tennant. You sue the tennant for that stuff and likely get nothing. The mgmt company will also file a counter suit for what you owe them. Sure your upset, but this is likely how it will play out.
Manage your own rentals. Mgmt companies dont care.
I manage my own 4 rentals, but admittedly a small load.
I wish I knew what the OP said, but not willing to sort it into paragraphs myself.
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